'jako bɔ ɲɛnajɛw'

The scene in the dugutigi's (chief of the village) concession at the conclusion of Kɔrɔ's 'jako bɔ ɲɛnajɛ.'

After being in village for over a year, I have experienced all of the seasons of village life, and therefore most of the major events. However, there is one major festival that had evaded me last year due to training which had kept me in Ségou. This festival is the 'jako bɔ ɲɛnajɛw' (mascot/costume festival).

This event is held each year just before 'ɲɔ tigɛ waati' (millet harvest time). The tradition harkens back to the animist roots of the Bambara people, prior to their conversion to Islam. Although the Bambara ethnic group is predominant throughout Mali, 'jakow' are only found in our small, immediate area within the Ségou region. Bambara people elsewhere in the country have no such tradition.

My village used to hold such a festival every year, but ceased to do so over ten years ago. But two nearby villages in my commune have kept the torch burning, and it is in these villages, Kɔrɔ and Siyjan, where I was able to experience this unique and exceptional event.

The festivals begin at around 10PM at night, and last until 'fajiri waati' (the first call to prayer in the morning, around 4:30AM). Kɔrɔ held their festival twice over two weeks. On the final day, after halting at 4:30AM, we all got a couple precious hours of sleep before beginning again at 8AM for another three hours.

I hitched a ride on a 'misiw wɔtɔrɔ' (cattle cart) commandeered by a group of young kids from my village to get to and from the first festival night in Kɔrɔ. For the Siyjan festival and the second Kɔrɔ festival, I biked out to the villages, meeting my good friends Tayluru and Lamissa there who arrived by motorcycle.

Harvest begins...

Men from the nearby village of Siyjan taking grass back from the fields to use in constructing 'jakow' (mascot-type figures) to be used in their upcoming 'ɲɛnajɛ' (festival), which takes place annually just before 'ɲɔ tigɛ waati' (millet-cutting time).

Badama, my 'jatigi dɔgɔcɛ' (host-father's younger brother), grinding peanuts I bought in the market to make my 'tiga dɛgɛ' (peanut butter). This is one of my favorite treats here - better than you can find in the states, natural and unmodified.

I spent a day with my friend Senata (right), helping 'tiga bɔn' (pull peanut plants from the ground) in her peanut field. She shares a field with Nyani (left).

Agricultural Productivity and Well Construction

Throughout my service, I have remained committed to the ideal that my role as a development worker is to teach the villagers skills which they can use in the future to better themselves. Therefore, when our Water and Sanitation Committee members decided that they would like to build additional drinking water wells during the upcoming hot season, I told them that we would obtain all of the funding for this project within the village itself. My reasoning is that, thanks to several projects by the two former volunteers in recent years, the villagers already know how to construct wells. The skills which they now need to learn relate to project management and fundraising. Since I am the last volunteer of three in my village, I feel that my role is to ensure that when I leave, any project which we undertake can be replicated in the future.

Therefore, over the past month I have been working with Dramani, the president of our Water and Sanitation Committee, and Aliwata, the secretary, to begin to plan out this project. We sat down together with a local man well versed on the construction of wells using 'bisiw,' or concrete rings. I guided the men through asking questions on the type and quantity of materials required for construction. As we obtained the information, I taught Aliwata how to create a budget sheet, with columns for the type of material, unit of measurement, unit cost, units required, and total cost.

A look down a well made using 'bisiw' (concrete rings).

We then sent villagers to nearby shops to obtain cost estimates for each material. Once this information was obtained, we gathered together to update our budget sheet, total the costs, and determine how much each household would have to contribute to construct one well.