Our Village

So this is an excerpt from a paper that Joe had to write about our village, I thought it was interesting so I decided to post it.

Kalibombo is a small village of about 600 people located five kilometers north of Bandiagara on the road to Kendie. The village sits directly on the main road, which is a  well-built and maintained dirt road, constructed by a German NGO (Non-government Organization). If you continue on the road heading North past Kalibombo you will pass through the villages of Kendie and Borko(and several other small villages) and eventually reach Dountza which is on the main highway to Goa.

Kalibombo's ethnic majority is Dogon but has a small yet important Puel population.  Most villagers speak Dogoso, but understand and speak several other Malian languages and local Dogon dialects such as Bambara, Puel, and Toroso.  There are only two men in the village who speak French.

Kalibombo is a Muslim village that seems to have animist tendencies.  The villagers are not overly religious but do celebrate major Muslim holidays and participate in Muslim traditions such as fasting during Ramadan and celebrating Tabaski as a village community.  The village has one, modern looking, mosque which was built within the last several years replacing a more traditional mud mosque.  The villagers stated that the money to build the new mosque came from Burkina Faso but I suspect the money originated somewhere in the Middle East, possibly Libya or Saudi Arabia.  The Mosque also recently received a gift of a solar panel that will power one light strip outside the mosque as well as the speaker system that broadcasts the call to prayer to the village.

There are young men in the village that study the Koran and memorize prayers in Arabic, and several older men including the Imam who faithfully attend prayer five times a days, but overall the villagers would not be described as overly zealous Muslims.  Women do not attend prayer at the Mosque and do not attend prayer for baptisms or marriage celebrations.  The village is aware that I practice the Christian faith and yet allow me to attend their religious ceremonies and recite prayers with them. 

Kalibombo lies within in Mopti region in a sub-region known as "Dogon Country" because of the uniqueness of the Dogon people and the beautiful land they live on.  Kalibombo is in a region of Africa known as the Sahel, which means that it has a dry desert feel yet has a lot of ground shrubs and small amount of equally distributed trees.  Subsistence farming is the work of every family in the village.  The land is suitable for the cultivation of millet, peanut, and okra.  Mangoes, guava, limes, and several regional fruit trees grow in gardens.  Onions and garlic are also grown in small terraced fields, but there are few of these fields because of the amount of water that is needed to grow onions and the villagers only method of irrigation is by hand.

Annual precipitation is low with a rainy season beginning in June and ending in late September.  The precipitation comes in the form of hard and quick down pours.  Kalibombo is located on the tip of an elevated rock plateau peninsula, with no water source on the plateau.  To access the three water sources of the village requires descending in elevation off the rock plateau.  To the east of the village about 800 meters is a hand pump that was installed by a Japanese NGO in the campaign to eradicate the guinea worm (villagers don't use this water source because of the distance it is from the village even though it is the most secure clean drinking water source.)  To the south of the village about 1300 meters is a well.  To the west of the village about 400 meters is a natural spring.  The natural spring is the main drinking water source for the village.  There is no protection to the water source at the spring.  Animals drink and defecate near the spring head , woman and children also wash clothes and their bodies close to the spring head.

Kalibombo has an elementary school.  The school building is the best constructed structure in the village(the mosque and school are the only community buildings) and was constructed with money from the Malian central government.  From what I have observed the level of education of the village is extremely low.  Only two men speak French.   Only one adult reads or writes above a fourth or fifth grade level.  Approximately one-third of the children in the village go to school.  I am not aware of any children that currently attend school beyond elementary school.

Mangelo Djibiba is the Chief of the Village and is very respected and has alot of power and control over decisions that affect the village.  The Imam also is very influential as well as the Malian war veteran.  There is also a group of about ten older men that serve as the village elders that also have much influence.   If you want to hold a meeting, or do any community activity you must first get approval from the Chief.  The Chief also controls the land and trees.  So, if you want to cut down a tree for firewood or harvest bush fruit from a particular tree you must get the approval of the Chief.

Kalibombo has one small boutique that is run out of a house near the center of town as well as a metal smith.  Because of the proximity and easy access to Bandiagara, most village business or economic needs are met there.  Bandiagara is the town that villagers use to bring their products to market, which include okra, onions, millet, and firewood. Bandiagara has a hospital and pharmacy. Kalibombo has several traditional healers including the Chief of the Village.

The staple food for families in Kalibombo is millet, mostly in the form of Toa.  Okra, Baobab and hibiscus are the three main leaves used in the preparation of sauces for the Toa.  Few fruits or vegetables are consumed because if they are grown they are sold at market and there is no money to buy vegetables.