Site Visit

My site visit was fantastic. I’m absolutely thrilled with Yangasso, and can’t wait to get back there. There’s so much to say, so this will have to be a quick overview. I'm exhausted.

I took a bus with three other PCTs and our Malian coworkers. It took about 7 hours to get from Bamako to San, which is the closest large town we will use for banking and shopping. In San we were greeted by the current PCVs of the area who cooked us a fantastic curry dinner and brownies. We stayed the night in the stage house. It’s basically a small western style house for volunteers to use whenever they need to come into town. It has electricity, a refrigerator, oven, running/drinkable water, ceiling fans and tile floors. I can’t describe the joy we felt upon arrival.

The next morning we all set out to our respective sites. My house in Yangasso is cement with a tin roof and no electricity. It’s a long building with two apartments of three rooms each. My rooms are painted bright blue with a yellowish border. The concession is huge, and a pain to cross at night in the rain to get to my nyegen. There is a well in the center of the concession for bathing water. Drinking water comes from a public pump. They’re also building a hangar for me (a thatch roof canopy thing for shade), and there’s plenty of room to start a garden. My street turns into a river after a storm.

I share the concession with a Malian family. I’ve only met the father, but he’s as nice as can be. The second morning there was a huge rain storm, so my host family couldn’t get to my house to deliver food. Worried that I hadn’t eaten, my neighbor went out in the storm to get me bread, eggs and coffee, and refused to let me pay him back. He was completely disappointed that I left before his wife and 5 children returned from Bamako, and I can’t wait to meet them next month.

I spent my three days at site meeting absolutely everyone of any importance in town, eating with my supervisor’s family, attempting to learn a little more French and Bambara, and playing with the local kids. Actually it wasn’t so much playing as me reading or writing while they watched. One of my favorite moments was meeting my supervisor’s extended family, including a new nephew who was just a few days old. As soon as I walked into the room the baby was dropped in my arms while the women chattered away in Bambara.

I was given the new last name of Coulibaly, which means I’m joking cousins with pretty much everyone. It was great ice breaker with everyone in the community.

After three days at site we went back to the stage house in San where we made delicious tacos and cheesecake. We stayed up all night listening to music, dancing and talking then slept on the bus ride back today. It’s past 11pm now and I can’t remember the last time bed sounded so good. I’ve finally added some new pictures to Flickr (they took forever to load, so there aren’t many); be sure to check them out.