The roots have taken hold...

Members of the 'Ji ni Saniya Tɔn Sigi' (Water and Sanitation Committee) shocking a well after women found red worms living in the water. Left to right: Dramani ('ɲɛmɔgɔ,' or president), Daouda ('warimarala,' or treasurer), and Bayani (our recent addition).

My primary initiative during my Peace Corps service has been to establish a 'Ji ani Saniya Tɔn Sigi' (Water and Sanitation Committee), and to ensure that it is fully-functioning and will last into the future once I am gone. These past couple months have not been particularly busy for the committee, but several significant events have taken place which have me very optimistic for it's future:

Planning for the Building Season

Back when we first began the committee, I completed a formation with the group to assist them in selecting future construction projects, in addition to behavioral change initiatives. We planned to tackle two of these projects, well construction and trash collection areas, in the upcoming 'tilɛma' (hot season), which is the standard construction season due to the absence of agricultural work in the fields.

I have been working with the committee over the past few months to plan the well construction project. I helped Aliwata, our 'sɛbɛnɛkɛla' (secretary), Daouda, our 'warimarala' (treasurer), and Dramani, our 'ɲɛmɔgɔ' (president) to think through all of the costs involved in well construction, from renting the 'bisi mulu' (concrete ring mold) and the 'bisi jigi masinɛ' (concrete ring-lowering machine), to buying cement, gravel, sand, tie-wire, and rebar. We sought assistance from a villager who has significant experience in well construction throughout the process. I then guided Aliwata, Daouda, and Dramani in obtaining cost estimates for the required materials.

A year's worth of food, a single day to store...

Over the past couple of weeks, during 'ɲɔ gɔsi wati' (millet beating time), I have been helping the villagers with their final tasks of the millet harvest season, and really have had fun doing so. The work is a strongly communal affair, where everyone helps each-other, and to some degree, share in the yield.

The work can be tough, but it is actually made very enjoyable by the company. People are generally in a jovial mood, joking with one another. Knowing that this is the final stretch of a grueling agriculture season surely must be rewarding as well.

Bokari, Tayluru, and Omaru prepare their 'gindy/ɲɔ gɔsi yɔrɔ' (millet-beating area) by arranging the harvested 'ɲɔ kungalow' (millet heads) in a large circle on the ground.

What the Bambaran people refer to as a 'ɲɔ gɔsi masinɛ' (millet-beating machine) is actually just a tractor, or a large tractor-trailer truck normally used to transport goods to market, which runs over the millet heads to seperate the grains from the 'kooloo' (stalks). My 'jatigi' (host father) Koka works with the driver of this tractor by planning out the work schedule throughout the surrounding villages.

After the first pass, the men 'ɲɔ kooloo bɔ.' They are raising the stalks above the beaten grains so that a second pass by the 'ɲɔ gɔsi masinɛ' will be effective at beating out the rest of the grains.