MALI MALI!!!

Deux Semaine Au  Mali Mali

I Ni Su – Good Evening in Bambara

Week two in Mali has been filled with funny stories from volunteers falling in the sewers to going to getting lost on Sutrama.

Team YMCM have finally started work at our two operational organisations UMAV and Amaldene, and they have both been incredibly humbling experiences.  Also cohort 2 has finally arrived in Mali and Fran has been showing her team around Bamako. At UMAV we have been given the go ahead to build a sensory playground and garden for their students who are either blind or partially sighted. The sensory playground and garden is to give the children at UMAV a safe environment to play that will also help to them explore the surrounding using their others senses. We are all really excited about these two projects and are currently in the planning section for both projects. Today, I and Bridie went to record cohort 2 teaching children English at UMAV. They seemed really into the lessons and so did the other children. They exchanged questions about the differences in England and Mali. For example the weather, the population in England which is apparently around 70 million and 6 million in Mali, even though Mali is absolutely massive compared to Britain.

At Amaldene, me and a few of the other volunteers went to observe different departments i.e. Occupational Therapy, Specialist Therapy and psychology. The teachers are all so dedicated to their jobs and patient which makes it such a pleasure to watch them work with the children. They showed us how they assess children and diagnose each child; and how they help the children. You see really the progress of children in their one to one time with the specialist teachers. For example there was a little boy who was 8 months old that came in and at the beginning of the session he could not sit up at all even with support as it pained him too much. However towards the end of the session he was crying less and even sitting up with support. Unfortunately even though the school is open, they have no electricity as they are behind on their electricity bill.

On the social side of things we have certainly been immersing ourselves in Malian culture. Dicko our security guard has told us how we are his favourite group so far, to show us this he has been plying us with Attai (a traditional tea) around three times a day. Team YMCM went on the hunt for pineapples and mangos and thus went to the market well tried to go to the market. We thought it would be a good idea to go via sutrama. Sutramas are the main form of public transport in Bamako, they are usually green ran down minibus with a wooden benches. They are supposed to have a maximum capacity of 30 however after around 18 people were pretty much sitting on top of each other. It was pretty uncomfortable but funny at the same time as everyone on the sutrama found us hilarious, and couldn’t stop laughing when we attempted to speak the little Bambara that we knew.  After our first sutrama ride, one of the conductors guided us through Le Grande Marche and got us on the second sutrama that would supposedly take us to the market. However when we got of the sutrama, the fruit and vegetables was nowhere to be seen. We walked around for about an hour and then finally gave up. The ironic bit was that on our way back by taxi we went past the fruit and veg market which was only about 5 MINUTES walk from where we were.

Additionally our pizza experience on Saturday evening gave a whole new meaning to Africa time. Even though we had prearranged with the local pizza guy that we would be coming at 6 in the evening for pizza. We arrived at 7 and so did he! It took him forever to heat up the oven and could only make one pizza at a time. It took about an hour for each pizza to be prepared served to us ( and we had 5 pizzas), however the pizzas were delicious when they came out. Definitely one if the best meals since we arrived in Mali (bar the Sharwamas down the road that are amazing).  He informed us that it was the first time that he had ever made pizza in his life, which was also pretty impressive.

As mentioned before a volunteer (Jemma) fell into the sewer which was full of gunk that smelt unbelievably bad. She was walking back to the apartment in the dark and texting when she fell waist deep into the sewer. She came running back to the office screaming that she had a terrible accident, we all came running down. We quickly got her in the shower as she had loads of little insects on her thankfully there were no leaches and she is alright. However she did provide us with a lot of entertainment that evening, as you could imagine.

On Sunday we went to our first Malian wedding, which was amazing even though we were the source of entertainment yet again. We all wore traditional clothes that were made for us from the materials that we bought from the market. At the wedding the singer came up to JJ and sang a song for him in which she included his name. Furthermore there was traditional dancing, we all got dragged on the dance floor to dance; Jemma and Lorriane from the other group were particularly good. You can see the pictures on facebook if you interested in seeing what we wore.

Hope you enjoyed reading the blog. Also please donate to this justgiving page, all proceeds will go straight to our projects here in Mali: http://www.justgiving.com/littlemissmali

Welcome To Mali --- une semaine

Bon Soir! Ca Va,

I have just finished my first week as a volunteer for IS Mali, and we all have had sooooooooo many new experiences . Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa and is one of the poorest countries in the world. The two main languages are French and Bambara, which people here use interchangeably, even in the same conversation.  

Mali is a country of contrast as the south is greener than the north which is in the Sahara thus a great deal drier. Furthermore as you have may or may not have read in the news about the kidnapping of foreigners in Timbuktu which is located to the north Mali is dangerous. Along with much of the north, which also includes Djenne where the famous mud mosque is and Dogon country are all in the red zone, which basically means we are not allowed to travel there according to the British Foreign Office. We are all GUTTED about it. The south however is both safe and stable. In addition to this there is vast difference in the weather during the day and night. During the day the weather is very warm, it is not hot just quite yet as we are in WINTER apparently, but the night is really cold. I wish I bought my jumpers.

On Monday me and the rest of the volunteers (Bridie, Felicity, Jemma, Megan and Rachel) met the Malian Interns Fatimatou, Mama and Mahamed and the staff (Fred, Rene and Jean Pascal). They are all so nice and welcoming, helping us to settle into life in Mali. Also on Monday, Salifou Benglay (our teacher) taught us all about Malian culture and Bambara. Salifou taught us the importance of cola nuts which are pretty much used for everything in Mali, from asking a girl to marry you to asking someone to forgive you. We also got our Malian names, mine is Sarah Tamboura.

On Thursday we went to meet the two of the three groups that we will be volunteering with, UMAV (the Malian Union for people with Visual Impairments/ Union Malienne pour des Aveugles) and FEMAH (Fédération Malienne des Association de Handicapés).  We already a lot of ideas for them both, UMAV in particular. At FEMAH we got invited to a wedding that is taking place next Sunday which should be really fun.  When the meetings finished we decided to pay the supermarket a visit, which turned out to be very expensive probably because everything is imported.  Thus helping us come to the conclusion that the best place to shop is the market where most people shop.

After the rather expensive trip the supermarket, we made our way to the Le Grade Marche (the big market in Bamako).  I have mixed feelings about our trip there today. On one hand it was amazing to see such talented artisans in their element making everything from jewellery to leather wallets. On the other hand it was the first time since my time in Bamako that I saw real poverty. I suppose to a certain extent due the area that we are staying there many NGOs and it seems to be quite well off, we have been sheltered from the poverty that for majority of the population in Mali is a reality. At the market there were little children who were begging for money and a man who was using his hands to move around as he could not walk. This image helped to reinforce why working with groups such as FEMAH, UMAV and AMALDEME is so crucial as, disabled people in developing countries tend to be the most disadvantaged and often the poorest of the poor.

Newhos thats all for this week, hope you enjoyed my blog and that it wasn’t too depressing. If you want to know we are doing on a more regular basis, here is the page on facebook that you can like and get updates from:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Service-Mali/340082972681994?notif_t=page_new_likes