Civil War Camp Expose

Hey everyone!!!

Here is my take on the week I spent in rural Africa… it was quite an experience and this is the best way I can think of to relay it without an over amount of boring details. I am sure you’ll get the gist of the situation…

Survival guide for living in a rural African village:
-Pick an awesome classmate to share the week with… they need to come extremely prepared (boy scout style) and be willing to laugh as hard as you at every and any situation. Katarina now comes highly recommended with her Crystal Light packets, ability to speak French and Bamabara even when extremely tired, incredible dancing skills, and ability to memorize the names of ALL the kids in our compound (there were like 30… it was so hard).
-Theme the week ‘Civil War Camp’ and proceed to pretend you are at a ‘Civil War Camp’ the entire time you are in the village. This makes eating by kerosene lamp, sleeping on dirt floors, going to the bathroom and showering in the same spot outside, helping your coughing host dad, seeing tons of rats and huge spiders in your room, walking through landfill-style waste piles, sweating like deodorant was never invented, and walking everywhere (no matter how far away) tolerable and sometimes rather hilarious.
-Always check the outdoor bathroom/shower before entering it to shower or go to the bathroom because even if the door is open, it does NOT mean your host dad isn’t in there mid-diarrhea. This may seem like a simple lesson to learn but it will most likely take you multiple awkward run-ins before you are able to successfully avoid the situation.
-Take your outdoor bucket shower in a swimsuit and with a friend… this will allow you to laugh when you have to stand in pee, pee moss, and shards of glass, have your host brother secretly watch you, drop your soap and razor on the ground (aka. into someone else’s pee), freeze your bum off with ice cold water in the early, cold, windy morning, haul water from a pump not located at your compound, wash off the ‘pee rocks’ that jump onto your feet, and squat down to dunk your head into the bucket to get your hair wet (because you are getting so close to the ground/pee, and it smells SO much, it seems as though you are dunking your head directly into a used toilet).
-Don’t bring any academic materials… class for the week will only consist of tons of different tie dye lessons. You tie dye with wax, dye, mud, and screen prints. Also, learn to get patient because everything in Africa takes about 10 times longer… and when you add the rural component you are looking at simple tasks taking a few days.
-Appreciate the countryside for its differences from the city… a sky completely packed with stars, unbelievably clean air, the lack of noise, its calm and relaxed nature, and overall amped hospitality… if you thought the people of Bamako were nice, you haven’t been to the rural countryside.
-Learn and memorize the Bambara phrases for ‘no’ and ‘we aren’t taking pictures’. That way when all of the little kids mob you (remember, there is strength in numbers) you can successfully yell out these phrases and calm the frenzy.
-Carry your antibacterial hand sanitizer and wet wipes with you at all times—that way, when the little kids rummage through the landfill trash, wipe their bums, cough, and wipe away the runny snot from their nose with their always un-showered hand and then proceed to hold your hand and rub your arm… you can sleep a little easier knowing you at least tried to kill a little of the bacteria. There dirty hands may or may not be the reason your roommate’s hand swells up like a balloon... our theories cannot be proven, yet.
-End every night with a huge talent show with all of the kids in your compound. You’ll get to sing and dance to tons of traditional songs and learn fun games. Also, there is nothing a group of little African kids likes more than to see two silly American girls sing and dance to their own renditions of “Sugar, Sugar” by the Archies, “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner, “Build Me Up Buttercup” by the Foundations, the ‘Macarena’, and “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. Throwing in a little 50 Cent, Akon, and Celion Dion can’t hurt either but, let’s be honest… no one likes a show off.
-Rural Africa= a dance Mecca. Don’t be shy or nervous… embrace the fact that you look like a fool and go dance your little bum off! Late night drum circles are a norm and you will be continually asked to dance in the middle of the circle, typically alone. Buck up soldier-- pop that booty and flail those arms like no one is watching. Luckily, they laugh with you… never at you.
-Invest in a headlamp… because when it gets dark in rural Africa, it gets pitch black and you don’t want to stumble and feel your way around your dark hut with your hands… feeling up a wall of spiders is NOT an ideal situation. Plus, it triples as a spotlight for the talent shows and light by which to brush your teeth, ‘antibacterial cloth’ clean your nasty feet, and inspect your bed for creatures.
-Huts are not leak proof. I don’t have any advice or survival tips for this little piece of information except to embrace the fact that you will sleep waist-deep in swamp like conditions during the rainy season. Between the heat and rain, it’s kind of like sleeping in a steam room… great at the spa, not so great in rural Africa.

While we were in the rural village, we visited a place called the SOS Village. It’s an orphanage in the city of Sanakoroba and is an international organization with multiple orphanages all over the world. This place is absolutely incredible in every sense of the word. If all kids could grow up in such incredible places the world would be a much better place. There are 15 compounds, or large housing units, that each has one mom and an aunt. Each compound has about 10 kids in it and they live like a real family. Their compounds are beautiful, clean, and well organized. We were able to tour it and then spend a little time in some of their classrooms, including their kindergarten and upper level English classes. All of the kids are so well taken care of and looked after—the entire system and how it functions is extremely inspirational and something to be admired and emulated. For this reason, I have decided to do my final research project here. As most of you know, the main academic portion of my semester is a huge research project I conduct independently on the topic of my choice. Everyone in my class spends the entire month of November and early parts of December researching and writing on our topic and because I have picked to do in depth research on the SOS Village, I will be able to live and volunteer there for a few weeks while I conduct my research. I am really looking forward to it and am excited to return to the SOS Village and the town of Sanakoroba (which is only 45 minutes outside of Bamako, so I won’t be too far from most of my other classmates!) later this semester.

If you can’t tell, I had a great time in the rural village and I think I can speak for my entire class when I say we all somewhat fell in love with Sanakoroba. Although it had its own set of unique challenges and some parts of the week definitely kicked our ass, we experienced an incredible amount of love and joy... probably more than most of us have experienced in any other single experience of our lives. Their generosity, kind hearts, helpful hands, patience, and overall love of life could be felt at every moment and it was plain to see some people can truly possess the secret to life.

IT’S OFFICIAL-- I AM 21 YEARS OLD!!! You should all be happy to know that I did the time conversion and figured out that since I was born at 9:01 PM in the US, I was technically not 21 until 2:01AM on the 11th of October, SO… yes, I celebrated for two days. It’s only natural. As if anyone was worried, I had an incredible birthday… I woke up that morning in the rural village to Kat, my roommate, singing a personalized version of “Happy Birthday” which she calls “You’re Old and Fat” (two HUGE compliments here). We opted out of the bucket shower but enjoyed breakfast with the rural host family… tea (aka hot water that tastes like dirt) and potato bread. Then, my class filed into our vans and headed back to the B-K-O (…Bamako). We had brunch at an Americanized restaurant, where I ate a hamburger and French fries (my love of ketchup is increasing, as if that’s even possible) for the first time in 1.5 months. After picking up two new skirts I had made from the tailor, I went back to my normal host family who greeted me with my birthday present… fresh and incredibly tasty watermelon. Kat and I then went to a hotel for the day where we had free, fast WIFI access to the internet (seems silly, but this alone made my day!). We swam that afternoon and then took our sweet time showering (not out of a bucket...) and getting ready for the night. We met up with more of our classmates and went out for drinks and dinner, then met up with even more classmates and boite-hopped the night away. We poured ourselves into bed around 4:30 AM… then woke up at 10AM to go layout by the pool. We swam and tanned until late afternoon, enjoyed an INCREDIBLE lunch at the hotel… by far the best food we have eaten in Mali and would rank as incredible even in the US. And then returned home to our families sunburned and satisfied. I’ve never gone to the pool to celebrate my birthday, let alone gotten sunburned… sweating through 100+ degree weather for my October birthday was unique in and of itself, but the entire day was an experience to remember and I feel extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to celebrate such a monumental birthday in such an incredible way. I say this every year but I think this time it’s going to ring true… this birthday will be impossible to top.

I am in my second to last week of classes before my entire class leaves for our Grand Excursion, or almost two weeks of traveling around the country together. Then, it’s off to doing research! I can’t believe my semester is almost halfway over… it doesn’t seem like I’ve been gone that long yet. Some of us have been thinking about our integration back into western society and all I have to say is this… the shower in the hotel we stayed at for my birthday proved to me that I will have NO problems reentering American society— all potential fear has subsided.

Pictures are on facebook…
It’s far easier that way. I can put up as many as I want and label them with descriptions. So, enjoy!
Miss and love you all!!! Thanks so much for the great birthday wishes and I can’t wait to be home and celebrate with all of you!


Love. Sarah