New Energy

Joe and I in our matching Fourth of July outfits, ready to hit the town!

After our 4th of July shindig with some fellow volunteers, Joe and I headed to Bamako, the capital city, for our mid-service medical exam and also to welcome the new volunteers to Mali. The new volunteers arrived on July 10th at around 8pm. I was able to go to the airport and meet them all, with my clipboard in hand to make sure everyone was accounted for and all their baggage had made it to Mali safely. Waiting back at the training site Joe and some of the old volunteers waited to give them their first lessons in bathroom etiquette, how to use their mosquito nets and repellent, and reminded them to only drink filtered water. It was an enjoyable few days at the training center, good sessions, and great new energy. The new volunteers bring a refreshing breath of fresh air to those of us who are at our stale-one year marker.

Speaking of a stale-one year marker, Joe and I were recently were having a bit of a bad day, Joe was sick of traveling back and forth to work and I was down and out for the day with some type of intestinal sickness. Here are two instances that perked us right up and reminded us how grateful we are to be here and how we can't let the little things get us down.

1) Joe had just come home from work and we heard some motorcycles coming towards our house. Joe quickly headed outside and 4 men from the Traditional Medicine Center (Joe's work) had come out to wish me good health. One of the men proceeded to tell me that "when I am sick, it means Joe is sick, which in turn means the staff at the Traditional Medicine Center is sick because we are all family." What a great feeling to know that we are considered to be family here.

The guys from work were sporting their Obama T-shirts when they came to visit; this is quite the joke at work, because they all know Joe is a Republican.

2) On the same night, the sun had gone down and Joe had just gotten done with his bucket bath and I was lying on the bed. Joe's counterpart came knocking on our door, Joe answered it and Oumar had a bucket in his hand. He handed it over to Joe and said it was for me because I was sick. Joe opened the lid and there was a whole chicken, plucked and cleaned for me! (Eating meat here, is suppose to make you healthy). I know you are all thinking gross, but it is such and honor here to be given a chicken. Chickens are VERY expensive and are a rare treat. The chicken that was given to me was probably worth about a month's salary.

My very first chicken...isn't he cute!

So the moral of the stories are, that Malians are very community orientated people. The fact that they would sacrifice time to come visit me and sacrifice money for my health is a humbling experience. We are learning alot about community and were reminded that we are blessed to be living with these lovely, caring people!