Building a foundation, 'biriki' by 'biriki'...

I had originally assumed that all of my significant work would be accomplished during 'tilɛma' (hot season). This is due to the fact that during the rest of the year, the villagers are primarily involved with agricultural practices throughout the day. Therefore, since Water and Sanitation work is generally labor-intensive, such as building pumps, wells, latrines, soak pits, etc., I figured my work would generally be put on hold until January.

But on the contrary, I have found that much of what I would now consider to be my most important initiatives require an effort year-round. These initiatives generally involve mobilizing the villagers to take an active role in the development of their village and building non-labor skills, such as accounting, communication, planning, project management, and leadership.

These are the activities which I feel can have the largest impact on the village long-term. If the villagers learn to organize and plan themselves, they can, in theory, use those skills to internally address any needs which arise in the future.

So with that said, the following is a brief synopsis of my efforts over the past month:

Water and Sanitation Committee ('ji ni saniya tɔn sigi') Monthly Dues Collection

As usual, twice during this month the men of the Water and Sanitation Committee and I walked from concession to concession within the village to collect the monthly dues owed by each household. Generally most households have paid the fee, many in advance. But several continue to hedge, complaining that they do not have the money.

Money is difficult at the moment since harvest has not yet arrived, but even with this consideration, the money that we are collecting is only 100 CFA each month, or 20 cents. This is how much many people pay each day for one round of tea, or a morning snack. So I and our committee members believe that each household does indeed have the money, but are reluctant to part with it.

At the end of each day's work, we sit down together to count the money and compare it to what was noted by the men in their books.

A couple weeks ago, I sat down with Aliwata, our 'sɛbɛnɛkɛla' (secretary), to teach him a bit of basic accounting. I showed him a format to record basic information when money is either added to or paid from the 'kɛsu,' and to keep track of the current balance. This is an important skill which may seem miniscule, but should aid the committee in all of their future endeavors.

Soap-Making Formation

Several months ago, our Water and Sanitation Committee decided to hold a soap-making formation for the women of the village. During the past month, we have proceeded in planning the formation.

We found out that an NGO had previously performed a formation in-village, and therefore several women already know how to make soap. So we ended up enlisting three additional women, in addition to the five women currently on our committee, to make two women from each of the four 'kinw' (neighborhoods) to run the formation.

I decided that since this project is oriented around teaching the villagers a skill which can be used to better themselves, I am willing to provide the funding. I gave Dramani, the president of the committee, and Daouda, another committee member, money to go to the nearby city of Dioro on September 15th to look into purchasing a mold for the process.

They returned after meeting with a woman in Dioro who has created a solid business for herself in making and selling soap. Her process uses 'dɛntulu' (an oil from a palm-type tree) as opposed to 'shitulu' (shea oil), which is the standard for soap-making in Mali due to it's general abundance. Her soap is much softer and works up to more of a lather.

She uses a wooden mold to make a large block of soap, and a table with knife-blades emanating vertically from the surface. The large block of soap is run along the surface of the table, which cut it into neat rectangular bars of soap.

So the two men returned wanting to replicate her process, and everyone agreed. The problem is that her soap also includes several other secondary ingredients. She was not willing to divulge her recipe, due to fears of competition.

However, she learned the process from a man who teaches the skill for a fee. Therefore, in order to obtain the exact recipe, we will need to pay money to run the formation. Dramani is currently working to find out exactly how much, but my fear is that it may be more money than I can afford, since the money is currently coming out of my pocket.

I explained to Dramani that if the teacher's fee is too high, we can try making the soap without the secondary ingredients, since other villagers have evidently done this in the past. So I gave them money to purchase the mold and the table, which was to be completed this past Saturday. Predictably, the craftsman hasn't even begun work yet in making the equipment.

I told the villagers that in America, if a craftsman tells you his work will be done on a certain day, it will be done on that day. Otherwise, the price will be discounted substantially. Bavieux, a friend of mine, joked that in Mali, if work is not done on the promised date, the price will often be increased. Yup, sounds about right...

We discussed our plans following the formation. The committee members had wanted to restrict soap-making only to themselves. They would then sell the soap in the village for a profit. I recommended that we should include the rest of the village. If they are motivated enough to want to make soap themselves, then that is great. They can purchase the equipment to do so, or perhaps they can rent the equipment from the committee for a fee. They agreed with that suggestion.

So the formation is currently on hold, but I am encouraged by the initiative our committee members have shown in the planning process.

Drinking Water Well Treatment

During my last trip to Ségou, I bought a case of bleach to start the committee off in their monthly treatment of all of the drinking water wells in the village. On the night of August 25th, Dramani and Daouda treated the two wells in their 'kin' (neighborhood) of Katilɛla. On August 28th, we treated the six wells in the three remain 'kinw.' Dramani and Daouda took the lead, teaching the other members of the committee in the other 'kinw' the method to treat their wells.

I arrived here in Ségou yesterday. Therefore, the villagers were due to treat the Katilɛla wells last night. I spoke with them before leaving, and they promised to do so.

We originally began this project due to the wishes of the villagers, and I am very happy with the initiative our committee members, particularly Dramani and Daouda, have shown in taking up the task.

Women's Garden Committee Monthly Dues Collection

As I have previously stated, monthly dues collection has been difficult over the past several months. Women often were not available during the day due to travels and engagements during the wedding season, or due to work required of them in the fields.

Added to that, I made the mistake in giving too much freedom to Aissetta, our 'sɛbɛnɛkɛla' (secretary), to format the books. My thought was that she had just learned to write, and I did not want to overwhelm her. But the books became cluttered and difficult to decipher.

So since that time, I had sat down with Aissetta to show her ways to improve her bookkeeping. She then recopied the books, making use of these improvements.

On August 31st, we held a committee meeting where the women of each 'kin' (neighborhood) arrived with the money they collected, and we compiled it together to keep in the 'kɛsu' (account). This includes the months of May, June, and July.

On September 1st, the women decided to hold a meeting with all of the women to announce the money collected, implore women to pay for August and September, and discuss other outstanding issues with the garden.

The women all applauded the money collected, and seemed genuinely excited about the effort. Other issues, such as animals eating crops through the fence and theft of fruits and vegetables by other villagers, were discussed. For the former, the women decided to get their sons to build an earthen berm along the fence to keep animals away. The latter was more contentious; some women wanted to lock the garden at night, others took it a step further, wanting to pay a guard to stand watch during the day. No consensus was reached. Thus far, nothing has been done regarding these two issues.

The committee women have continued to try and collect money for August and September, but the women complain that they do not have any money now, until harvest.

Fish Feed Area ('jɛgɛ dumuni yɔrɔ')
The rainy season began on June 15th, and since that time, we have been getting rainfall regularly every couple of days, although its prevalence has begun to reduce. With all the added rain, the water level in the fish pond has now risen to it's highest level:

A view of the fish pond from September 1st, at it's highest water level to-date (9.75' at it's deepest point).

A view of the flooding to the north of the fish pond. Last year, the flooding was much more significant, with water reaching further to the north, and covering the road to the west of the pond. Fortunately, last year happened to be abnormal. This year, the flooding hasn't had a detrimental impact on village life, as no significant roads out the fields have been encumbered with water. And thanks to the work put in by the Fish Pond Committee earlier, no fish have escaped the pond.

I noted in a previous post that the villagers had decided to lash together a raft to repair the fish feed area, since it was 'swallowed' by the waters, as they say. Unfortunately, the water level rose to such a point that that would have been impossible. The men would have had to stand in the 9.5' deep water to repair it, which was not an option.

Instead, we decided to build a second fish feed area, until the water level lowers again, allowing us to utilize the former, larger area. The work did not take place as fast as I had wanted to see, finally taking place on September 10th. I had to stay on them to get it done, but after several delays and moments of forgetfulness, the work did occur.

Sorti, Bamoussa, and Madou thrusting tree branches into the clay bottom of the pond to form the posts of the second Fish Feed Area.

Madou and Bamoussa constructing the Fish Feed Area with rice sacks strung along tree branches, to form the walls.

The Fish Feed Area is rather small, due to a shortage in the quantity of rice sacks which people were willing to part with for the work. But hopefully it will be sufficient for the time being.

The village purchased two rice sacks full of 'malo bu' (ground rice shells), which we added to the Fish Feed Area along with a half sack of 'caba bu' (ground corn husks) and 'misiw bo' (cow dung).