Sweeping Dirt

Here in Mali there is a most interesting practice of sweeping the dirt outside ones house at least once per day. Up until a week ago I thought that the Malians were crazy for doing this; that was until I decided to sweep my dirt.

I was fed up with the amount of dirt and trash which had accumulated thanks to the construction crew who rarely work on building my bathroom. I am convinced that all they do is drink tea and look at the wall. Anyway so one morning I decided it was high time I disposed of all this nastiness so that I could sit under my cool gwa and rest away from the midday’s sun in clean peace and quite.



Above you will see a photo with a large back of cement. This large cement bag is filled with close to 70 pound of dust, trash and feces( my neighbors have chickens that frequent my house uninvited) that had accumulated underneath my gwa in the past month and a half. It look me two hours of bending over with a sheet of metal and a stick broom to sweep the entire area clean and I had to ask the help of my neighbor in order to lift the bag over my wall to dispose of it when I finished. I felt wonderfully satisfied when I had finally finished and decided that this is one thing the Malians definitely have right.

Photos

Lately I have had the urge to capture the everyday activities and experiences with my camera, although I rarely am actually able to do so. The presentation of a camera into most of my everyday situations would completely change the dynamic and most likely change the photo that I had wanted to capture. Here the balance of integration between technology and African culture is somewhat strange. For example seeing the new BMW stuck in traffic next to the donkey cart; or perhaps the family that has no electricity and running water but has two cell phones and an ipod. I have been able to take a couple photos of my life in Siby, mostly of my house but some of the recent baptism which took place. Here is a sampling of my latest photos. They are not artwork but can give you a brief gaze into my life here.



This is me in my newest Malian complete. It is made of Barak Obama fabric and the Malians absolutely love it.















My Easter celebration was simple and small. There are very few Christians and no pigs in Siby so the idea of having a large ham for dinner with all the family around the table to celebrate Easter was vetoed. Instead Dan came up to visit and we made a lunch of mangos, tortellini primavera, and had melted chocolate chip cookies for desert. Topping it all off with guacamole and warm bread as a late afternoon snack. It was a pretty good day.













This is a daga. It is a simply clay pot that is cleaned out and in which I put water. When covered the daga absorbs some of the water and cools its contents over about a 24 hour period. Since I do not have electricity or running water this is a wonderful way to have a refreshing drink in my home, and also helpful for staying hydrated!

The hardest component to my service is learning about myself.

I have been in Bamako for the past two days spending some time away from site. Although I truly love my new site occasionally I just need an escape. I find it somewhat amusing, and some what maddening, that I am equally as good at sitting still here as I am at home. Although I want to get to know the people around me, and I wish to become a part of their daily lives, sometimes I want nothing to do with them. Part of that I attribute to the unbearable warmth of hot season and part to my own impatience. I am working on becoming more patient with the people around me, but I am finding myself to be a bit more demanding of them than I should be.
One of my most difficult goals to achieve here is going to be finding the balance between who I am and who I need to be. Obviously this is a dilemma we all struggle with throughout our lives, and it will not be solved by any one answer or thought over a short period of time. Yet here I feel as though I am under the microscope of most Malians that interact with, which intern allows me to see myself with that same scrutiny.
In talking with a couple different people (other PCVs and staff) over the past few days I have come to the conclusion that I really need to get over myself, and over the idea that everyone around me is serious. In my time here I have become somewhat hostile toward the people who talk to me, or call to me, on the street. At home I feel as though I can deal with what I consider to be negative or unwanted attention by letting it brush off me as I walk by. There I have the confidence and the language skills to simply move on without taking offense. But here I take everything too seriously. If someone says something or tries to grab my attention in town my first reaction is usually to lash out at them. Why are they making comments to me? They do not know me, and I surely do not want to go sit with them. To them it is normal and usually a simply playful interaction that I have chosen to take otherwise. I realize that this is something that will need to change soon if I wish to be an integrated volunteer, but I am finding it hard to learn about myself here and even more difficult try to alter those personality quirks that I might not adore about myself.
So as I go back to site this afternoon I am setting out with a new goal. One to be more patient and to be more laid back; to take comments and jokes with a grain of salt and realize that they are not out to get me. If am going to live here for another 16 months I am going to have to become accommodated to social norms and customs without my previous experiences and notions interfering too much.