Dear Friends and Family

Dear Friends and Family,

I wish to apologize for taking so long to add another post to what started out as a more descriptive Blog... so now… what’s been happing with Bess and Jared in Mali ??? A quick summary… After Swear in we had a very challenging first month at site... at the end of each day… our heads would hurt from trying so hard to speak Tamashek, or just get around, and even though hours of each days were spent lying motionlessness in the shade - due to intense heat... I measured 47 degrees Celsius during that first month... the season Malians call the Semi-Hot season... the Hot season is coming up this March.... Oh Boy !!! We went into Gao three times... for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas... each time we joined our lovely family of Peace Corps friends from the Gao region and indeed... we had too much candy for Halloween, eat too much Turkey for Thanksgiving, and opened our Christmas packages under a Christmas Tree... Thanks Everyone for Christmas Cheer… We have a great group of people here in Gao... and it has been fun to watch everyone offer various skills and talents while celebrating Holidays away from home... in other words… the girls in Gao can cook… so Our time in Gao has been enjoyable, a good break from site, but Not site. I miss Gossi.... Bess and I left Gossi right before the New Year... and already... not even a month later... Gossi feels like a long lost dream... a too good to be true sort of thing... as if something exists threatening to take it all away... and Yet I know... Gossi is not my home forever... but it is Home to people that will be buried deep in my heart forever... Bess and I spend the New Years in Sevare with some Peace Corps friends... once we got to Sevare our Tamashek became useless... few Tamashek are found in southern Mali... even as North as Sevare… which makes getting around very difficult for me... Bess has done an amazing job learning to speak French along with Tamashek... other PCVs who studied French in High School, College, and have lived in France for some time are confirming how good she has become... Speaking of my Awesome Wife... I love her more and more throughout this Peace Corps experience... some think Peace Corps tears couples apart... but this has not been our experience at all... most this experience... is well... something I found difficult to write about... this is why I have not posted for a while... Bess has been promising to write something for this Blog… so be patient… stay tuned… she will post soon enough… for now… I have good ideas to report... exciting ideas... ideas waiting to become actualities… the ideas are the projects Bess and I wish to work on in Gossi... Projects our Goal 2 of our Peace Corps Mission... Goal 1 is just cultural integration through learning the language and developing healthy relationships with people at site... So the Projects... Where to begin? The Mayor of Gossi is already searching for the right place to establish the first Official Gossi Dump... which is a key step in Bess’ public trash collection project – idea – which Bess and Natalie initiated along with people of Gossi (This was even before IST training), right now people in Gossi burn or burry their trash... often in the streets... some nights in Gossi… I have been forced to sleep wearing a mask because dangerous fumes were coming from random burn piles… the fumes were terrible and caused nausea, couching, etc… Bess and Natalie want to clean up the streets and dump all trash in a designated area... fortunately the people of gossip are excited about doing this... they really like the idea of making Gossi more beautiful… unfortunately the chickens will need to look elsewhere for places to scrounge, lay eggs, etc... Yes… chickens in Gossi have adapted to living in trash piles… the teenagers helping with the trash collection project want T-shirts letting the world know who they are as an organized group in Gossi... I want to help them get these T-shirts (Side Project for us All) and will try raising money in United States to help make the purchase (Peace Corps doesn’t fund things like T-shirts, but trust me, T-shirts are very important to Malian people – especially teenagers). Bess is also working on establishing, in Gossi’s market, public bathrooms for the many people who come to buy things... right now everyone poops and peeps down by the lake or down an empty street... so this is another Bess project… during IST Bess learned a lot about constructing Wells, Pumps, and Cisterns - cement masonry work – something she never thought she would be so good at. Bess will help me make a cistern to feed one of my projects – a dip irrigation system (Moving on to Me). I hope to work with an engineering group like EWB (Engineers Without Boarders) to establish a Clean-Energy method of pumping water out of the lake for irrigation... right now people in gossip irrigate by hand (bucketing water down mud trenches) or by gas-powered pumps (which is not always economically sustainable for the farmers). Another project is for me to run a test-plot of Sorgum and Millet (major grains of the Timbuktu region) for an international agricultural research organization called ICRISAT. The idea is to test several different genetically engineered varieties of Sorgum and Millet and if one variety does significantly better than the rest in the climatic conditions – Use It !!! Another Project I hope to accomplish… is helping a Toureg Group outside of Gao advertise their annual Camel Race to Tourists…. The idea is to help them make a Brochure with their information and my pictures – possibly internet advertisement too. Natalie’s major project is to get a tree nursery going in Gossi... eventually she will start various grafting and tree planting techniques (like PLASA method).... another of Natalie’s is a Community Center... (Library, Computers, and more)... she might need help from people in the United States… providing various supplies… all in all... Bess, Natalie and I are conjuring up many realistic project ideas... we each plan to do several (whatever we can actually accomplish for the locals) projects during our service... and we are all-hands-in for a Gossi team effort… meaning… we are helping each other with these projects... we are collaborating so well… it’s getting difficult to determine who’s projects these our... in essence... they are being carried out by the Gossi Trio and many local people from the Gossi community... which is key to sustainable development – the ultimate aspect of Goal 2. When Bess and I got to Bamako, before IST training, after New Years in Sevare, there was a man named Gary who met us in the Bamako Peace Corps Bureau... here… Gary gave me a nice gift… a Collapsible Kayak… so a fabulous gift… a Kayak from the United States... to make a long story short... picture… the Nicest Man On Earth Ever.... reads this Blog... sends me a short e-mail letting me know he was coming to Mali with his family and friends – asked me if I needed anything brought... I asked for a Kayak... and he brought it.... no expense or work on my part… Brilliant !!! Later I hope to post a more detailed Special Thanks to Gary on this Blog… A post dedicated to his great act of Charity and my gratitude... I’ll show pictures of the boat... Check it Out Now at www.pakboats.com it’s the Puffin 12.... the people at Pakboats even lowered their price to help accommodate Gary’s kindness… so Thanks Pakboats !!! So Yeah Puffin 12, a Kayak that folds up into a duffel bag I can lift with two fingers... Great Christmas Gift Gary !!! Now I hope to do some Bird Research out in the middle of Gossi Lake. So... after the boat excitement Bess and I went into Toubaniso for two weeks of IST training, my favorite classes were... 1. Traditional Medicine with a Malian Dr. who got his M.D. in China... he spoke great English even though it was his forth language (Bambera, French, and Chinese came before), FACT – a Traditional Healer in Mali must be recognized by the community as a healer... In Mali… when it comes to Traditional Medicine… they don’t care about pieces of paper saying whether or not you’ve studied medicine – the community must recognize you as having the knowledge/wisdom. 2. PLASA Method of Tree Planting... a Malian method of planting Trees during the Hot season so that the tree will live as long as it is watered every 45 days... Wow!!! Now we still need to test this method for ourselves over time at site in Gossi, but the method is amazing (I photographed all the steps of the PLASA method). 3. An eye opening presentation by a former Peace Corps Mali Volunteer currently working in Mali on a Fulbright Scholarship... he is working as an apprentice to a Malian Master Magician (Fetish Maker) in Bamako, the Master receives various common but mostly exotic animals parts from Mali and neighboring countries... the Fetish Master then makes various charms out of the raw animal parts and people in Mali actually believe that the Fetish charms have special powers... Yes… people really do where these fetish charms all around Mali (they look like leather wads on string and they contain combinations of animal parts and other things – such as White Man’s Hair)... many Malian men claim to be Fetish Masters... but this Fulbright Scholar claims his master is the best at identifying animal parts from the plethora of animal species that arrive in Bamako (not always in one piece)... apparently... many of the animals thought to be extremely endangered or even extinct in Mali... are coming dead to Bamako (killed by poachers) from the Bafin (Southwest Mali) and other areas on a weekly basis – so the Scholar is saying that the animals are not REALLY extinct... anyway... I don’t have the time to explain how interesting this Fetish business is... but his Fulbright Scholar blew us away with his work... and his pictures… His work is not just research but also supplying the international community with data concerning the animal species being sold on the fetish market (in Bamako), animals such as Lion, Boa, Hippo, Monkey, Leopard... so yeah... apparently Mali has more wildlife than I originally thought. So... IST training was very useful and educational... after IST training... seven of us PCVs (including Bess and I) went to a place called Sibi for a couple days of rock climbing... it was amazing... I have never really watched African people rock climb before and this first experience was Great !!! Pictures will be posted later... Well... Back to Site for now... must launch these project ideas and as well as this new Kayak... Bess and I will make a short visit to the United States this coming spring April/May... to see family, see friends and even watch a few get married. When back in the United States… Bess and I will be looking for ways to share our experience… and in doing so help Americans learn more about life in Mali. By the time we return… we will have a better map of our various projects… and we will be encouraging people to perhaps contribute funds to the projects… NOTE… projects done by Peace Corps Volunteers are ONLY done if the local people (in our case the people of Gossi) are willing to contribute money/labor from their own pockets (often as much as 40, 50%, even 100%); this ensures that the local people actually want the project and have an interest in the project… in other words… PCVs don’t just do their own ideas… ANY project we execute… will be executed with Malian participation… and to an extent Malian Funding… in some cases like Solar Powered or Wind Powered Pump for Irrigation… a larger portion of the funding would be non-Malian… but as the PCV it is our job to incorporate as much Malian funding and participation as humanly possible. To top off what I hope has been an exciting Post… I will add that just before leaving Gossi at the end of December… Bess, Natalie, and I began teaching at one of Gossi’s Middle Schools – so teaching on this level will hopefully continue to be a part of our Piece Corps Experience. Last Bit of Good News… today I purchased a Solar Panel for our home in Gossi… I also bought a fan… so now… in our little mud house… we will be able to power our computer, phones, camera, lights, and fan !!! Life is getting better… P.S. the best way to view my videos is by visiting www.youtube.com and searching reddenalden – you will find all my uploaded videos – Enjoy !!!