Dogon Country

Check out pictures!

Last week I took my first significant trip North, to Dogon Country in Mali. I went with three friends, and with the Canadian we met on the drive up, we had a good smallish group. The Dogon people live along these huge cliffs that jut up from the floor of the Sahel. Thing is, they’ve built their villages along the base, top, and literally into the sides of the cliffs. We had a great time hiking around the cliffs, exploring ancient and modern villages, and napping. Plenty of glorious napping.

Our guide for the hiking expedition was Omar, the guide recommended by every PCV this side of the Mediterranean. We met up with Omar in Koro, Mali where he promptly gave us water to wash up and fed us. Two big pluses in my book. Omar had arranged transport for us to the first village, so we piled into a beat up station wagon, and set out into the bush. The great thing we quickly learned about Omar is that he took care of everything for us: where to stay; where and what and when to eat; routes up and down the cliffs. He even told us when to take pictures. You might think that this would get a little overwhelming and/or annoying. Nope. None of us had done any planning for the trip, so we were perfectly content to let Omar dictate everything. The other great thing about Omar is that he was really good about taking breaks during hiking. We’d hike for about 30 minutes before he had to stop for a smoke break. Each day at lunch we had a huge feast, then a three-hour nap. We never hiked more than 8km in a day. The first day was ridiculously hot, so not doing anything from noon until 3pm was very welcome. The second day we got caught in a dust storm that made us feel like we were hiking on Mars. Then the rain came, making the rest time not completely necessary but still very much appreciated. What will I ever do in America when someone says I only get 30 or 60 minutes for lunch. Aye.

The country itself is absolutely magnificent. Most of the modern villages are either at the top or along the bottom of the cliffs, and people walk up and down all day, going to market, trading goods, cultivating crops, and visiting friends. The ancient villages are all built into the sides of the cliffs. The people built their villages off the floor of the Sahel back in the day when it was covered by a jungle. Wild animals roamed freely, so people climbed up the now nonexistent vines coating the cliff walls, and built their villages in the safety of the cliff side. Insane. The Dogon and Telem people were also strict believers in black magic, and there are fetishes and remnants of fetishes all over the place. Unfortunately they were also a bit sexist, and women- considered unclean- are still not allowed in parts of the villages near fetishes. The neatest aspect of their culture (aside from the fact that they climb up and down cliffs all day) is probably their justice system. They construct really short hangars where elders go to discuss community problems. The ceilings are built so low that they prevent people from standing up and starting a fight.

Mayor's Festival

My village recently built a new office for the Mayor. The building was finished several months ago, but the official opening ceremony was last weekend. Officials came from Ouaga, masks danced, and the soccer and wrestling tournaments held their championship matches. Quite the weekend.

Saturday started off with a big ceremony at the Mayor’s new office. There was a tent set up for the officials and village functionnaires, and the rest of the village gathered around the perimeter of the field. All sorts of important people from Ouaga were there- ministers, members of Parliament, and the Mayor’s extended family. Speeches were given by the ministers, our village Chief, and the Mayor. All the ethnic groups in the region also sent performers, and the interesting part of the ceremony was seeing the traditional masks and dancers. The ceremony ended with the presentation of a goat and pottery (my village is famous for its pottery, which lines the side of the road and is sold to every passing bus, car and white person) to the Ouaga officials to thank them for coming.

After a short break for lunch, the entire village re-convened for the championships of the wrestling tournament. A few months ago the first few rounds were held, and probably 100 wrestlers were whittled down to the top 16 who wrestled in the championships. This is Greco-Roman style wrestling, very similar to wrestling I remember from high school, with one important exception. There are no fancy systems for scoring points, special holds, or positions. The only rules (demonstrated at the beginning of the match) are that you can’t bend the other person’s hands backwards and you can’t grab the other person’s crotch. Other than that, last man standing wins. It’s pretty cool to watch, and everyone is totally into it. Men, women, kids, everyone in village was there. To no one’s surprise, the winner turned out to be the biggest guy in the tournament. His prize: a moto. Not a dinky little scooter like the “B list” functionnaires drive; this was a real Yamaha full-size motorcycle. I’m not sure where they got the money to pay for it (or why that money couldn’t be used for something like books at school), but it was a pretty sweet prize nonetheless.

Check out pictures from the day.
And a video of the masked dancers. (Coolest)
And a video of the traditional hunters.
Video of more dancers.
And a video of the wrestling match. (Very cool)

On my way out of town the other day I swung past the elementary school to check on our Moringa plants. They’re doing really well. The school has build an awning to keep the trees out of the sun until they are big enough to plant, and almost all of the seeds have sprouted. The bank’s internet connection was down the last time I tried to withdraw our project money from my account, so we haven’t started building the kitchen yet, but we should be able to start when I get back to village next week. Thank you again to everyone who donated!

PS To Ms King’s class in Oakland- We got your letters last week! Thank you so much. The students were able to read them on the last day of school (perfect timing!), and they’ll reply in the fall. Everyone really liked looking at the photos and seeing the American money.

Thank you!

I just received word from the Peace Corps that our PCPP project at the elementary school has been completely funded. Thank you so much to those who donated! I called the Headmaster last night, and he was very excited. We’re (hopefully) going to start gathering materials and (really hopefully…but doubtfully) building next week. I’ll keep you posted as we go.

I was over at the school the other day, and we have Moringa! We planted about 175 trees, and I’d say about two-thirds of them have already germinated. We planted the trees in water sachets (bags…many drinks come in small plastic bags bags here. You bite off a corner and enjoy!) where they’ll grow for a couple of months. This process is called creating a pépinière (or nursery in English). The students have been watering the plants each morning for the past couple of weeks, and we now have trees! Sometime this summer, when the trees are 30-40 cm tall, we’ll take them out of the bags and plant them in the ground.

The other big news in village is actually pretty big. Our village soccer team recently won the provincial soccer tournament in Dedougou, the provincial capital! The day of the match practically the whole village piled into a huge camion for the short trip to Dedougou. Throughout the match the Dedougou city slickers were ratting on our team for being too villageois to beat them. It was very much a city kid vs country bumpkin atmosphere…until we kicked their butts. 2-0. No questions. Let the partying begin! Well, kind of. Much to my surprise there wasn’t much of a party that night in village. Groups of small children ran around the whole night screaming “WE WON! WE WON!” but everyone else was pretty subdued. The next morning there was a small ceremony at the soccer field in village to present the trophy and prizes to the village elders and respected adults, each of whom gave a speach thanking the team members. See the pictures! The real party was the following weekend. The team members threw the village a dance, and what a good time that was! Everyone stayed up until 3am dancing at one of the bar/restaurants in town. Good times! And luckily for the kids, staying up late is no longer a problem because…

School is over! Though the “last day of school” date changed three times (not kidding) in the month of May, we eventually made it to the end of the school year. We “didn’t have time” for final exams this year, so I gave my last tests last week, and when I get back to village I just have to calculate the students’ cumulative GPA. It was a great school year, and it would have been really hard to say good-bye to the kids…except that I’ve decided to come back! I’ve talked to the Peace Corps and with my school, and I’ve decided to remain in village and teach for one more school year. I’ll be spending most of my summer training the new group of volunteers who arrive next month, travelling around Burkina saying good-bye to my friends who are COSing (Close of Service) this summer, and hopefully making a trip to Morocco and America. Then I’ll be back in village for the start of the school year in October! I’m really excited to be staying. Who knew I’d love teaching this much!? Or living without electricity and running water. Haha.

Moringa is in the Bag

Hey everyone,

I don’t have much time today, but I wanted to let you all know that our first set of trees is planted and eagerly awaiting the summer rains. We planted about 200 Moringa trees last weekend, and we’re all very excited. Moringa is a fantastically nutritious tree that grows really well in our climate. The leaves can be ground up and put in sauces, and the seeds can even be used to purify water. Check out our pictures from the morning.

We’re still a few dollars short of our fund raising target, so an extra help you could give us is much appreciated. Trees are easy and (nearly) free, but construction materials and labor are not. Please donate here. Thank you!

Support my Village Elementary School

Over the past couple of months I have been working with the staff at one of the elementary schools in my village. We have designed a project that will start a school garden, build a kitchen for the school lunch program, and dig a staff latrine. We need your help to make sure the project goes as planned. Please donate here. All donations can be made online through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, and every penny of your donation will be put towards our project. Thank you for your help!

We began the first phase of the project, the planting our garden, last Saturday. Check out the pictures! The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade boys spent a couple of hours one morning softening up the ground with their axes and hoes. We haven’t had rain since October, so the ground was hard as a rock, and the kids did a lot of work. Then they hauled ten wheelbarrows full of dirt, sand and manure to the garden to mix and water. We’ll let it sit for a couple of weeks so it can begin to break down. As soon as it’s ready, we’re going to start planting trees! Our first trees are going to be Moringa, an extremely versatile tree that is packed full of nutrients and grows well in our climate. The leaves will make great additions to rice sauces, and the seeds can even be used to purify water.

Later this month we will start construction of the kitchen building and latrine. The kitchen will have enough space for several women to prepare food, and since it is on the school property, it will be an easily-accessible place to prepare school lunches. It will also have a roof to protect the women from the sun and dust, and a door to make sure the goats don’t eat the lunches. And the staff latrine, your basic hole-in-the-ground, will be a much-needed addition to the school grounds, saving the staff trips to neighbors’ houses to use the facilities.

The school staff and students are very excited about the garden and kitchen in particular, and everyone is eager to get started. Now all we need is a little financial help to buy construction materials and seeds. Please donate here. We appreciate anything you can give, and remember, every penny of your donation will go towards our project. Thank you! Merci! And I ni che!

A Camel Comes to Visit

Last weekend I was sitting minding my own business on my front porch. I had gotten a little behind in my lesson preparations, and as it was already late Sunday afternoon and I had nothing prepared for Monday morning, I admit I was a bit…focused on my work. And that probably explains my delayed reaction as a mob of swarming children stampeded into my courtyard. (I’m not kidding. There were probably 50 of them.)

My first thought admittedly was, “Great. What do they want? And why are there so many of them?” I’m accustomed to having numerous small children come to stare at me, but usually they try to sneak into the courtyard (as if a group five year-olds can sneak anywhere) and peek over my wall to stare at me and ask for candy. But as my gaze rose, my jaw dropped, and I watched as a man’s head bobbed up and down above my courtyard wall. He slowly made his way to the gate, moving in a very jerky manner that at first made me think he was on stilts. Nope. He got to the gate and I immediately saw that he was sitting atop a gigantic camel. He smiled and waved at me, then eased the camel through the gate and rode right up to my porch. I was dumbfounded. And for a second I didn’t think he was going to stop. My thoughts sounded like a stuttering adolescent Romeo: “Uh, pbt, ah, what do I do with a camel on my porch?” I froze. Luckily he stopped at the porch step, and my 8 year-old neighbor came running up.

“Monsieur, he’s travelling through town and wants you to take a picture.” When a man rides into your courtyard on a camel asking for a picture, you oblige. I ran into the house, and was shocked again when I came back out. The camel that had been enormous moments ago was now kneeling with his head about level with mine. I took a few pictures of the man and his camel, then, without a word, he got back on, stuck out his hand for a tip, and was gone. Equally amazingly, the children had found the one thing in village more interesting than a goofy white person, and they followed the camel (which we don’t see very often that far south) out the gate.

I talked to my neighbor a few minutes later. Apparently the man, a member of the Tuareg tribe that lives in the Sahelian north of Burkina, was travelling through town, probably on his way south to Cote d’Ivoire. Someone must have told him that there was a tobaboo (the Djioula word meaning “stranger”, “foreigner”…or “white person”) in village who would love to take his picture. So he came to visit. And I took his picture.

Almost two years in Burkina, and it’s still bringing me surprises. Go figure!

Word from the Village

Pictures from my family’s visit!

Second, a BIG shout out to Ms. King’s 6th graders in the Bay Area! I received your letters yesterday and am going to share them with my students this week. They will be thrilled. Thank you so much!

Life has been good lately. My family came to visit right after Christmas, and we had a great time together. We got hassled in the markets, biked out to the waterfalls in Banfora, and were celebrities in village. Though we differed on temperature comfort levels (I was freezing in the mornings and during our afternoon dips in the pool; they were unpleasantly hot in the mid-afternoon), I think they had a good time. In village we got to visit my school and told my students all about life in America. In return, students and other friends were at my house at just about every day-lit moment to talk with my family. They took us on a tour of the pottery making boutiques, showed us around the elementary schools, and even gave us front row seats during my village’s New Years celebration. They were incredibly kind and generous, sharing food and souvenirs with my family. Though the latrines and bucket baths took a little getting used to, I think they secretely loved village. My students tried their hardest to convince Nick to replace me when my time is up. We’ll see…

School has been going well this trimester. Mornings are so cold (OK, 72 degrees) that students come in bundled under three or four shirts and complain when I tell them to open the windows or door so that they can see the blackboard. (I must admit I shiver a little too; my last full Minnesota winter seems a long time ago.) Lately, though, the heat has returned, and by the time the afternoon class rolls around, students are passing water bottles around to try to stay cool (temperatures over 100 degrees). And we’re not yet to the hot season. Our school soccer season has started, and my class of 7th graders almost beat the ninth graders a couple of weeks ago. It looks like we’re going to have a great team this year!

I’m in Ouaga this weekend for a softball tournament with the American Embassy. We’ve had two games so far…and played well both times! Haha. It’s been a lot of fun, though I must say it’s been weird being around so many Americans the past two days.

I’ve got to run, but I should be at a computer again soon. Happy New Year to all!