Hint of rain

In the midle of the night there was a little bit of rain and a lot of wind. The Bocadari and Awa were happy it was there, but we all had to get up and bring things inside and change where we were sleeping.

I was sleeping outside so I had to move inside. I think in an attempt to be nice they put me in the storage shed so I would have my own space. I had my own spot, but I ended up sharing the spot with all the mice who live around their house. In a half-sleep state, I turned my headlight in the direction of some noise (which was right above my head and outside my mosquito net) and found about 5 or 6 mice huddled up trying to get away from the storm. What surprised me the most was that I went directly back to sleep. For some reason it really didn't bother me that much.

I woke up a bit early, and headed over to Madu Konate's house. Yesterday he said he was heading out to the Bani River Dam, which was just being built as I was leaving in 2005. It was a Malian-Chinese joint project that installed two roads and the dam itself. Madu never really explained why he was going but he said it would be fine for me to come along. I hopped on the back of his moto and we began the journey.

It turned out to be 40km away which is pretty long in the sun on the back of a moto. We did make one stop at the house of a friend of Madu's. I figured out Madu was interested in going to the river to buy fish from the Bozos (ethnic group who live along the rivers and fish). His friend had told him he could buy fish for 400 CFA per kilo at the river versus 600 CFA in Yangasso. We had to stop at his friend's house to find the name of the people we would buy from.

While we were there his friend figured out I was American and immediately asked if I could take his picture. Why my nationality prompted him to ask for a photograph escapes me, but hey... So we walked through the town to this guy's horse and I took a photo of him, some of his kids and his horse. We then walked back and got on the moto to leave. Right as we fired up the moto and started to leave he called us back and came running after us with a small box and handed me his business card... This guy lives probably 35km from the main road of Yangasso which is already Nowheresville for Mali, but this guy still had a business card. **When I get back to the US, I will post that photo**

The river dam was pretty cool. Over half of the river is an earthen jetti. The second half has a bridge with an overflow dam that funnels the water quickly into some structure. What happens to the water is still unclear. Some people in Yangasso told me it is transported about 70km away to be used on the cornfields up there and some other people said it is just used on the millet fields in the commune of Yangasso. I definitely saw a sign saying it was used for corn fields, but all the fields in the Yangasso area are millet. I can't imagine how hard it would be to transfer all that water 70km away... I should try and figure out what exactly happens to the water.

When I got back, I was dog-tired and a little bit sunburned. I spent the afternoon using Bocadari's slingshot to knock over a can near the Coulibaly concession. Ba Djenne and Aloo helped me by collecting rocks for me. I love Malian kids... they had just as much fun collecting rocks as I did knocking the can over.

In the late afternoon, I went over to Vieux Traore's house, who was one of the people I worked with while I was living in Yangasso. Turns out, the fencing project we worked on has not really developed at all since I left. World Vision came in right after I had left and built a large scale community garden with a solar pump and water basins. Ugh. All the material the tree association and I purchased have been sitting in Vieux's back yard collecting dust.
Apparently, a few factors have changed the situation since I left...

1. During the drought, sales of trees has dropped
2. The association is worried people will steal the metal fence once it is installed
3. The World Vision garden has given some members of the association a cheaper alternative to creating an association run tree nursery.

I certainly understand the drought altering the market for trees, which is already a difficult market in rural areas. While the trees sold by the association are reltively cheap and are usually 1 to 2 years old (which is the hardest years for growing trees), people will still try and grow trees from seed or try and find saplings in the woods, even if they are bound to die. As well, the World Vision garden is great for the community and it definitely trumps the work I did. I was working with a small association who had limited resources... World Vision has tons of cash and can spend it on whatever pleases them.

What seems nuts to me is the idea that someone would steal all their fencing if they put it in place. There is metal fencing everywhere in the Yangasso and I have never heard of crooks coming in the night and making off with large amounts of chain-link fencing. I think the greater shame is the association didn't think about the possibility earlier. If they had been worried about a criminal coming and stealing their fence, we could have included cement in the project and got funding for it. As it stands now, I can't go back to Peace Corps and try and finish up my project.

It is frustrating, but not insurmountable. With mobile service now in Yangasso, it means I can keep in touch with Vieux and the association pretty easily and we might be able to make some progress.

I let them know they could sell the fencing and use it for the association, but they still want to try and make the tree nursery work. They already have cash invested in the project with the land, the well and the materials. We shall see.

I had forgotten Vieux's character a bit, but I was reminded of how good of a person after today. It would have been so easy for the association to sell the fencing off and have a made a windfall after I left. Instead he has guarded the materials and has been pushing to make this happen. He is also one of the most pious and devout people I have ever met. He doesn't push his religion in your face, but it eminates from him with everything he does. The idea of quality applies directly to him.