Cinquantenaire!

     So I’m going to change the format of my blog for the next little while after a dear friend of mine inspired me with her tributes at the end of her year teaching in Thailand.  I am not doing a whole lot at site right now other than language practice.  I figure this is a better time than any to start one of my other Peace Corps tasks – to bring Mali & African cultural understanding back to America!  This is mildly selfish in that it will allow all my committed readers the ability to relate to me when I return home all crazy-like.  However, I am also hopeful a few future Mali PCV’s may stumble upon this blog before coming in February & July and get a little bit of a better picture of what life is really like here.  I will be trying to keep the posts mainly with a funny or upbeat tone, but there are topics to be covered that are of a more serious nature and I will try to intersperse those throughout as well.  Blogs to look forward to: ‘What’s Your Last Last Price? – The Malian Market’; ‘An Ode to the Bashe & Other Harrowing Malian Transport’; ‘A Day in the Life of…’ – featuring Malian Men, Women, Children and perhaps a guest spot from a fellow PCV. 

     But first, I must share my experience of this year’s Malian Independence Day – Cinquantenaire!  This year marked the 50th since Mali gained independence from France and it was a joyous day – likely my best here so far.  I was handed an invitation the evening before stating the events would commence at 07H00 and in typical Malian fashion I arrived at 09H00 and was right on time!  I got the perfect seat, right behind the Mayor and his cronies and the village chief (aka the dugutiki).  There was a flag raising ceremony accompanied by song and then a number of speeches from the mayor, the dugutiki, and a few others all in Bambara and French.  The mayor outlined some of the things he hopes to work on in the upcoming year – including time invested in education reform & he stressed the importance of education for everyone, Hooray! 

     Once the speeches were over there was a constant flow of villagers, men & women, walking over to the line of 6 people in front of me, raising their respective arms and shouting at the top of their lungs as a sign of respect and to bless them and in return often received 100 CFA ($.20).  Then began the myriad performances from huge xylophones (balonis) & other Malian instruments, to singing and tons of dancing.  The performances had a repeat of the arm raising, but many of the performers instead received 1000 CFA – clearly much more lucrative :)  They also hosted a number of games for the children including a twist on pin the tail on the donkey, a rice sack race, and a very unsanitary game where young boys dunked their heads in buckets of water to fill their mouths, run to the other end of the field and spit into a bottle and whoever filled theirs up first won.  It was all quite strange to take in it being my first Malian fete!  I took some videos and photos of the day and hope to get them up sooni. 

     After the ceremony the most important and respected men in the commune (consisting of 16 villages) and myself went to the Mayor’s office to share a meal.  It was the first time in village eating at the same bowl as a group of grown men, so I felt some pride in that!  Now if only I could get them to wash their hands we’d be golden!  The rest of the day was spent relaxing and watching a local soccer game but I feel lucky that right at the start of my time here I got to celebrate with my village such an important event in their history.   

     That’s news for now so until next time…