From here to Timboctou

Disclaimer: It’s late, I have no power and have no time, so it’s not edited. deal.

Stepping off the plane at 11:30 p.m., the humidity hit me like a brick wall.

We filed, 80 bleary, jet-lagged, and sleep deprived Peace Corps Trainees, onto a waiting bus. The bus made a U-turn and dropped us off 5 meters away at the terminal. To this day, nobody really knows the reason for the 15 foot bus ride. After 24 hours of plane rides and layovers, nobody seemed to care.

It is hard to believe that only 3 days ago I was eating my last steak, a 17oz. Rib-Eye, outside a restaurant in downtown Philadelphia.

Now I live in mud hut in Africa, in one of the poorest countries in the world.

Since Saturday I have been living in Tubaniso (tu-BAH-knee-so), the Peace Corps compound outside Bamako, the capital city of Mali, in West-Africa. And yes, life is very different here. I have much to talk about, so I will keep things brief. I won’t really interject any feelings or opinions in this post, as I just want to let people know what the heck is going on.

A Day in the Life

I live a mud hut like the ones pictured below, in a walled section called Zumanabogu(sp), within Tubaniso. We wake some time between 5:00 and 7:00 a.m., depending on whether or not you’re joining the morning run at 6:00 a.m. Breakfast is in the refetoir, our cafeteria. It consists of a roll with peanut butter and jam, and instant coffee or tea. It’s spartan, but does the job.

Between 8:00 a.m. And 12:00 p.m. we have our first two sessions of the day. From 12:00 to 1-1:30p.m. we have lunch (pictured below) and a break. From 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. we have two more sessions. Dinner is served between 7 and 8, and is usually similar to lunch.

After that we’re free, but the sun sets around 7:00 p.m. and the only places with lights are the refetoir and our huts.

When nature calls, we head for the Njagens (nyay-gin). They’re a combination of shower and toilet, with hole in the ground where you do your business. They’re hot, bug-ridden, and smell to high heaven. You clean yourself with you left hand and a Salidaga, which is why you don’t do anything social with your left hand unless your right is already taken.

There is internet here, however it is satellite based and tends to die when more than 3 people try to connect to it.

So Far, So Good.

Sunday was a 3 hour orientation, followed by a July 4th celebration at the U.S. Club in Bamako. As if just being here wasn’t weird enough, we spent half of our first day eating hamburgers, listening to Garth Brooks and swimming in a nice swimming pool.

Monday was security and cultural briefings. We met our fellow volunteers and staff, and learned the basics of living in Mali: Don’t drink the water, don’t do anything with your left hand, and be prepared to meet Mr. D(iarrhea).

Today, Tuesday, we learned about our sectors. I am in Environment. The others are: Heath Ed, Small Enterprise Development, Education, and Water Sanitation. We toured the facilities and learned about the projects our sectors will be doing. This afternoon we had our first Bambara lesson. Bambara is the native language spoken by 80% of the population, and it’s awesome.

Tomorrow we receive our medical kits and have one last culture briefing. The ambassador is visiting us after lunch and merchants will be coming to Tubaniso to sell us goods as a part of a cultural festival. It’ll be a great chance to practice Bambara.

Thursday we get our final security and medical briefings, find our our Homestay sites, and then leave for Homestay.

Training, Homestay, and the Future.

For the next 10 weeks we’ll be living primarily at hour Homestay site, with our Homestay family. The schedule is 2 weeks at Homestay, 2 days a Tubaniso, 2 weeks at Homestay, Final testing, then swearing  in. At some point during Homestay we find out our actual assignments. My Homestay probably won’t have electricity or the internet.

We’ll have between 4 and 8 other volunteers with us at our Homestay village, but we will each have our own Homestay family who will be our primary teachers of language and culture. There are two Peace Corps locals, called Language and Culture Facilitators(LFCs), who will be there to aide us during Homestay training.

Once I pass Peace Corps Training (PCT), I am sworn in, become an official Peace Corps Volunteer(PCV)(the government loves its acronyms) and my 24 months as a PCV begins.

Update: Up until yesterday we were eating lunch as we do back home, but we switched to traditional style today. Trad style is a way, way more fun way to eat.