Greeting from Summer Camp

Greetings from Mali,

Well it is hard for me to call what I am going through right now Mali. I am currently doing the first part of my training in the Peace Corps Training Center known as Tobuniso (probably spelled wrong). In this compound, a 45 minute bus ride away from Bamako International Airport, 80 of us Americans have gathered for the purpose of helping the people of Mali. However, right now the days are filled with presentations and lectures like you would find during your orientation day at any job. A superior stands before a group full of noobies and talks about policy, company culture and safety. The difference is our safety lecture was more about how to avoid getting mugged. I should mentioned that volunteers rarely get mugged in Mali, and very little crime occurs at all if one is careful. All in all I currently feel more like I’m at summer camp than thousands of miles away from home in Africa. For instance, I called my parents and told them how I was doing on a cell phone I bought today (I get better service here than I do at my house in Great Falls).

The living situation is also a lot like summer camp. I’m currently sharing a thatched roof hut with two other guys. Our hut grouping (H-Hut Represent!!) is all male, and only one of the hut groups is co-ed. Our saag (trainee group as a whole) comes from all over the United States, and seems to demographically represent the U.S. fairly well. We have a majority of whites, with individuals of every nationality besides Native American. There is only one married couple, and almost everyone is under 26. Geographically the entire national is represented (Michigan heavily); however, I’m the only volunteer from Montana or any of the bordering states. One of the guys I’m living with, Lucas, hails from Pennsylvania and is going into the environmental sector with me. Clay, my other roommate, is from Virginia and is in small enterprise development. Both of these guys are pretty cool, but I have made other close friends in the last few days. As much as it feels like I’m at summer camp right now, I’ve gotten a taste of what lays outside the controlled compound of Tobuniso.

For the 4th we went to the American Club and attended a party. Think of the American Club as an American only country club in Bamako (a very low scale country club by US standards). The event felt like a regular 4th, but without the fireworks. The same music, the same food, the same beer, the same Frisbee and a small pool. However, the trip gave me a little taste of what is to come. First, the drive though the small section of Bamako was intense. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the windows as we rolled past in a nice air conditioned bus completely in contrast to our surroundings. It was the first time any of us had seen Mali outside of the compound during the day, and we just absorbed the information. The poverty was very evident and other aspects, such as livestock and the crazy road, made the drive a memorable one. The second major important event happened in the area of “Jim interacting with the Malian people”. I’ll give a brief recount of the events

Jim having bought a ticket redeemable for a beer (the last he will have in the foreseeable future) go to order a beer for a Malian bartender. Jim swaggers up to the drink cart.

Jim: Bonjour

Malian Man: Bonjour

J: (doesn’t know what to say next, and is afraid he will mess up the French) Rolling Rock (points to bottle)

M: (Begins to speak in French of Bambara, of which I recognize nothing)

J: Rolling Rock (points to bottle again, but beginning to feel embarrassed)

M: (More questionable speech and some gestures)

(Rinse and repeat last two lines three of four times)

J: (Having guessed if I wanted the beer poured in a glass) The bottle is fine

M: (Begins to concerned at still speaks undiscernibly)

J: Je ne compred pas

M: (points to the other bartender)

J: (walk to the other cart, points at the beer on tap, takes said beer and leaves embarrassed)

The entire situation left me pretty feeling like an imperialist or something along those lines. Needless to say learning Bambara is on the top of my to do list. Lastly, we saw about a few hundred people playing soccer as we left. You can not underestimate the number of people playing soccer.

I’ll be moving in with a Malian family for the rest of training in a few days and am excited for that.