Swearing-In

Well, I know it's been a while...and of course a lot has happened, but I'll be honest and say that I've been using my little bit of internet time to write e-mails instead of posting here! But, if you haven't been sending me e-mails, don't feel like I'm cheating on you...or maybe you should just send me e-mails too :).

I've started uploading some photos for another post, but in the meantime, I forgot that I wanted to post something from my "Swearing-In" ceremony which happened at the US Embassy back on Sept. 10th. Mr. Michael Simsik, our Peace Corps Country Director here in Mali, made a really nice speech (found below) that I thought some of you would like to read. Yes, it's a little long...but I haven't posted in almost two months...so you can handle it, ha ha. Enjoy :).

PS - Just in case I don't get another post up as soon as I would like, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

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I am delighted to welcome all of you here today for this time honored tradition: the swearing-in of Peace Corps Volunteers in Mali. That is to say, the dream continues. The international events of the last few years have not diminished their enthusiasm to go towards people of other cultures, for the purpose of cultural understanding and to share their know how.

The idea of creating the Peace Corps was presented nearly 50 years ago in October 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy, who was the Democratic party candidate for the U.S. Presidency, spoke to students at the University of Michigan. He challenged the students to commit two years of their lives to help people in countries of the developing world. Since then, 49 years have passed and nearly 200,000 Americans have answered the call to service made by Kennedy. Volunteers have served in nearly 100 countries around the world. Today, there are 8,000 Volunteers serving in 70 countries around the world, including in 25 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

These future Volunteers seated before you today are a manifestation of the ideals that helped to create the Peace Corps in 1961, and show that these ideals are still very much alive in the hearts of Americans today. These Americans come with the desire to work toward the noble causes of peace and development, as well as for the ideal of mutual understanding across cultures.

This event cannot pass without acknowledging that tomorrow is the 8th Anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001 on the United States. Since the passing of the horrific events of that day, Americans have been awoken to the dangers of the larger world around them. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, Americans understand the need for improved understanding across cultures and have continued to respond to President Kennedy’s call to service in record numbers.

The U.S. Peace Corps is here in Mali at the invitation of the Malian Government. For 38 years the Malian government, along with the Malian people, has warmly welcomed our Volunteers. During that time, nearly 3,000 Americans have served in Mali, where today, there are 110 Volunteers serving in five of eight administrative Regions throughout the country. Today, 64 more Volunteers will join them in a few moments.

I would like to sincerely thank the Malian government, as well as the Malian communities where are Volunteers work, represented respectively by the Ministers and Mayors present here today, for their support of the activities done by the Peace Corps in Mali. Allow me, ladies and gentlemen, on this happy occasion, to celebrate this newest group of Peace Corps Volunteers, and to acknowledge the exemplary nature of the cooperation that exists between the Peace Corps and Mali. Even the Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré expressed his gratitude and respect for the work that our Volunteers have done over the years in Mali, during a visit that he made to Peace Corps headquarters in Washington several years ago. He noted that they, “…live in the same villages as the Malian people, sleep on the same mats, eat the same food, and even get bitten by the same mosquitoes.”

The tasks that lie ahead for these soon-to-be volunteers is great, but will be facilitated to a large extent by the Malians in the host-families, organizations, and communities with whom they will be living and working. The Malians with whom our Volunteers collaborate have always proven to be more than willing to share their culture, wisdom, and know how with our Volunteers. For 38 years Peace Corps Volunteers in Mali have been welcomed by their Malian host-families and treated as they would a member of their own family. This is the best example of the fraternity that exists between the American and Malian people.

During the next two years these future Volunteers will have the opportunity to experience all aspects of what is a very rich and beautiful Malian culture. Here, in this country of ancient West African kingdoms and Empires lies a veritable kaleidoscope of diversity and cultures: united by the Malian values of teriya (friendship) and djatiguia (the ancient Malian tradition of hospitality, respect, and fair play), and co-existing in the amiable practice of sanankounya, or “joking cousins.” These qualities not only facilitate, but pretty much oblige the integration of our Volunteers into their Malian host families and communities, where hospitality has no limits. Our Volunteers respect Malian cultural norms, learn to speak the local language, and even adopt Malian names. Within this cultural context, these future Volunteers will be working in communities throughout the country.

To the trainees, I would like to be the first to congratulate you on having successfully completed your training program, and being selected to serve here in Mali. I am truly impressed by the manner in which you committed yourselves to learning as much as you could, during these past nine weeks. I am also encouraged by how much you have already given of yourselves, and how amazingly positive you have remained throughout a demanding training program. I must say, this bodes very well for the coming two years.

The sectors to which you are about to devote two years of your best efforts, are key to the hopes and dreams that so many Malians have for themselves, and their families. All of the Malians with whom you will soon be working, have not been as lucky as you in having access to reliable health care, clean drinking water, nutritious and abundant quantities of food, quality education, or opportunities that encourage entrepreneurialism and creativity. Even as you may find yourself slowly growing accustomed to this sad injustice during the next two years, I encourage you to act upon your passion for equality and social justice to do good work. Also, do not forget that each of you will serve as a model to be imitated in the communities where you will be living and working.

In addition to acquiring language and cross-cultural skills to facilitate their integration into their future Malian communities, we have also instilled in the trainees the ten core values that they are expected to uphold and respect during their service as Volunteers. These are listed on the cover of today’s program. One important aspect of these values is mutual respect and empathy for others, as well as being open to others. Not only will Volunteers be teaching others, they will be learning a great deal about life and themselves. While they may be living and working with people lacking the same level of formal education as them, these future Volunteers will soon find out that in doing their work here, they will greatly benefit from the knowledge and wisdom of Malians who have “graduated” from what the renowned Malian writer and ethnographer, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, called “the great university of the spoken word taught in the shade of baobab trees." By the time they finish their two years of service in Mali, our Volunteers may feel a bit of guilt that they have learned more than they taught. However, they will then realize, in the words of Mr. Bâ, that they have come to “know what they do not know, and only then, will they know.”

To the trainees, I will be honest in saying that Peace Corps service in Mali is not necessarily going to be easy. However, to help you get through those tough moments, remember to push your limits, but also be patient; keep an open mind but don’t lose sight of the values that brought you here; adapt to the local culture, but never forget who you are and where you come from; embrace the seriousness of your mission, but be ready to laugh when things get really tough. Help each other in your work and protect the good reputation of the Peace Corps in Mali. And if you become overwhelmed by the seeming impossibility of what you are trying to do - reach out for assistance. We all want you to succeed, and to do significant and sustainable work here. To this end, the quote of cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead is poignant:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. - Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Trainees, I promise you will never forget your two years in Mali, and I promise as well that the Malians with whom you are going to be living and working, will never forget you.

To our entire staff, who have all assisted with some aspect of the training that has just been completed, I cannot thank you enough for all that you have done to help prepare our trainees for their service. You have worked long hours under difficult conditions to teach language, technical, and cultural adaptation skills to our trainees. Other staff have worked extensively and often, behind the scenes, to make sure the training was a success. From identifying Malian communities and host families suitable for training, to setting up the rooms where the trainees would be staying, and all the rest, they have done it all. To all of our staff, I would like to know that I am continually amazed by your deep sense of commitment to our mission, and the energy with which you so skillfully carry out the innumerable tasks that make up your work day. It is truly a pleasure and honor for me to work with you in helping us to achieve our common goals.

And to the officials representing the Malian government here today, I offer you these 64 future Volunteers who will serve for the coming two years to facilitate development in your country. Their work will be varied; including well construction, reforestation, food security, small business development, girls’ education, adult literacy, and infant and maternal nutrition.

I would like to thank Ambassador Milovanovic, for her endless support of our program as well as her deep appreciation of the work our Volunteers are doing here in Mali. We also appreciate the honor of having this ceremony in this lovely setting in front of this beautiful building that is the U.S. Embassy in Bamako. I would also like to thank all of our colleagues in the U.S. Mission here in Mali, who have always shown nothing short of enthusiastic support of our Volunteers and their work.

I join my Peace Corps colleagues in the excitement of seeing what you are going to achieve here in Mali – starting today. While your motivation and perseverance during training largely involved personal and individual efforts, and drew upon your personal strength, today they become a public promise. Thus, in a few minutes you will take the oath to become a Peace Corps Volunteer. You will promise before God, and these witnesses, that you will faithfully carry out your duty as a Peace Corps Volunteer. And what is that duty that you will be doing so faithfully? It is to fulfill the goals of the Peace Corps. That is your duty. You accept today to uphold an honorable tradition of volunteer service here in Mali.

In finishing, I would like to share with you a quote by President John F. Kennedy, during his inauguration speech in January 1961, during which he noted the numerous tasks that lie ahead of him and his administration. I think his words will ring true for our future Volunteers, as they think about the tasks ahead of them:

All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, not in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

Madame Ambassador, I invite you to swear-in these trainees, as new Peace Corps Volunteers in Mali.
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A few photos for you :)

Ok, so I know I've been slacking on the photo front, and since I was able to get into Bamako this weekend and get on a computer, I'm going buck-wild here to try and put some pictures to the stories I've been telling. I won't make much of a "blog post" now, but in my little amount of computer time, I'll do my best to just caption pictures and give you an idea of what's going on. Enjoy!

Canoes on the Niger river

Kids at homestay...the young girls always take care of the babies

This is where I would sleep outside at homestay...yes, my "bed" is about 5 feet from the cows, donkeys, chickens, roosters...etc. (I had to wear earplugs to sleep, ha ha)

First time visiting my new site...here's this is the main path leading to the village...there's a 7-11 around the corner where I can get slurpees, ha ha (I WISH!)

Welcome ceremony at site! Everyone dances, sings, and plays instruments. Someone told the woman drumming that I played the djembe and so she passed it off to me. Everyone got really excited when I started to play :).

The new outfits a few of us got made for our swear-in ceremony, ha ha. It was something like $6 to buy the fabric and have the tailor make each outfit. Yes, I know, it looks like we're on a bowling team!!! Ha, ha.

This is my homestay family, who I lived with for the first couple of months during preservice training. My hostdad is the guy in the front with the white hat...and he has three wives, the woman with the orange shawl, the woman in the back left corner, and the woman at front right!

My new sitemates...Gloria in purple and Irina in yellow. Mike and Chris are my other two sitemates...just not in this picture. When I say "sitemates", these are people that having the same banking town as I do, so we'll probably see eachother every few weeks or so. Gloria and I live only a few kilometers away from eachother, so we should be best of friends by the end of these next two years!

There's no driving age in Mali...so they start the kids young :).

After visiting my site for the first time, all the new volunteers met up with some of the current PCV's. We all packed into that green transport (at least 19 people), and landed up getting a blowout, ha ha. :)

Our goal was to conquer this rock by the end of homestay. Eric and I tried at the beginning, and finally found a way to get up top on our last day there. I'm on the left, Eric's on the right.

Our homestay clan. The 7 of us all lived in a village called Soundougouba together during our preservice training.

The group of newly sworn in Peace Corps Volunteers! I'm in the back row under the "ED" of "United".

We found this turtle just hanging out at the American Club, the place I mentioned where they have a pool and cheeseburgers...and air conditioning :). He was REALLY heavy.

Yeah, you guessed it...we found a place in Bamako, the capital, that makes brick oven pizza! It's no New York/Jersey pizza, but it was deeeeelicious :).

Some women selling tomatoes, oranges, bananas, etc.

Site installation! Notice the mattresses, bikes and all our other junk piled on the roof J.

This is how Malians get around with all their stuff, ha ha. If you look closely, there’s a blue tarp covering a huge pack of people towards the front…rain protection J.

My homologue, Adama, and I in a town about 11km (about 7 mi.) away from my site known as Faraka. We biked here to look into some additional transportation options for Gloria and I to be able to get in and out of our remote locations (each village assigns a “homologue” to their PCV as someone to look after the volunteer’s needs/well being).

Here’s my bedroom as it stands right now. Eventually, I hope to get a bed frame made to get my mattress up off the floor. I bought the floor mat/rug in the market…it’s a woven plastic, and I think it brightens up my room nicely, ha ha.

If you were to sit on my bed and turn around, this is what you’d see. From left to right: purple sheet to pull across my screen door for privacy, a broom, a propane tank w/ a single burner screwed on top to serve as my stove (for now anyway…I’m hoping to get a 2 burner propane stove), my water filter sitting on top of a blue bucket, on top of the filter is a battery powered lamp and a yellow bottle of bleach (I put bleach in my water after it’s filtered…2 drops/liter), my two water bottles down below, the purple bucket with the green cup in it is my bathing bucket (I dip the cup into the bucket and pour water over my head…its that simple, ha ha). The other room is a little bit bigger, but only has one window so has no cross ventilation (but I’m working on getting another put in). In there I just have my clothes, bike, cooking stuff, etc. This concludes the grand tour of my two bedroom apartment J.

Right outside the front of my house I have a little walled-in area that is known as my “concession”. So, whenever I talk about my concession, this is the area I’m referring to. In the corner of the picture you can see a little opening in the wall…this opening goes to my nyegen (bathroom)…which is just four mud walls (currently caving in) around a concrete slab with a 6”x 6” square hole. There’s no roof which is nice when bathing if the sun is just coming up or just going down…but going to the bathroom midday the sun beats the sweat out of you…and it is then that you have to decide whether you lost more fluids from your pores or from taking a leak J. The green jug is my drinking water and hand washing water supply. It’s pump water, which is better than well water J.

What I see when I look out from my concession.

Another view from my concession. In front of this hut you’ll see the big mortar and pestle, which is used all day and night by women pounding corn and millet.

A bunch of women and children from my village. They came into my concession because they wanted to see pictures of my family from home. I guess I showed someone else at some point…and word spread!

Kids looking in on Gloria and I in the bashee. The kids love when you take a picture of them and then show it to them.

Furniture from the Crate & Barrel down the street…I mean, furniture I got made in my banking town 50km away. A nice looking bookshelf and table if I don’t say so myself…much needed too!

Crate & Barrel delivery truck J. How else do you expect me to transport this stuff? Ha ha. This is also a shot of my house/concession from the outside to give you an idea of the overall size.

Ok, that’s all for now. I hope you all enjoyed my little slideshow. I don’t know when I’ll get internet access again, it could be another few weeks. As always, thanks for reading and for all of your comments…it’s great to hear your feedback on things! (and your encouragement of course J)

Love Owen