Just in: we are staying in Bamako one more week! We have an awesome opportunity to take a class (out of choice) called Holistic Missions. This is an amazing opportunity and I am so excited! Another blog is coming soon!

Oops!

Hey everyone just wanted to let you know i typed my number wrong!!
It is actually +01122377593135

Sooo sorry if you have texted me! Please try again!

February Update!

My dearest family and friends, 

I am sitting here in Bamako, Mali thanks to all of you and your support! The past month and a half has been super busy and very exciting and I want to take some time to share with you what exactly it is that I have seen.   The internet use is limited here in Bamako but we have been blessed to have the times to use it  when we have had them because most of the time they have been very sporadic. This is a long update due to lack of internet until now so I hope it serves you well!!

Things here are very different from what a typical westernized American is used to.  Daily I realize the idea that I take advantage of so many little things that help “ease” my life.  The idea of being able to microwave any type of meal is so foreign here, which is completely fine because the food here is amazing.  I do not want to give you the idea that this country is underdeveloped all around but I do not want to give you the idea that they are completely there either.  So I will do my best to explain to you just what I see, but please realize that I have only been here 3 weeks and am no expert, or will I ever be, on Mali. 

When arriving in Africa our plane landed at the airport where we had to get off the plane in the port and walk to a bus that would take us to the “gate” where our host would pick us up.  All of our bags arrived, and in one piece at that, which was a complete blessing!  Immediately in the next few days we would be forced to dive in and figure out how to communicate things to our host.  We are currently living with a family called the Sako’s. Mama Josias Sako is our host and his wife Suzane cooks for us every day.  Mama Sako works in the nearby church and has for almost 20 years in addition he has worked with the last few groups when they have come here to Mali.  He speaks English but the rest of his family speaks Bambara, so I took the initiative upon myself to sit down the second day with a notebook and speak to who I knew was Mama Sako’s mother and his brother.  I was pointing at things and they would attempt to tell me what they were and help me pronounce things, with the conversation ending in laughter and 2 full pages of words I immediately decided I loved the Bambara language. I am even more excited to have the ability to sit down and learn Bambara officially in a classroom setting, as well as French.  Our group is catching on to a lot of words and we all help each other remember when my notebook is not in my hands.  Also, we are grateful to have our team member Samantha who knows a bit of French to help with conversations at the stores! 

When in Africa you see dirt, everywhere.  There is no way around it so there really is no reason to complain you just brush it off and move on.  When I walk around with the team we are seen before we can even see anyone and we here children yelling Tu BaBu. They get so excited that they start dancing, some kids say “Bon soir” no matter what time of day it is and they really like it when you shake their hand. The women here sometimes will add on to the fact that the kids are saying this, or laugh; When you greet them, and especially when you do it in their language, they get really excited and respond very happily.

One idea that I refuse to accept is the fact that I know everything, because I am very far from this point.  Being in a class with Dr. Youssouf Dembele for Cultural Anthropology from a missions perspective was a very amazing opportunity that I will never forget.  It was very significant to be reminded that “A long stay in the water does change a log into a crocodile.” No matter how long you live somewhere you will never understand the true way of a society because you are already influenced by another culture.  

Funny stories of the month:

We drove to Kayes as one of our “city visit” on a bus for eight hours.  When we stopped half way and all got off of the bus to stretch out I whipped out my water bottle to take a swig.  A little boy came up to me holding out a can so I thought nothing of it and poured some water into his can.  I looked at my teammate Samantha, we shrugged, thought nothing of it, and headed back to the bus. While heading back to the bus I saw a little boy holding a can, but his had a lid on it. I thought about it after getting on the bus and could not stop laughing to myself at the thought of the fact that this boy I gave water was asking for money and instead I poured water into his cup!!! When mentioning this to my teammate Samantha she started busting up laughing and told me that she had noticed when I turned around he looked at his friend and laughed and drank the water and walked away.  Oh man.. 

Traffic Story:  I wrote this story at 6 AM after being awake on the bus since 3 AM.  So bare with me if it doesn’t make sense, I pretty much copied this to the T from my journal which was very sloppily written.

When you think about traffic in Africa you might actually be stunned at the idea of thinking about such a thought.  Most people have their assumptions of places based on rumor and not first hand experience, so here; let me share a thought with you.  When you picture yourself on the road in your car or SUV and you see someone coming up behind you in a quick manner and all of the sudden you here them honk their horn as they continue by cutting you off.  Usually in this situation you might feel your mouth forming words you do not usually say and you may even feel yourself having the urge to give the guy a thumbs up or another finger of your choosing, but you should know: this is your westernized idea of traffic.  Now, picture yourself in the opposite position, a perfect world where you are driving down the street, slightly in a hurry and you come upon a car driving very slowly, what would you do?  Typically you would get very frustrated, well here in Mali, no problem! Just honk your horn and he will move out of your way. Usually when someone honks their horn at you, you receive it with the idea that they are being rude but here in Mali it is like tapping someone on the shoulder and saying “Excuse me.” 

Now you want lanes? No problem, you got them! They are drawn, I swear but if you suddenly feel your driver swerve a little, no worries he is just moving out of the way of someone else.  If you suddenly see your driver driving straight towards someone, do not fret because in a moments notice he will honk and that person will move out of the way.  Also, when stopped at a stop sign, you may find yourself feeling like you have someone standing next to your car, but it is probably someone on a motto.  Motto’s can pretty much do what they want on the street, fitting through every nook and cranny and get exactly to where they need to go.

One thing to make sure of is that you drive as closely as possible to the car in front of you, for if you don’t you will surely lose your spot. Next we can talk about taking a taxi.  When you come out of the house do not worry for you will get top quality service.  He will load your bags for you and secure the trunk with a bungee cord.  When you get in the taxi with 6 people, there is unlimited space, so don’t worry if you find yourself sitting on some ones lap!  But please don’t get upset if you are the one sitting on someone’s lap and you hit your head on the window or ceiling because it is not the drivers fault, the roads are a little bumpy throughout the compounds. The End

Dance Story:

So one night Tamara, one of our team members, had decided that she was going to call her family so I decided I was going to put on my headphones so that I could write my paper.  I picked the song “Jai Ho” from the movie SlumDog Millionaire started movin and dancing a little  and then preceded to show Samantha what I had chosen.  She started dancing with me without being able to hear the music because that’s just what our group does, we dance all the time! Soooo, I remembered that I had brought my headphone connecter which allows two people to listen to the iPod at one time, so I busted it out and told her to plug in.  We then started dancing our lil’ hearts out and doing what we like to call a dance party! While dancing, because we had headphones on Samantha and I were standing fairly close but we didn’t mind (while in Africa you learn that personal space is not an option) so we continued by choosing MGMT “Electric Eel” and then onto Katy Perry “Firework” and  as we chose our fourth song we looked over and the both of us screamed at the sight of our host’s wife standing in the doorway watching and  clapping!  She had come in to thank us for the pizza we had bought for her and the family (from a restaurant we had gone to earlier that day) and then she left.  Samantha and I turned and laughed and then moved on continuing with our next song choice of “1901” by Pheonix.  When the song was through we started laughing and recognizing we were hot and sweaty and felt like we had just worked out and started to fan each other while talking.  We were laughing so hard at the thought of what we looked like dancing around in our shorts and tank tops standing no more than a foot away from eachother while jumping around to the sound of nothing (seeing as the music was in our headphones). We started wondering how long she was standing there so when Tamara got off of the phone we asked her and she said she was there for a whole minute.  We asked Tamara what she was doing out there and she said that she was dancing and clapping and that she thought Suzane was doing this because we had invited her to our dance party! Oh my goodness! So later I went outside and talked to Suzane about our dancing and she told me (speaking with very little English) that I know how to dance! And that she was standing there applauding us because she thought it was good! So I told her next time we would invite her and she could join in the fun!

Tooth Story:

So many of you may have heard about my tooth but might want to know more about it, so here you go!  One night we were eating a salad and my mouth was hurting really bad so I told my team about it. I thought and told them that maybe it was because I had just flossed earlier that day and I might have hit my gums hard.  After dinner I pulled out a mirror and a tooth pick and looked at my mouth to see what was going on and I realized that my tooth had broken!! The tooth was one of my molars and the piece that had broken off jiggled a little bit but was pretty much stuck where it was.  We went and told Mama Sako and so he made a few phone calls and said we would go to the “Emergency Dentist;” great, my first overseas experience of being completely vulnerable to the idea that I have to trust the people here, praying that they are able to understand me, seeing as my host is limited in detailed English. So we saw a guy who I thought was the doctor but actually turned out to be more like a physical’s assistant who told me that I would have to come back tomorrow. I had to pay for the fact that we were reserving a slot for the next day and I was told that it would be 1,500 CFCA ($3.00) so I preceded to get the money out.  The bills here are confusing if you are not paying attention to what you are doing and so the bills that I had were going by 10,000 and I was kind of nervous to be dealing with money.  I started counting the bills in my purse trying not to show all of the money that I had and started counting 10, 20, 30 … till I got 1,500 but what I had forgotten is that the 10’s on the bills were 10,000 not 10, like in America but even with that my logic still did not make sense! When I pulled out the money and handed it to Mama Sako to give him, he gasped and said “Ah, No!! 1,500! So I suddenly realized what I did!! Oh my word! As we were walking down the hall to leave I started laughing and said “I can’t believe I almost paid that guy a million CFCA and Mama Sako laughed innocently with me.  I cannot describe to you the significance of the moment in my life, I felt like he was my family and hearing his laugh made me feel like I was home, I was comfortable. Anyways, back to the story, luckily I had taken some pain medication and made it through the night.  The next day after class and after lunch we went to the Dentist again and with very limited communication, my doctor was only able to tell me to “spit” and “open” and there was, what smelled like, a pre-used towel laying across the front of me he started drilling my tooth. He slimmed down the piece of tooth and pulled it out and then put what I think may have been a numbing thing (don’t worry it was safe, I just don’t know what it was) and then filled in my tooth.  Everything he did seemed, for the most part, like anything I would have experienced in America and later I found out that the guy that had fixed my tooth was in the military! What a blessing! The total for my tooth fixing was 6,500 CFCA which is $13.40 and it feels good and has no pain! Thank you to those who were praying! PTL! (Praise the Lord). 

Here in Bamako we are lucky to have a toilet, because Suzane has arthritis they have installed one for her.  To shower, though, we use a bucket and at that we are outside no matter what.  Because there are no roofs on the bathroom and shower, when you go to the bathroom or take a shower during the day you feel like you are getting sun burnt!   When we visited Kayes this situation was very different, everything was indoors and there was no toilet so we used a hole in the ground!  Yes!  

Here I have a phone and am able to receive and make phone calls as well as text.  The only thing that is difficult with the texting is the fact that I can text your telephone but you have to buy Skype Credit and text my phone directly from there.  In most situations if you text from your cell phone directly I will not receive that text.  This type of text message will cost you about .09 cents which is less than what it cost me to text you!  And to be honest I love receiving texts because I am very homesick! +011(223)77593135 is my number the 011 is the country code and 223 is the area code and the next 8 digits are my phone number.  If your heart so desires, I would love to hear from you!!!

The food here is amazing and my favorite thing that they have made us in between Tombouctou Bread and the Salad!!! The salads here are amazing and way better than any American Salad: they range from having things like beets, eggs, fries, cooked carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and meat! Every time we have had one, we have never been dissatisfied!. Since we have been here I have eaten 4 of my chocolate bars that I brought and have had 8 cokes! These two things have been my biggest weekness seeing as in America I have these almost every day! 

 

 For now this is all,

 Until next time!!! 

I love and miss you all!!

Kaeli Mincey