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
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