Clouds Clouds, Clouds

Rainy season has come once again, a little later than usual, but came none the less. Like all planters and farmers, my villagers welcomed rainy season with open arms like the long lost prodigal son; glad to have clouds over flowing with rain and promises of a fruitful harvest. I however was not quite as welcoming. For me, along with rain clouds came clouds of frustration, and boredom. Not to mention mud, mosquitoes and many other critters that wish to take shelter in my mud hut. My cloud of frustration burst open with a clap of thunder and first poured down on me (quite literally) on a bike ride home from Bougouni. Some how I managed to forget that the road to my village turns into a muddy, swampy mess in rainy season. I arrived to my road just as the down pour decided to turn my road into a river fast than my little legs could pedal. After a few failed attempts to walk and push my bike proved to be impossible, I dug my shoes out of the mud and decided I had no choice but to just keep pedaling. When I say river I literally mean running water river- covering the entire road, making it a guessing game as to where to steer the my bike. Thankfully I managed to keep my bike up right and only had to pedal through water up to my knees twice. I made it safely to my door absolutely covered in mud (even in my hair!) just as the sun came out to shine its witty little grin on my dirty self before sinking over the horizon. Shortly follow that misadventure, my cloud of frustration continued to rain down on me when my propane gas tank sprung a leak, my gwa fell down landing on my bike bending the tire rims.

All of the above happenings too place between my last blogpost and the 4th of July. As July rolled in, I finally finally began to see the cloud of frustration break up with sun rays of hope and project approval! My school has taken it upon themselves to create what we call a canteen, and provide students who travel from other villages with lunch. However the ladies cooking the lunch were cooking under a few mango trees. While mangoes provide great shade, they don’t do much in rain storms. So for my first funded project my village is building a cooking hut at the school. My work partner and the school director met me in Bougouni to purchase cement and tin for the roof. I happily went back to village, letting the bliss of productivity fill me…only to have dark cloud of boredom creep in. I haven’t blogged, in hopes that in my next blog I would have great things to report on, the longer I waited the less that happened. Week after week after week, I was told the brick maker was coming soon. Soon turned into two months and over those two months while the farmers were watching their fields grow, the only thing I watched grow was my personal library.

Since my villagers were not working, and holding up their part of the project, I decided to let them take their time for a while, and attempted to keep myself busy by painting murals. I decorated the wall surrounding the doctor’s office with health murals about spreading germs, hand washing, and the benefits of eating the leaves of the moringa tree. Along with the paintings I hosted a few informal education sessions on how to make oral re-hydration drink for children who suffer from diarrhea, and how to make a natural bug repellant called neem cream to a few women in village. All of which turned out well.

I have spent the past few days visiting the doctor in Bamako for my mid service medical exam, but before leaving my village I set my foot down and told my village that I was tired of waiting on their mason to come to make the bricks. I had explained time after time that I am unable to start a new project until this one is finished. Giving up hope on ever motivating them, I complained to Sekouba. He has politely been keeping his nose out of this project because he and the school director do not see eye to eye. Sekouba showed up at my house one morning introducing me to his friend, who just happens to make bricks! I followed the Malian protocol by introducing the school board members who were originally responsible for finding a mason. But gave them a very American ultimatum that if their mason did not show up on Thursday like he said he was (like every other Thursday for the past few weeks) than my mason friend would be back to make the bricks. Friday morning I called my mason, who in the end gave us a better price per brick anyway, making plans for him to come Monday morning. I left my village with full confidence that I will find rows and rows of freshly made bricks upon my return…