La Nuit

Night~ The crickets are particularly loud tonight, a peaceful night despite the noise of a passing motorcycle or two and the periodic truck on the main road not too far away.  The stars are bright here in a way they never are in Bamako, blotted out only a bit by the mounting clouds.  We (Hannah/Bintou, my American homestay buddy, and I) may have another small mango rain while sleeping outside, just like last night.  Alternating Malian music and rap songs indicate a party going on in a neighboring quartier, and we sit, journaling, attempting to put on paper the turbulent thoughts and feelings coursing through us after a full day with a village family. 

Before today, we were really only halfway here- eating breakfast and choking down fishy dinners with our host families but spending the days with the other American students- dying fabric, painting with mud, learning a bit more Bambara, discussing research proposals, and (in my case) spending some time at the maternity to see if I could sit in on a birth or two.  But today we were completely and totally here- holding babies, hauling up well water (which is a rather terrifying experience if you are even remotely afraid of heights and/or water), stirring ridiculously large pots of food, washing dishes, going through the motions of pounding millet, and even washing lettuce and frying potatoes for dinner.  All of this happened while we were not being mobbed by children asking us to take their pictures. 

So now we have had a very small taste of "village life" in the rather atypical village of Sanankoroba- atypical because of its proximity to Bamako and because of several prominent NGOs's presence here.  But we were absolutely linguistically challenged enough- trying to use our broken Bambara with families who speak limited broken French.  My most successful moments were those in which I discerned marriage proposals and forcefully said no.  Now more than ever, I believe that in order to truly discover a place and its people, one must speak their language.  A translator is not enough, because there are too many socio-linguistic nuances in even the simplest of exchanges that are lost in translation.  However, I also maintain that some things transcend culture- a smile, a willing spirit, laughter.  And the manner in which praise of their God pervades daily life for my family here and in Bamako is also wordlessly inspiring.  As I look at the stars, I cannot help but remember the man I saw today kneeling on his prayer mat as a cow pooped beside him and chickens ran squawking around them both.  That is love.  But now it is time to put up our mosquito net and sleep under the stars...
Kan Si