I know that it's been over a month since I've last written, so bear with the length of this letter! I think the last I told of was my visit to my future site. I spent a week in Douentza and it went okay, but I didn't love it. Luckily, I'm with another volunteer and it's a town of about 10,000 so I'm sure it's going to be fine. I had a huge language barrier when I was there, but I know I'm going to pick the language up really quickly and it's not going to be a problem. After site visit, we returned to our training site, Tubaniso for about a week. It was so frustrating to be here because after a week away from my homestay family, I missed them like crazy and wanted to go back very badly. So, after a week of dealing with it here, we finally returned back to Banankoro, my homestay village. I don't think I can express how happy I was to be there! Just seeing my huge, fun and crazy family was amazing, but sad at the same time. The day we returned, I knew I only had 17 more days to spend with them before leaving for good. So, I spent the next two and a half weeks spending as much time with them, just sitting and talking and laughing and joking. Also, we moved into Phase II of our training, which meant that I would be having less language class and more "technical" training. For me, this meant that my team and I would have to create, market and sell a product in our village. But this was good, we decided to make soap with the women's association and teach them how to make soap and hopefully create a sustainable project for them to generate some income. At the end, we wound up making soap and selling it to all the women who helped us and then we even had a profit to give to the women in order to continue doing this soap project. So, I'm really hoping that my little mark, thus far, can leave a bit of an impression. My host Mom, who was really integral in helping us figure out our project, was so happy in the end and so, whether or not is lasts, I know that I've helped a little and that I made someone happy.
Sunday was probably my hardest day in Mali, so far. It was my last day at my homestay village and really emotional. Saturday night I wanted to sit around and chat with my family, but it's rainy season here and that got cancelled with the torrential downpour. I wound up sitting in my Mom's house with her and eating dinner – the family slaughtered a chicken and cooked it for me. My friend Columba who speaks French and was so important in Banankoro for helping me communicate with my family, came over and helped me thank my host Mom for everything she had done. Until this point, I didn't think Malians cried. But my host Mom started crying and I got really sad too, but I kept it together. After we got past the emotions we joked all night and it was great. In the morning, however, a bunch of my family helped me carry all of my stuff to the school to be picked up. Two of my Mom's came and they cried and I was on the verge of tears too. However, it wasn't until my little brother, Seguba – who I want to bring home – started crying that I couldn't contain myself. I started crying and my host Dad made some people go home so we wouldn't all cry. It was ridiculous, but it was so nice. It's weird that after two months and not speaking a language with people that you can bond so much and cry when leaving. So, I'm definitely going to visit Banankoro when I go to Bamako and especially when I have friends/family visit.
So, now as I'm writing this we're back at Tubaniso for a week before our big day – Swearing In. It's held at the Ambassador's House and it'll take place Friday morning followed by a pool party and then partying all night in Bamako. So, on Friday I officially become a volunteer, having successfully completely my French exam and my cultural immersion. It's going to be great because almost all of us had Malian clothes made for the event. I have a cute dress that I'm wearing, and a headwrap – amazingly funny pictures to follow! Then on October 1st, I leave for Douentza, my new home. It's nice because Peace Corps transport will take me and my site mates to the Douentza area instead of having to deal with public transportation. This whole process is called Installation and perhaps one of the scariest moments here will be when the Peace Corps vehicle drops all of my stuff off and leaves me to figure out my life. It'll be okay, and I am looking forward to it and looking forward to learning my new language and building relationships with everyone – it really is the opportunity of a lifetime.
On a slightly sadder note, some relatively old news: At the beginning of September two Peace Corps Mali volunteers were killed in a boating accident on the Niger River. It was a really rough night when we found out. Most of us knew these two volunteers in some capacity and both of them were very close to the end of their service. Being in a country half way across the world, we are all united here and so it was a huge tragedy in the Peace Corps community. On the upside, I wanted to reassure any of you who might have heard, that I'm fine. My health has had its ups and down – nothing grave though. I'm doing my best to keep it this way!
Thanks for everyone who has written, it's so nice to hear from you and your stories and your news. Please continue to tell me how your lives are going. I miss you all but I can wait to come home. One last thing, for anyone wanting to send mail, my new address is:
Sara Rosen, PCV
Corps de le Paix
Douentza, Mali
I know it's the most generic address, but I guess it works! I look forward to hearing from you soon. I promise I'll put pictures up online as soon as I'm situated at site and I'll send some even sooner.
