Musings on Aid, Expats, Politics and Life in Mali

Sunday we went to visit our new friends Stephanie (aka, Youma) and Pierce. Youma stayed in my host family for part of the semester after I was here and after a lot of facebook communication it has been really nice to get to meet her in person. Getting to their house was our first real Bamako transit adventure involving a sotrama that did not go where we thought/hoped and an overpriced taxi, but we made it. Youma is staying with her cousin who is a high level UN official in Mali in a beautiful house in a neighborhood of beautiful houses filled by soldiers, ambassadors, Malian millionaires and others. We ate delicious breakfast and had a great conversation about politics, aid, Mali, etc. that prompted the (somewhat disjointed) thoughts of this post.

It is always humbling to remember how little of the massive amount of information surrounding my immediate situation I have a grasp on. I am, of course, reminded of this everyday by the conversations I do not understand in Bambara and the bazillion little events which seem to make no sense whatsoever. It can be a little overwhelming to remember that in addition to all of that, there is an entire superstructure of aid and government politicking going on that we have no more access to, in our current position, than most of the Malians we live with. We watch the TV news every night at my host family's house, but ORTM (the government TV station) seems to mainly cover the latest great things that ATT (the president) has handed out to Malian citizens in elaborate ceremonies. Through her internship and her connections, Youma has the opportunity to be plugged in to the expat/aid circle and hear what those power brokers are saying. Mali has elections coming up in 2012, and the UN in particular appears to be pouring massive amounts of money into ensuring that those elections are conducted fairly. Apparently in the last election (which reelected ATT by a substantial majority), people would show up to the polls and be told “You can check this box (ATT) and receive 3,000 CFA (about 6 USD) or check where you want and receive no money.” This sort of behavior is not uncommon for African elections, but in one of the continent's most successful democracies, it seems particularly alarming.

As a small digression, our discussion on the fraudulent elections, the “news” produced by ORTM, police corruption, and the Malian government officials (mentioned in an earlier post) who stole 2/3 of a Global Fund malaria eradication grant had me seriously worried about the quality of my senior thesis, which discussed the reason's for Mali's relatively successful democratization compared with it's long suffering neighbor, Niger. Is Mali a success at all? The at once sobering and hopeful truth is that success is relative and so, compared to its neighbors, Mali is successful. There is graft, grinding poverty, electoral misconduct, and a HUGE variety of other problems. After all, this is one of the poorest countries on earth. But it is possible for Malians to access independent sources of information, and they can be fairly sure (inchallah, inchallah, inchallah) that their next election will not be followed by a military coup. The Malians we know will in the same breath lament corruption and express their pride in the stability of their government, which seems to me as good an assessment as any of the situation.

Back to our discussion with Stephanie and Pierce, we also talked a lot about the difficulty of trying to find the source of Mali's many problems. Stephanie pointed out that while studying in Mali with SIT it is quite popular to hate on expats and aid organizations, blaming their disconnect from Malians and their faulty and patronizing practices for Mali's situation. This, of course, ignores the role of greedy and corrupt Malian politicians who steal from the people, and situations like the oft cited example of a parent who refuses to pay 500 CFA (approximately 1 dollar) for a vaccine and then states that it was God's will that the child died. As with anything, the answer is that it is complicated. Corrupt Malians (or for that matter aid organizations) reduce the flow of much needed support into the country, organizations “build capacity” in the Malian government while at the same time providing the basic services that we would hope a government would provide. Malian parents who don't buy vaccines care deeply about their children, and their insistence on the will of God is not some irreversibly “backward” cultural practice (as some people are quick to suggest), but a context created phenomenon. All of these factors interacting is enough to make a person's head hurt, a lot. I come back over and over again to that idea of context because (as we discussed so often in some of my best classes in Claremont) culture is not ahistorical and neither is aid, or Malian politics, or UN politics or any of the other factors at play here. All we can do is try to take in as much information as possible, form and re-form our conclusions, and be wary of anything that seems too cut and dry.

This whole discussion also had me thinking about our own personal decision about our 6 months in Mali. We are, by our choice of neighborhood and most of our friends, largely unplugged from the discussions of the big power brokers and, it must be said, the fun of the expat community's life. Talk of billions of dollars and programs developed over decades makes our effort seem impossibly small. However, I remain satisfied with the choice for a few reasons. First, the Mali I missed so much while I was gone was this corner and the people in it. To be back in Bamako but far from them would seem silly. Though I do not think expats are evil, I think that they are generally quite disconnected from the people of this country, which is a shame. Second, I still believe that it is Malians themselves who will have to find the solutions for the problems facing their country and that this will have to happen one neighborhood at a time. Trying to work this out means making a lot of personal judgement calls, straining personal relationships, and working with very little resources or in-country support, but it means keeping things personal and in the neighborhood, which does seem to be the Malian way. Finally, I think this is where we can do the most good. I do not have the expertise or the experience (yet) to work at any kind of high level in the aid world, nor do I have a lot of resources at my disposal. I do, however know some Bambara, and a lot of people who I think are smart and driven and capable of doing something for their neighborhood. Which to me is, still, the best place to start.

Portrait of the Neighborhood

It's a rather beautiful day, despite the heat. From the third floor of our apartment building, we have a spectacular view of the neighborhood rooftops. Some of the houses are quite nice; the corrupt ex-government official who stole six million euros from a UN fund set aside to fight malaria lives near here. But many buildings are half-finished, lacking a roof and sprouting weeds on the uncovered second story where children sometimes play. In my imagination, they are exploring a city of abandoned ruins. On fridays, you can see a scattered patchwork of color emerge on the rooftops as women complete buckets of laundry and hang the vibrant cloth to dry.

For the young, unemployed male demographic, the majority of the day is spent making and drinking tea. In Mali, "tea" refers to the social activity and rather elaborate presentation of green tea with sugar. What we would call "tea" is simply called Lipton. After two weeks of watching others, last night I finally tried my hand at this process. The tea is boiled in a pot on a bed of charcoal. After it is done steeping, it is transferred to a smaller pot and sweetened with a large helping of sugar. It is then poured back and forth between two shot glass-sized cups to generate a thick head of bubbles. Once this is accomplished, the glasses are washed and the tea dispensed two cups at a time to the people in the tea circle.

The weather here can change very quickly and without warning. Although we are nearing the end of "rainy season," occasionally in the late afternoon you can start to see thunderheads rolling in from the distance. As they approach, the wind really picks up and kicks dust around; everyone runs for cover. The rain seems to last for 20-30 minutes, and afterwards everything is pleasantly cool. All of the locals break out their sweaters, and we sit for another round of tea.

The sunsets here can be quite beautiful. Again, the view from our balcony is splendid.

Occasionally, a thunderhead will roll in without the accompanying rain. Two nights ago we we watched a lightning show in the clouds, just after dusk. A few pictures came out nicely; the view is from a bench in the tea circle.

The Great Polygamy Debate: Malian Edition

For those of you eagerly awaiting an answer to the age-old question of polygamy vs. monogamy before committing yourself to marriage or joining the Mormon faith, here are a few tidbits from this side of the Atlantic. The account that follows is slightly dramatized, but contains all real points made by a variety of people we have met this past week.

Resolved: This House Believes it is better to have more than one wife.

First, a speech for the affirmation made by a gentleman drinking tea and gesticulating wildly. "This House" is implicitly defined as the patriarchy, while the value for this debate, he claims, is quality of life. Because an enjoyable life begins with a strong family unit, the criterion (or weighing mechanism) for this debate must be the family unit which maximizes one's quality of life.

His first contention argues that life is easier with more than one wife. With multiple wives, there is always someone to clean, cook, and sleep with. The quality of a man's life can be measured in such things... minimizing household tasks, eating good food, and having gratuitous sex. Each of these metrics show marked improvement with additional wives.

His second contention is that more wives means more children. Because children will take care of you in your old age and in the manner you have become accustomed to, maximizing the number of children you produce is a solid investment in retirement. Oh, and babies are cute. (He winks at the pregnant judge.)

His third contention is an appeal to Feminism; with more wives, each wife will have less work! Such a fact of mathematics cannot be denied, and must flow to the affirmation.

Next, a rebuttal and speech by the negation is made by our good friend Voldo. He accepts the affirmation's value and weighing mechanism as common sense, but claims life will not be made easier with additional wives.

His first contention is that women are, in fact, crazy. Thus, having four wives will only compound a man's problems, instead of alleviating them as is claimed by the affirmation. He cites some examples: his crazy aunt from Mopti; his ex-girlfriend; Michelle Bachman...

His second contention is an appeal to religion; Mohammed said a man is allowed to take up to four wives, if he is able to treat them exactly equally. Because this Herculean task is neigh impossible, having four wives will likely lead to a life of blasphemy as one contradicts the Holy Word. Thus, morality dictates man must have but one wife.

His third contention builds off his second, and makes the argument from fiscal responsibility. If you wife wants a new dress, he says, you only have to buy one new dress. If you had four wives, they would cost you four times as much.

The rebuttal for the affirmation is made by a talkative taxi driver, who asks me how many wives I am planning to take. When I explain that polygamy is illegal in the United States, he becomes very animated and expounds on the benefits of plural marriage.

He begins by offering a counter-argument to Voldo's first contention. Although women may be crazy, if you have four wives you are four times as likely to always find one who will do what you want. If you only have one wife, as is argued by the negation, you'll always be afraid of her and have to do what she wants. This domestic situation does not uphold the value for this debate, namely, quality of life.

He continues by strengthening the affirmation's third contention -- Feminism. Polygamy is actually better for women, he claims, because it is the only way every woman will be able to have a husband. Due to an unfortunate chance of biology, even if every man in the world were to take seven wives, there would still be women left over. [Note to the reader: because this is a Public Debate round, the affirmation is not required to provide evidence for such claims.]

We are still awaiting a second speech by the negation, and summary of voting issues. But thus far, the patriarchy seems to be out in full swing. I find it interesting that the only religious argument is in favor of monogamy, while the two rather bogus appeals to "feminism" favor polygamy....

Jobs, unemployment, and Obama

We have relatively limited access to the international news (we pretty much scan BBC headlines at the cyber and try to catch the evening TV news over our nieces' shrieking), so we don't actually know what is going on with Obama's jobs plan, but it is certainly getting a lot of attention here. People heard about the big speech and it is a popular topic for discussion around the tea circle.

First, people are intrigued by the idea that there is unemployment in the US, as most people here assume that if they could manage to get to America they would have it made. When I explained the nature of the problem, however, most of our friends were pretty shocked that anyone was so upset. Unemployment here, especially among young men in the age group we hang out with, is most likely well over 50% (though I don't think anyone is keeping statistics). People get by on "comissions," small errands they run for family members or neighbors and by sharing resources.  Partial employment of this nature, or working occasionally at a family business or restaurant, is definitely the norm. Even for people with steady jobs this employment is nearly always informal, involving providing a good or service under a tree on the side of the road (a good example is our friend Robert's hair cutting business). In many ways, the problem of young people leaving university to discover there are no jobs that utilize their training sounds very familiar to recent college graduates in the US, but the problem exists on a much larger scale. Given the expanse of the problem, someone asked me the other day if I thought Obama's "lutte contre le chomage" (fight against unemployment) would be intended to help only US citizens or might include Malians as well.

One interesting thing I have heard from discussing this issue with our friends is that government jobs are the most highly coveted positions in Mali. This is totally consistent with many of the ideas surrounding state control of resources in Africa that I've read about, but it is always interesting to see those readings confirmed through personal experience. Basically, the government has the best, most consistent hold over the most resources of any employer in Mali and if you can get into the fonction publique you will be fairly assured of a salary and a pension, as well as access to the many fringe benefits of power. As a result, many of our friends spend time studying for the "concours de la fonction publique" (civil service exams), that happen periodically. There is also a thriving industry in "trainings" to help people prepare for these exams. Unfortunately, as our friend Baissou explained it, the last concours had a little over 1000 job openings to fill and over 10000 people took the exam. Factor in the fact that a friend or family member already in government or a couple million CFA is known to be able to influence your employment prospects, and it is incredibly unlikely that your average law student will be coming up with a job. Corruption is generally not visible in everyday life in Bamako. Police officers on street corners let people go by without harassment, and one can typically pick something up at the post office without mysterious charges, but when it comes to getting access to government resources, people seem universally aware that the official channels do not lead to the best outcomes.

Another interesting note on the question of employment is of course that, while the vast majority of Malian women (including university graduates) would be counted among the unemployed, many work more in a day than any man I have thus far observed in Mali. Between cooking for 6 or 12 or 30 (and often a food selling business on the side), sweeping the courtyard and the house, hauling water to wash clothes, going to market to buy food, and taking care of kids there is enough work to keep all of the female members of the household busy all day every day. This is not to say that they take no breaks (Brazilain and Indian soap operas are very popular right now), but you will rarely (if ever) see a woman taking a 3-5 hour tea break with friends in the middle of the afternoon. There are lots of factors that contribute to this, but it always strikes me as interesting.

Updates from a new apartment sans l'eau

We've now been here for almost two weeks, and over a week in our new apartment without water. This fact has thrown us into a holding pattern in terms of getting settled, but with any luck we'll soon have water to actually clean the place, wash our clothes, shower properly, etc... currently our only access to l'eau is via repurposed oil jugs which must be carried across a busy street, or alternatively filled by one of our many friends and carried to our apartment building via moto. The fact we are drinking out of old oil jugs rather sketches me out, but they are used to carry water for everything from drinking to making tea and so hopefully our relatively short six-month exposure won't have any permanent effects!

It feels like our attempts to regain running water have been the primary activity of this past week. (Not entirely true, as we've made some exciting progress toward construction for the project!) But in our search for water, the property manager (M. Toure) has been, shall we say, less than helpful. As far as we can tell, the water was shut off literally the day we moved in because the tenants downstairs hadn't paid their bill. Every day we are promised by M. Toure that "it will be back; be patient, by 15.00 o'clock you'll have water!" However, come 3pm the water never returns as promised, and we slowly uncover more clues in this clearly nefarious plot... such as the magnitude of the unpaid water bill (roughly 260K CFA, or almost 2 years worth of water by our estimates!) and the suspicious activity of M. Toure as he screens our calls. Sarah thinks M. Toure would act a little more quickly if he had to personally port water up to our third floor apartment. Alas, it is not clear why the water should remain shut off to the entire building, but we're managing with bucket showers and trying to keep the situation in perspective.

In other news, today is Mali's national independence day. Yesterday, we saw some military helicopters doing fly-over drills, and last night we saw a torch-carrying marching band walking down the road by our apartment. We've also made a few ex-pat friends; Kaylin/Mariatou from Barnard, who is studying abroad with SIT and living just down the road, and Youma, who we haven't met yet but lived with Sarah's host family last year and is now back in Bamako as a Princeton in Africa scholar. It's nice to speak english with other people occasionally, and come Thanksgiving we'll have a group to eat with!

Speaking of food, Malian cuisine is certainly a mixed bag. Some of the dishes are absolutely delicious; however, others are rather bland and gritty. The plat du toujour is pasta (ubiquitously called "macaroni" here) with oil and MSG, +/- a dish of seasoned black-eyed peas. When we first arrived, this meal was positively delectable. However, I may have been laboring under the "backpacking effect,"** and repeat exposure has worn on my otherwise five-star review. But there have been occasional surprises, such as the "surprise" (pronounced with a French accent) which looks like a meatball from the outside but is actually an egg! (Austin, you'd be proud... but probably insist on adding a layer of bacon!

Unfortunately we'll have no such thing here...) We've also been buying "gateaux" for breakfast from a woman across the street. They're really more like New Orleans beignets, but are a welcome start to the day as we sit on our balcony in the breeze and read until it's time to harass M. Toure again about the water.

** The backpacking effect, as described by my father, is the reason why crappy freeze-dried food tastes like a five-star meal after a day of hiking.

Dimanche à Bamako

Although I'm actually writing this lundi (Monday), we had an interesting day yesterday that seemed worth a blog post.

I had been invited on Friday to go to a wedding for one of my (host) mom's family members. As the Amadou and Mariam song says, Sunday is a big day for marriages here, convoys of cars with honking horns go by all day long. My sister Fadima was supposed to call me and tell me what time we were leaving, but I never got anything more specific than "early in the morning" so I went over a little before 8, dressed in my bazin (the nicest Malian outfit I have). We didn't wind up leaving until after 10, but it didn't bother me so much because I got to eat my Tanti's cucumber and tomato salad with bread, which I love. Plus we could probably make it here at the apartment without too much trouble once everything is straightened up. Anyway, apart from the food I also got to watch Fadima and Na get ready. Because Na is one of the "bamusow" (big women) of the family this was quite a process. Here is a picture of the finished product.

So we got in a cab and headed to the wedding which turned out to be at a house I had visited once before last time I was here. It's in a neighborhood called Lafiabougou which is the farthest other side of Bamako that you can get. To get there you drive between Baco Djicoroni and Hamdoullaye, through an area of town where a lot of the nice hotels, government buildings, and bank headquarters are located. On the way back I spotted the American embassy (and the giant mosque Qaddafi built across the street). It is a weird area of town, lots of paved streets and huge wide boulevards with parks around them, but almost no one there. I don't know if police keep people off the roadside (maybe, I saw a guy getting arrested in front of the shiny Peugeot dealership), but it is so unlike the rest of bustling Bamako.

When we arrived at the house we went in to greet the bride and her family. Most of them remembered me, although only after Fadima explained that I had grossi (got fatter) and cut my hair since last time. At least being fatter is a compliment here, I've been hearing it a lot. We all got our picture taken with the bride and admired each others outfits. Then the griots (praise singers and musicians) arrived and (after I had been throughly embarassed by a drum solo) we all went outside to sit under a big tent and wait for the festivities to start.

As you can see from these pictures of the bride as well as Na and the other bamusow under the tent, the preferred asthetic of Malian women (particularly at weddings) is definitely more is more. More color, more sparkles, more embroidery, more jewelery, more makeup, etc. The effect is spectacular and would be loud even without the drums and the chatting and the praise singing. I didn't want to take people's picture without permission so I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of the ridiculous/amazing things some of the younger women were wearing, but you get the idea.

I wish I could explain what happens at Malian weddings better, but the whole thing is pretty confusing to the lone toubabou in the corner. What I can tell you is that they are gender segregated. I have absolutely no idea what goes on at the men's part of a wedding, maybe Neal can report back later. The part of festivities I attended was the beginning of the women's celebration. All of the women  gather and sit under this tent. People dance like crazy and the griots (djeli in Bambara) sing the praises of the important people present. Na's praising went on for quite a long time, but she has been to Mecca which I think adds a good 5 minutes to the song. At some point, the bride's close family would go with the bride to meet the grooms close family at the courthouse (for lack of a better word) where they actually sign the marriage certificate. Then the celebration continues. The bride and groom do not actually participate in the festivities, they sit in a room and get their pictures taken and collect money from guests. I do not plan on taking this tradition home with me (or the huge amounts of body glitter the bride was wearing).

Anyway, I left the wedding around 2:30 and came back to this side of the river to eat. My older host brother Madou is finally home (I hadn't seen him since I got here) so we talked to him and ate our zame (aka riz au gras or Malian fried rice...delicous). Then Neal got taken away to play basketball. He has been doing that a lot here with Job, who is my friend Robert's younger brother. The picture below is of them leaving for the first practice he went to. Yesterday was an actual match, and Job was very happy to report that Baba had scored a basket.

The rest of the day (as most days do) consisted of drinking tea and finding water to bathe with since we don't have any running water in our apartment yet, although that's hopefully getting fixed today. I did also go with Voldo to see the end of a local club soccer final. It went down to penalty kicks, but the team we were supporting (still not sure who they are or why we support them) was victorious.

Now I'm just sitting out on our front porch watching people go by, waiting for the electrician/plumber and hoping for rain. We finally got our first big rain on Saturday and it was glorious. All of our friends were wearing sweaters for the rest of the evening. Some of the clouds now, as well as the breeze and the oppressive heat, look promising but it is hard to say. There should be a project update in the next couple of days. Over and out.

(PS... Sarah actually wrote this, despite what it says below!)

We purchased two "Okia" cell phones the other day at a small store near where Sarah's host family lives. When we opened the boxes, they were.... you guessed it.... Nokia phones.

Life in Mali is an Excercise in Patience

A lot and also not a lot has been going on since our last update. We decided not to move into the original apartment, some serendiptous confusion on my part led to the discovery of a larger, nicer place near by. We are very excited to move, but the place has to be cleaned and fixed up a bit which is a bit of an undertaking . We went to see the real estate guy today (we were supposed to see him yesterday but he never showed), he tried to get us to pay all 6 months rent now and told us we couldn't move in till Saturday. When we explained that that was not going to work for us we agreed on tomorrow, and he said he'd call us/our Malian middle man. Of course come 4 this afternoon he had not called, so we called back and he said they'd work on it tomorrow and we could move in tomorrow afternoon. So mostly we just sit around, drink tea and wait (sound famliar to former SITers?) Oy. It is very frustrating not having any control over such things. But, once we are moved in we will have an extra bedroom so we will have room for visitors if anyone is interested...

In other news, Neal has been named Abdoullaye/Baba Traore after my host father, which I find quite amusing and nice. I miss the original Baba quite a bit, being around the house without him is not the same. It is funny how much is the same though, the kids are older and taller and there is a super adorable new addition, there are more chickens in the courtyarrd, but other than that the house, the corner, and the grin (tea circle) are much the same. It is nice to be with my old friends again, and they are quickly adopting Baba as one of their own as we sit around drinking tea and waiting.

It has been HOT the last two days, and has not rained, however everyone keeps telling us the rain will start on the 20th. On va voir. Stuff on the project has also been moving along, which is good. I'll be writing a post for that blog after this.

I also met a current SIT student at the cyber cafe yesterday and I plan to go visit my old school on Thursday (assuming we move in tomorrow...inchallah).

2011.09.10

We have arrived! After a prolonged series of flights and cheap airplane food, we are now in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. Two of Sarah's friends, Bishu and Robert, met us at the Bamako airport last night and brought us to the Hotel Wassalu, where we are staying for a few nights until we can get settled in an apartment.

Speaking of apartments, Sarah's host brother Papi took us to see one this morning. It is a cute one-bedroom, one-bath apartment overlooking the rooftops of a hip, young urban neighborhood. Located within walking distance from a number of bars and coffee shops and two blocks from a metro stop, this apartment is ideal for young professionals seeking an.... well, more or less. It actually is quite cute, and although there is no kitchen I think it will do quite nicely. The only unfortunate part is we'll have to evict a little lizard from the bathtub. Those creatures never pay their rent.

The majority of today was spent meeting Sarah's host family, who live about a mile or so down the road from our hotel. While I don't speak much french, I didn't feel completely lost in conversation (most of which only required me to say, "ça va? ça va!"), and Sarah claims to be surprised at how much Bambara she remembers. I hope to keep up this language momentum!

Tomorrow we are going to see Baya, Sarah's host grandmother and namesake, which should be interesting. I have thus far avoided any major cultural faux pas, despite eating a delicious mid-day lunch and another delicious mid-afternoon lunch at the Traore's (with my left hand of course... wouldn't want to get my right hand dirty and then have to shake someone's hand later on in the day!). Other than that, our plans mostly involve getting settled into this new city. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when we got here, but I have felt remarkably welcome and think it will be an incredible six months.

Pictures to come soon, as we now have a charged camera battery!

And I hope for bon voyage!

And we're off! I have just boarded my flight to Paris, where I'll reconvene with Sarah for our last leg to Bamako. Here's a picture of the Portland airport at sunrise.... Haha perhaps too familiar of a sight for some, but beautiful none the less.

Two Days and Counting!

We can't believe it, but as of this time on Thursday we will both be somewhere over the Atlantic! I am getting really excited to see all of my Malian family and friends again and Neal seems to be excited to meet everyone. Between now and then we are trying to see all of our people here in Portland, arrange to ship our many generously donated books, eat as much fresh produce as possible, and of course finish packing! Here are a couple pictures of the packing scene, including one of Neal's trademarked self portraits. We are definitely making progress.


This blog will be where you can check in on our emotional state, find amusing anecdotes of our cultural adventures, etc. We will also have a blog for the project at: http://niamakoro-education.blogspot.com/. We want to hear from all of you while we're away, check back in to hear about our adventures!