Felicity's Development work placement in MALI: Marriages and Markets!

Last weekend we went to Bamakos largest market ‘Le grand marche’ via a Sutrama! It was our first time riding the sutrama which is Bamako’s public transport option – basically a very old, very dodgy green minivan that can apparently fit 30people. I counted 20 people in the one I was in and a few of us only had one buttock cheek on a piece of bench during this time so I think 30 is optimistic. The sutrama moves at snail pace and the back door of our one was held on with rope but it got us to the market and for a mere 15p. The Grand Marche was unbelievable – I have never witnessed so many people in one place at once! It contained all sorts of smaller markets, from fruit and veg, to meat, fabric, fetish and artisan sections. There was a sea of people everywhere you looked and to move through you had to just go with the general flow of people. Occasionally a person would try their luck and barge through with a wheelbarrow of produce or a goat!

I was shocked by the shear amount of extreme poverty. Bare-footed children begging with empty tomato tins were everywhere and occasionally we saw paraplegic men dragging themselves along the ground as their legs weren’t functioning. Everything was on sale including crocodile skins, dead monkey heads and tails that could have been from anything. I was shocked to also come across some Ivory L Nevertheless; we all managed the hard task of choosing some material for our African dresses that we were later measured for by the local tailor.

Saturday also seemed to be washing day as everywhere I looked in the city, woman were out in full force hand washing clothes in buckets and tin baths - I sub sequentially followed suit and did my washing also but in the confines of the back courtyard. Not sure how comfortable I feel about washing my undies in front of the whole neighbourhood! Funnily enough Sunday seemed to be bath day with the same families dipping their kids in the same tin baths the following day – once again in the street!

The following day we experienced a stark contrast from the market when we attended a party of a friend of a friend called Alfa, who we believe is a nightclub owner and entertainment promoter. The area and host of the party was clearly very wealthy however dinnertime was a reminder that were in another culture when massive sharing plates of food came out of the ‘female-only’ cooking area. Guests, including some of us subsequently got stuck in by eating with our hands – the norm. Following the meal, the housekeeper, poorer in appearance, cleaned beneath our feet whilst we drank, which made us all feel a bit uncomfortable. After this the party got into full swing with reggae music and drinks in full flow! The contrast between Alpha’s wealth (and of course generosity) and the poverty we witnessed yesterday was striking.

The carbo-licious diet here has motivated us all to start doing some exercise so daily jogs are now on the agenda but it does have to be after 6pm so we lower the risk of death due to over-heating. The activity was fully risk-assessed! This jog is not the average jog as you end up shouting ‘Bon Soir’ to everyone you pass and always get groups of little kids who find it hilarious to join for a few paces! As for food, so far my stomach is holding up even though a few places we have been eating at (often just a shack added onto the outside of someone’s house) have a few too many flies lingering around the stagnant (but delicious all the same) curry sauces!

On Friday night five of us volunteers went along to an African dance class that we had been invited to by a contempory dancer that had performed in a show we watched last week. His performance was to a largely expat audience and so, like a salsa night we had already been to, expected this dance class to be the same – French or Canadian expats doing a little African culture dance but ohh were we wrong! When we turned up we were greeted by our friend, the teacher and about 30 male professional Malian dancers. At this point, the token male member of our team decided not to take part and once we had done the long extended greeting around the open air dance stage we began the class. Never before have I done such an intense work out and had so much fun doing it before this dance class. The warm up left us (and everyone else) dripping in sweat. We subsequently learnt a traditional routine and performed it over and over for an hour and a half! Despite being amateurs I think us girls did fairly well to not only pick it up and keep up with the pace but to also deal with the amount of testosterone flying round the room due to the unbalanced gender ratio! We will be returning to this class!

In our first week we were all invited to the wedding of someone’s daughter who worked at UMAV – we had met this lady for about five mins when we received the invite. The wedding was today (Sunday) and was fantastic. We all had African dresses tailor made and were made to feel very welcome! There was about 1000 people I’d say at this ‘reception’ that was a self-constructed canopy in the middle of the street next to the bride’s mothers house. Woman and men sat more or less separately and the colours of everyone’s outfits was beautiful! There was music and traditional dancing going on, which we got involved with!

On a work note; I have met with UMAV, the residential centre and school for the blind quite a lot now – these meetings are always quite long, detailed and in French! The team has a lot of interesting ideas on what to do at UMAV, we are planning to build a playground, teach English and paint classrooms amongst other things. UMAV also produce chalk on site however selling it is an issue for them as previous contracts with the government seem to have been terminated due to cheaper chalk being available from China. This is the project I am focusing on. I’m responsible for putting together a marketing strategy for the chalk and to try and set up some new contracts. The language barrier can be a hindrance sometimes even with the interpreters but I feel like I’m making progress as are the other team members with their projects. I am also going to be involved in the English classes too although these are very different to what I am used to. There are 70 teenagers per class, half of which are blind and so read in brail! A Challenge and a half! We have also been visiting AMALDENE, a school for children with learning and physically disabilities. We have been observing the work they do, which is fascinating and planning the best way in which to help them. I think this will follow music, dance and sport with the kids!

A period of day called 'kid time' has crept into my daily routine here in Mali which involves playing with the neighbouring street kids at about 5pm once we have finished work! They have been loving the toys I have brought with me although their favourite activity is to be swung and to play 'What's the time Mr Wolf!'