Arrested Development - Coup d’État in Mali

Buba (or 'Boi' for short), my friend Lamissa's son, thinks fighting is bad.

On Wednesday I received a couple of text messages from the US Embassy. They mentioned fighting in Kati, the major military base outside of Bamako, and gunshots in downtown Bamako. I talked about it with my friends in village, and they called a friend that is currently working in Bamako. From him, we learned that the national television and radio service was shut down – they assumed by the president, Amadou Toumani Touré (ATT), perhaps because they made a bad comment about him.

But I awoke Thursday morning, surprised to find the BBC World Today radio program leading with ‘Coup d’état in Mali!’ It was a shocking development for a country that has been held up as the leading, model democracy in West Africa. More surprising considering that the presidential election was to take place next month, and ATT wasn’t even running! Sure-fire regime change, no coup required!

Although the coup was not particularly violent and proved to present a very low security risk to us, I began to worry that we could be evacuated. If the civilian government of a country is overthrown and a military government takes over, a military government which America refuses to speak with, can Peace Corps really work in that country?

Ongoing House Construction and a Malian Radio Show

My friend Diallo is currently building a new house for Senata, one of my closest friends and his fiancée. Pictured above, young men from Bokomana, his ‘kin’ (neighborhood), assist him in constructing the walls using mud bricks and mud as mortar.

The men take time out to pose for a picture atop the Malian ‘scaffolding’. The man to the left, known as Jelicɛ, is the local mason. He is hired to oversee the building of the exterior walls of most new homes. Pictured above, he is setting a guide string lengthwise along the wall to guide the men in orienting the bricks properly.

Badri, a presenter from the local radio station in Dioro, stopped by one afternoon to record a show on our women’s garden. He primarily gathered women together to interview them regarding their work in the garden. As he conducted the interviews, Bokari, our resident ‘jelicɛ’ (male griot), played a gentle tune on the ‘ngɔni’ (traditional Malian guitar) for background music. Badri used a smartphone to record the event, and it aired during his 30 minute timeslot that same evening.

The Dawn of Hot Season: Masonry, Committees, and Weddings

I returned to village after the music festival about two and a half weeks ago. I had planned to stay for longer, but unfortunately had to cut this stint short due to possession by the devil, i.e. contracting a bad case of conjunctivitis (pink/demon eye) in both eyes. I just arrived in Ségou to pick up medication. The illness has apparently been making the rounds within my village, and I noticed afterwards that one of my host mothers has it.

The hot season is on the horizon. The work in the fields has generally ended, save for some scattered preparations for the next growing season, such as hauling compost. The building season has begun in earnest, with many villagers involved in making mud bricks and building houses, walls, and latrines.

This work, however, is not a major time commitment, allowing me to ramp up my efforts involving the committees we have begun.

I met with both the Water and Sanitation Committee and the Women’s Garden Committee last week. In addition to facilitating a discussion of our impending work for the upcoming season, I gave each committee a speech on responsibility and obligation. My intention was to weed out any member not willing to pull their own weight, and to encourage the rest to take ownership of their committee. There is often a struggle with attendance and on-time arrivals within both committees.

I told them that ‘it is not an obligation to be on this committee. It is not an obligation to do the work. If you do not want to be on this committee, no problem, you can leave and we will replace you. No hard feelings. But if you do decide to be on this committee, it becomes an obligation to work. It becomes an obligation to attend all meetings on time. It becomes an obligation to participate. And if, for whatever reason, it is not possible for you to attend a scheduled event, it is an obligation to inform the president of the committee ahead of time.’

I also told them that I am no longer going to remind them to hold our regularly scheduled meetings or work, such as well treatment. I now have less than six months left in village. I now want to see for myself that these committees can last without me serving as their driving force.

I am generally encouraged by what I have seen from the Water and Sanitation Committee. Generally the members are willing to work and are motivated to improve the village. But some members still have a tendency to look at our work as secondary to any other work they might have. If work can be done in the fields on a certain day, this all too often takes priority, even though it could easily be shifted. I am trying to change this perspective.