Your Permanent Site Is..

The last few days have been pretty awesome.  On Tuesday, the PCTs in my village took our Mid-Training Language Test.  I was super-nervous and fumbled around a lot, but in the end I was given the level of Intermediate Mid, which is actually the level I needed to achieve by the end of training in order to be sworn in as a Volunteer.  So while I still know I have a lot to learn, the pressure is reduced a little bit!

Since the Mountougula volunteers took our language tests a day early, we were able to come back to the training center in the morning, several hours before everyone else.  INTERNET!!!  (That’s when I posted 11 blog posts at in one go).  It was still painfully slow and constantly went in and out, but at least it was a little bit better!  (The following day the Internet was down for over 24 hours).

On Wednesday, the day we got back to the training center, we were scheduled to find out our permanent sites starting at 4pm.  By 5pm we were still waiting for one of the buses to arrive with the rest of the PCTs.  Needless to say, we were all getting very restless.  They finally rolled in around 5:30 (poor kids had gotten stuck in traffic and the air conditioner died – have I mentioned the temperature is up around 100 degrees during the day?) and were immediately shuttled by the rest of us straight toward the main hangar.

The event was kicked off with awesome news from our Country Director, Mike.  I mentioned in my very first blog post that 2011 is Peace Corps’ 50^th Anniversary, Peace Corps Mali’s 40^th Anniversary, and for that matter, 2010 was Mali’s 50^th Anniversary of Independence.  So we’re here at an awesome time!  Because of all of this awesomeness, Mike made a special request to the President of Mali: to have the Peace Corps Swearing-In Ceremony at the Presidential Palace.  And the President agreed!  He even said it would be totally fine to have the usual 400-500 people in attendance!!  So sometime in the 2^nd week of April, I will be in the presidential palace in Mali, swearing in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer!!

A recent talk with my mom made me realize that I’ve never really explained the Peace Corps Swearing-In process.  Before I went to Washington, DC for Staging I was an Invitee.  After completing Staging and flying to Mali, I became a Trainee.  And at the end of our 9 weeks of training, I will officially swear to uphold the US Constitution as a representative of the US government, to uphold the Peace Corps policies and mission, and to commit to serving the next 2 years in Mali.  It’s a big, fancy deal and we all have the opportunity to get fancy Malian clothes made for the event.  I’m even planning to wear contact lenses!!  It’s kind of our next goal to reach.  We’re all constantly aiming for the next “checkpoint” as we try to get through the current struggles.  Basically, Lights at the end of the Tunnel. This one is our biggest one yet, so we’re all excited/nervous about it.  And how awesome is it that we get to go to the presidential palace?!?!?

Back to Site Announcements: Mali is divided into 8 regions: Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso, Segou, Mopti, Gao, Kidal, and Tombouctou.  Peace Corps has volunteers placed in the first 5 of those regions – the other 3 are off-limits to the rest of us for security reasons.  My particular stage (pronounced “staj” and refers to the 62 of us who came together to Mali) is made up of volunteers in 3 sectors: Health Education, Small Enterprise Development, and Environment.  So when sites were announced, we started in the Kayes region and all the Health volunteers going there were announced, and then the SED, and Environment…and then we moved onto Koulikoro and followed suit, all through the 5 regions. 

Up until this point I honestly hadn’t been thinking too much about my site.  I know a lot of people were concerned – either they wanted to be placed somewhere specific, or they were concerned about their particular community, etc.  I wasn’t at all worried about it.  I don’t know a whole lot about the country at this point and I figured no matter where I go I’ll have an experience, plus it’s out of my hands so why worry?  The thing I was most excited about was finding out who would be near me – this will be my closest support network for the next 2 years, and although that’s not the most important aspect of my service, or why I’m here, it is something that I can understand right now and look forward to as a tangible part of my new life.  But all of a sudden, as names started to be called, my heart started to beat faster – this was so exciting!!!

My name was finally called in the 4^th region: Segou.  My friend Ashley’s name was called, and there were only 2 health volunteers left for Segou, so I squeezed my eyes shut and crossed my fingers…and mine was the next name called!!  I’m having a hard time posting any sort of media on this blog, so you’ll have to Google image search Mali yourself to see my area.  But let me tell you a little bit about my soon-to-be new home!

I will be living in a small town in the Segou region called Sourountouna.  If you Google that name you’ll find a brief Wikipedia blurb.  Don’t be fooled by the info; the stats refer to the commune of Sourountouna.  Mali’s government levels are divided as such: National, Region, Circle, Commune, Town.  My town just so happens to also be the center of the commune.  So I will be living in the town of Sourountouna, in the commune of Sourountouna, in the circle of San, and in the region of Segou.  My community is divided into 2 parts: Sourountouna Bambara (my language/ethnic group) has about 1,700 people and is on one side of the road; and Sourountouna Peulh (a different language/ethic group) has about 1,200 people and is on the other side of the road.  The climate is sahelian, the main religion is Muslim, and major occupations are farmers, cattle breeders, and artisans.  I’m 26km south of a big city called San, so I’ll be able to get there pretty easily, which was kind of a requirement for me since I need fairly regular access to Internet so I can finish my Master’s Degree.  (Fingers crossed for a September graduation date!)

A CSCOM (Malian health center) is in my town, and my Malian counterpart (aka “homologue”) is a Relais for the CSCOM, named Djeneba Dembele.  A Relais is basically someone who is trained by the government to do community outreach regarding public health.  So I’ll be spending the next 2 years working with Djeneba and the Sourountouna CSCOM.  Potential activities that my town wants me to be working on include: Mobilizing the community, especially pregnant women, to attend CSCOM services; Improve growth monitoring activities; Sensitize the community to family planning; and Mobilize the community to refer malnutrition cases to CSCOM.  Secondary projects could include: Working with women’s associations on gardening and health education, promoting health education at schools, and collaborating with NGOs on their projects. 

All of our homologues came to the training center so we could meet them and do 2 days of workshops with them.  Djeneba seems pretty wonderful, but we haven’t had much of a chance to talk yet.  But on Sunday, we all leave to visit our sites!  Sunday is our travel day.  My town is about 250 miles from Bamako and will take me 7+ hours to get there.  Luckily I’ll be traveling with Djeneba on the way there – but on the way back I’m on my own.  It’s pretty intimidating!  But I’m looking at it as just another challenge to overcome that will help me survive – and thrive – here.

So to wrap things up, I’m here at the training center for one more day and then I’m heading east for a week.  I’ll be back on Saturday, I think, and hopefully we’ll have enough internet for me to update you on my new home!!