in sanankoroba, it is best to abandon all germ theories

so i just got back from my one week village stay in sanankoroba, a village not far from bamako. i will start from the beginging.

on monday we arrived and were paired off and sent to families (i was with my good friend youma and we were with the traoré family which is nice bc we both live with traoré fams in bamako.) the village is a lot different from the city. our house is made out of mud and barely has electricity (just a few lights in a few key spots... not our room). we put down mats on the floor and hooked up our mosquito nets, not without noticing about 20 huuuuge hairy spiders on the walls! the area where everyone hangs out outside is just a dirt ground and there are chickens and donkeys and stuff all around. the bathroom...oh man... i dont think most americans could fathom this bathroom. basically, its this outdoor, semi-closed off space with a hole in the ground (the toilet) that smells like death and is FULL of maggots and hugggge cockroaches. it is a really horrible experience to be avoided at all costs... especially at night when the cockroaches come out and are just all over the place. but believe it or not, by the end of the week (aka today) i actually got used to it and have figured out ways to get the cockroaches to run away. haha take that cockroaches!

our family has 6 kids ranging from age 2 (sadio aka. BOOGERMAN) to age 12 (Yaye). They have a set of fraternal twins who are 4 and adoooorable (asiatou and mahamadou) and they also parent Yakuba, this really wonderful little boy who is actually their nephew but his father died. Yakuba is 7 and he is deaf and paralyzed from the waist down. here, that means he drags himself around using his hands. this boy has the most beautiful smile and is so sweet and gentle and loved playing with me and youma. its really hard to think though, about how hard his life is and will always be. the family is for the most part really nice to him though so thats good.

so at the beginning of the week i just really didnt want to be there. the critters freaked me out and the family didnt really speak annnny french (except the dad, dramane, who was out a lot) and the heat seemed even more excruciating than in the city. plus i just didnt really understand my purpose. during the day, all us american students would go off and do art projects and i just felt so awkward coming home to a mother and children, who had worked all day, and not contributing at all. plus, even when youma and i would offer to help with the cooking, etc, theyd just say "no, have a seat"... they meant it in a nice way but we really wanted to do something!

the turning point for me was wednesday night. first off, i took my first shower (i rushed home before dusk so i could shower in daylight before all the cockroaches came out of the maggot pit) so i felt relatively clean and cooled off--by the way we shower using a bucket full of well water and that stuff iffy. then, at night, i started dancing around with some of the kids (in addition to the 7 kids at my house, the neighbors live so close there are always like 20 kids around). at first we were just clapping and singing and showing off some moves and they all wanted to see me and youma dance. but then, some little 12 year olds came over with some tin cans and sticks and made some AMAZING african dance rhythms and it became a legit dance party! it must have lasted like, 2 hours and it was sooo much fun! youma didnt really want to dance a lot so she ran around pretending to be a monster and the kids were SO scared of her it was hilarious. i picked up yakuba to run around because he wanted to participate but cant walk.... he was so scared of youma that he peed on me. haha. anyway the dancing/running around/pee fest went late into the night and i went to sleep feeling really happy... like i had finally integrated with the family despite the language barrier. that is why dance is wonderful.

thursday, i woke up feeling good. youma didnt though, and she ended up going back to bamako in the morning because she was sick. so that left me alone with the fam for the rest of the week (which would have been hard at the beginning, but i felt really good about things by thursday). that day, my host mom fatmata let me help cook and do laundry and i played a lot with the kids from the night before and they all wanted me to take photos of them so i filled up an entire memory card with pictures. at one point i went out and bought about 20 bananas to share with everyone (for like 50 cents) and after i did that all these people were like, offering me their children to take home. its weird but people here do that. at night there was more cooking and of course tea and ceaseless handclap games with all the children...good times. its a good thing everyone goes to bed early in the village because the days are so tiring.

yesterday, friday, there was a village dance in the evening. it started out kind of lame to be honest.... lots of people stood in a big circle with 4 djembe players and the african women would pull in the tubabus (white people aka us) one at a time and try to show us some easy steps. it wasnt high energy though. BUT after a little while some african women showed off some steps a bit and then asked if any of us wanted to come up and solo. it was high pressure but i was just thinking its now or never! so i got up and soloed like 4 or 5 of my favorite steps from my west african dance classes and it was great! everyone cheered a lot and it was sooo fun! im really proud of myself for stepping up. more people came in to join me and the dancing that continued was a lot more upbeat. when it all ended, a lot of people came up to me and said nice things and i left with a huge energy boost. hoorah!

on the way out though, i took a step and OW! i looked down and there was a stick coming out of my foot. i screamed but all the other people from my group had gone so i was just surrounded by kids. it hurt so bad and i pulled the stick out-- i think it was like, half an inch deep in the side of my foot. i almost fainted...it was scary. there was a lot of blood and i hobbled over to this old lady who helped me clean off the area and then i stumbled home and put on some disinfectant and such. all the million kids from my fam helped me and were so sweet about it so that was nice. i think it will be fine so long as i keep it clean.

i was really sad to say bye to everyone this morning. we bonded a lot since wednesday and especially the kids are sooo cute. asiatou is just the most beautiful little girl and she just gets up really close to my face and makes this huuuuge smile. and yakuba...i am really sad to leave him too. im definitely going to try to print some of the photos i took of the kids while im here and hopefully i can go back to visit and bring them the pictures. i think its in the cards...inchallah.

so i got back to the house in bamako and was really happy to see everyone. my sister diami even said "you are welcome" in ENGLISH when i arrived! compared to the village, here seems sooo clean and sooo urban. i guess its all relative. of course seeing mamadou put a huge smile on my face. that little bottomless boy seems to be a little older each time i see him (i think its becase hes growing in teeth). theres a baptism across the street from our house so there are lotssss of people in the road, listening to music, playing cards, and drinking tea.

my cybertime is running low so im going to go back to that scene. by the way, the new baby is named sekou.

love to all and keep sending me the news with you!

bintou