January 2010
16 posts
BamakoTShirt on Twitter →
My newest creative outlet. I’ll try to be good about updating!
One month... deja?!
Time is FLYING. I can’t believe that tomorrow will mark my first month in West Africa. I guess this erases all my fears that a 7 month stint in Mali might feel extra loooonnnnnnnggggggg. Now, I am already getting nervous that I won’t have enough time here!
So far, I have:
Visited 2 countries (Senegal and Mali)
Successfully found a room to rent in Sikoro, figured out a system for...
Mapping Haiti... or, Why Geography is Great! →
My Mom sent me this link the other day - it’s the transcript from a radio broadcast which reports on mapping activities in Haiti. One of the (many) challenges aid workers have faced in their relief efforts is the lack of up-to-date, accurate maps. Open Street Map, a communal, digital-mapping project was thus born! An army of volunteers, armed with GPS units and iPhones, are helping create up...
Banksy in West Africa →
Some images from West Africa, purportedly created by Banksy, the world-renowned street artist.
(Thanks Ben for passing this to me!)
Freakonomics post from MHOP →
The Mali Health Organizing Project’s newest volunteer, Mike, got his comments/question posted on the NYT Freakonomics blog (“bleg”) today. Feel free to join the debate.
I definitely agree with the posted comments that it is important to ask the Sikoro population what Action for Health tasks they are most interested in. They are, after all, the community’s experts and...
Les Voix de Bamako →
So, Festival au Desert was not really an option this year due to time and financial constraints, as well as copious embassy warnings not to travel to northern Mali. Les Voix de Bamako looks like it is going to be a fine replacement. It is a music festival that is happening RIGHT HERE in Bamako and looks SO freakin awesome I can hardly wait to get my dance on. The Palais de la Culture (the festival...
A Visit With the New Wife
I paid a visit to my old host family in Sikoroni the other night. Before entering, I noticed that the sheep pen near the door to the kitchen area was much more crowded - this is typically a sure-tell sign of increased cash flow for a Malian family. There has also been increased construction in the compound since I last visited in October…. and a ton since the fall of 2006, when I was a...
Football... Mali-style
Last week, I spotted an interesting billboard from my taxi cab. It was a team photo of the Malian national soccer team, and had the following slogan emblazoned across:
“Soutenir les Aigles, c’est soutenir Mali!” (Supporting the Eagles is supporting Mali!)
Les Aigles are serious business around here and soccer is certainly a national passion. There are dirt terrains de foot...
Allez les Aigles! →
Cooking!
One thing I am very excited about this time around in Mali is my access to cooking supplies. One room of the MHOP office has a kitchen/hang out area. The American volunteers have been making some pretty impressive dishes from the various ingredients they can find in Mali, supplemented by a random spice and condiment selection that has been growing over time. The ability for us to cook dishes...
Bambara Wiki →
My colleague Alex stumbled upon this awesome link today. Cheers to whoever created a Bambara version of Wikipedia!
Senegal
On the D.C. to Dakar portion of my travel, I sat next to Yusef. He is from the Gambia but now lives in the U.S. He tries to go back to Africa every 6 months, which is impressive since he left home at age 16 to go to school in the U.K. He is now 27. At this point, though, Yusef had not been back in 2 and a half years, so he was super excited to have 3 weeks away from the youth empowerment NGO he...