It is official

Yesterday, Friday, September 12, 2008 we offically became Peace Corps Volunteers. We were sworn-in at the US Embasay with 71 other Peace Corps Trainees. We had to take the same oath that members of the military and congress take. It was quite cool!

Ashley and I with our language instructors at the swear-in ceremony
On the grounds of the US Embassy (possibly the nicest building in all of Mali)


Ashley looking Malian

After the ceremony all "us" new volunteers headed to the American Club (a walled oasis) in Bamako to swim, play sand volleyball, BBQ (hotdogs and hamburgers) and hang out with this giant turtle.

Tomorrow, we are headed off to our regoinal capitol, where we will sit tight for a few days until a Peace Corps vehicle comes to pick us up and then they will bring us to our new home. It's go time, 24 months and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun New Facts from AFRICA-LAND:

-Joe and I both passed our French Language exams!!!!!!!

-We have 3 days left of training at Tubaniso.

-Tubaniso means Dove House in the native tongue of Mali, it is also the name of our training center.

-We look sweet in our new African Garb-pics to come....

-Our official swear-in ceremony is on Friday at the US Embassy-go us!

-I am better than any of you at doing laundry by hand-and enjoy it- it is kind of relaxing.

-We start our lessons in "Donoso" tonight, the African dialect spoken at our village where we will live.

-We have awesome family members who have sent us incredible packages. (Thanks to all of you-Moms, Dads, Grandma, Jessica), I think that we have gotten the most packages out of all then new volunteers----GO FAMILY!

- Joe has consumed more candy in the last two days than he has in the two months that we have been here, due to the amount of packages we have received.

-We were able to watch the new Batman Movie-The Dark Night.

-I had my first Snickers candy bar today since being in Africa-it was pricey but worth it!

-We have a NEW postal address, it is for our new house, we have posted it above.

-Joe has read way too many books since being here-take note, he is posting them on the side of the blog.


Keep checkin' our blog and we promise to keep updating it. We love you all and miss you. Keep us updated with you also by emailing us, we love emails!!!! Let's just be honest, we love any connection we can have to America!

Our New Niece

We want to welcome Anna Faith Behnke into the world.

She was born on Aug. 30th 2008 at 1:45 in the afternoon.

Pictology of Mali

Things we get to look forward to in the next 20 days:

So after our amazing site visit we have to return to our rigorous language training and back to our host families. This also means we will not be near a computer for the next 20 days so if anyone wants to talk feel free to call our phones, we love hearing from you all! (Aunt Debbie, the beeping is normal, that is what the ring sounds like here, so you are on the right track, I just have to answer next time :) )
Anyway, these are the things we get to look forward to in the next 20 days:

Language Training- a necessary evil

Our language test, in which we have to be at intermediate mid to be sworn in as a volunteer-eek! And God-willing we both will PASS!!!

Felid Trips- to various places to helps us with our technical training (me for education and Joe for environment)---this also includes trips into the capitol city, where you get to dine at "american" style resturaunts---always a plus

More rice and sauce---okay this one is questionable-- do we look forward to it, or dread it

Getting clothing made-We have to wear tradational Malian clothing for our Swear-in Ceremony at the US Embassy so we get to go pick out the fabric and visit a tailor---I am more excited about this than Joe.

Getting packages from our loved ones

Hanging out with our LCF's or Languange/Cultural Facilators---which are two guys, who are completely opposite, one a traditional Malian and the other a Westernized Malian, we always laugh alot together

Making a furniture list-we get to buy all new furniture for our "little italian villa"

And on Day 20--We are offically done with training and are on our way to being official volunteers and not trainees.

Site Visit

Over the last nine days Ashley and I traveled north from Bamako about 11 hours to the village we will be living at for two years. This gave us the chance to visit our site half way through our training period. During site visit we had an opportunity to see the house we will live in, we met the village chief and all the village elders. We stayed in the village four nights, during which we attended two baptisms and a tribal elders meeting in which we recieved Dogon names from our village.

The Dogon are a group of people living in the central plateau region of Mali, south of the Niger bend near the city of Bandiagara in the Mopti region. The Dogon are best known for their mythology, their mask dances, wooden sculpture and their architecture.

Out the side mirror of our bush taxi traveling between Bandiagara and Severa
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSKswLKf_5Muwl6k58mR9A8IjOVihI4srpsAB6uFYRlR20Ir7ubwo4T1LqdHnL6Zq0x7Jmh_vdhS4ABfHwPDl0DVNQZSMDrjfiq8-Jr_yGYPYUzb_nlCZMvCc6HM4RY_T3VjRCVKhjqtU/s1600-h/IMG_5487.jpg">
The house we will live in for the next two years - I think of it as an old Italian villa in Mali

This is our yard


Ashley and I took our bikes out for a ride from our Dogon Village of 600 to Bandiagara a town with a population of 10,000.

Dogon grain silo's near our house.

The shadow of our nieghbors houses as a strom rolls in.

Sioux City Journal

Couple land in Mali for Peace Corps work

| Sunday, July 20, 2008

Sioux City native Ashley Wollersheim, and her husband, Joseph Wollersheim have accepted a Peace Corps assignment.

The couple were scheduled to depart for Mali earlier this month to begin pre-service training as education Peace Corps Volunteers. Upon graduation from volunteer training in October, Ashley, 26, will be developing and implementing education programs and activities, while Joseph, 28, will work on environmental education projects.

Ashley Wollersheim, the daughter of Randy and Debbie Martin, is a graduate of North High School in Sioux City. In 2003, she was graduated from the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., where she earned a bachelor of arts in elementary education. She previously worked in Washington, D.C., as a second grade teacher.
''My husband and I have desired to live abroad for a few years, but we wanted to live abroad with a purpose,'' Ashley said. ''With the Peace Corps, not only will we be able to do this, but it also let's us serve others.''

Joseph Wollersheim is a graduate of Xavier High School in Appleton, Wis. In 2002, he earned a bachelor of aArts in communications from the University of Montana, where he met Ashley. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, he worked in Washington D.C. as a legislative assistant for a member of Congress from Colorado.

''When contemplating our decision to join the Peace Corps, our family members were very supportive,'' said Joseph. ''We were both brought up with a sense of adventure and goodwill.''

During the first three months of their service, the Wollersheims will live with a host family in Mali to become fully immersed in the country's language and culture. After acquiring the language and cultural skills necessary to assist their community, the Wollersheims will serve for two years in Mali, living in a manner similar to people in their host country.

Ashley Wollersheim joins the 102 Iowa residents currently serving in the Peace Corps. More than 2,006 Iowa residents have served in the Peace Corps since 1961.

More than 2,235 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Mali since the start of its program in 1971. Currently, 147 Peace Corps volunteers are working within Mali to confront imminent food shortages due to a rapidly growing population and frequent droughts. Volunteers strive to improve domestic food production, as well as find solutions to difficulties in water availability, environmental conservation, and micro-enterprise development. Volunteers are also providing education on preventative health care and HIV/AIDS awareness.