'Seliba' festivities and my 'Malian family'

Malian men and boys are currently in the fields every day, harvesting ‘ɲo’ (millet). Unlike the machinery found in the West, Malians perform all of their agricultural duties with simple, antiquated tools. This is a small blade used for harvesting the millet grains from the stalk. I helped my 'jatigi' Koka for a day, and the work is painstaking and repetitive. Millet is the Malian staple grain in most dishes, such as 'to' and 'basi,' which are both generally served with sauce.

Currently we are in the midst of the harvest season and most of the village men spend every day cutting ‘ɲo’(millet) in the fields, while the women pull peanut plants from the field, bring them back to the concession, and pick them off the roots. The rice harvest season is just beginning, and some of the men in my village are spending time in neighboring villages to help with that harvest, as we do not have rice fields in our village.

My 'jatigi' (host-father) Koka, and two of his young boys, Lassana and Abdoullaye, working in the ‘ɲo’ fields.

A village woman 'susu(ing),' or pounding, ‘ɲo’ to separate the grain from the stalks.

With all of this work, the arrival of the Muslim holiday of Tabaski, also known as Eid al-Adha in Arabic, or ‘Seliba' in Bambara, was a welcome distraction. ‘Seliba’ was Wednesday, November 17th. I have previously described ‘Selideni,’ the holiday commemorating the end of Ramadan, and generally, ‘Seliba’ is celebrated in exactly the same way, with a few subtle differences.

The day before 'Seliba,' five 'misi' (bulls) were slaughtered throughout the village. Normally, 'Seliba' involves the slaughter of mainly 'saca' (sheep), but they apparently were not as available in the markets as usual. Refer to my end of Ramadan ('Selideni') pictures for the more gruesome details. I bought two large piles of 'misi sɔgɔ' (beef) to give to my 'jatigi muso' (My host-father's wife) Mama to cook for the next few days, including the breakfast I hosted on Thursday.

My spiffy 'Seliba' threads - an outfit I got tailored in Ségou out of the fancy 'baizan' fabric. It is stiff, waxy, and uncomfortable, but stylish in this country.

Although Muslims always pray five times a day, the main prayer for 'Seliba' takes place in the morning at 9AM. I joined the villagers, lined up in several rows facing East on rugs, in the field between the two school buildings to participate.

Some Initial Reconnaisance...

I am back in Ségou to celebrate Thanksgiving amongst my Peace Corps peers. I am going to get an entry up on the Muslim holiday of Tabaski (‘Seliba’ in Bambara) later, but I first wanted to post an update on the work I am embarking on in my village.

Currently, I am still within the timeframe before IST (In-Service Training, December 6th through the 17th) where we are to spend our time integrating and learning the language. I feel very comfortable on those terms, and I have also nearly completed my Baseline Survey to assist in determining the most critical water and sanitation needs of my village.

However, I am currently working on gathering initial information to repair the two broken water pumps in the village. Through some initial reconnaissance work, I have found out that the two broken foot pumps in the village actually used to be India-Mali pumps, which are the hand pumps widely used across the country, and therefore are more easily maintained.

One of the abandoned, broken foot pumps in my village.

Apparently, approximately 7 years ago, there was a widespread outbreak of Cholera in the village, which caused many deaths throughout the village. The Malian government decided that the problem was the hand pumps, so they switched the two pumps to foot pumps in June 2004.

An example of an 'India-Mali' hand pump, common across Mali.

I couldn’t understand what logic was behind that, because regardless of what type of mechanism is used, the pumps are still accessing the same aquifer, the same water. But my sector head found out that the concern resulted from the fact that people in my village do not wash their hands with soap as a general rule. A person infected with Cholera could use the hand pump, in-turn infecting the pump, and spreading the disease to the hands of any subsequent users. Then those users would eat with unclean hands, and infect themselves.