Adama and Hawa, the twins that live next door.
My counterpart, Bezo, and his daughter Mamy.
Bezo's Wife, Hawa, with Mamy.
Just got a kitten last week. Her name is Fitini, which means "small" in the local language of Bambara. She's crazy-energetic and runs around the house attacking and battling everything and nothing.
Attacking my asthma inhaler.
SIXLETS!
Starbursts.... mmmmm!! Thanks mom!
The neighbor children at my counterpart's house.
The neighbor children at Bezo's house.
Bezo and Mamy.
Lala. She's camera shy.
Lala, trying to hide the fact that she doesn't have her two front teeth.
OOOP, there they are! Orrrr aren't, right?
Mamy. She's one year old and is juuust about to start walking. She crawls around smiling and cracking up laughing at things that only she understands. You'd think she was out of her mind if she were grown.
Dinner cooking on the fire. All meals are prepared over a wood fire like this one.
Two of my good friends, Djibril (left) and his brother Aruna, receiving an english lesson from Teacher Brooke. We do lessons two days per week at the local high school.
A typical seat on the train in Mali. I'm not sure where this train was imported from, but it's super old and in terrible condition. Crazy-dirty, too. Derailments are not uncommon-- I have heard of about 6 during the past year. A handful of people usually die when it happens.
Batourou and Habi, a couple neighbor children.
See anything unusual?
How about now? Look closely! (or go to the next photo to see it clearly).
A dog chewing on the freshly-cut-off tail of a sheep that had just been slaughtered. Ha.
Nandi.
Aramata and her little brother.
I love the colors in this one.
Cute little guy.
Mr. Dem, an english teacher at the local high school, and his son Ousmane.
Me, Batourou, and some kids in the background.
Hanging with the kids.
Allima, perhaps the most adorable little girl I've ever seen.
Alima, perhaps the most adorable little girl I've ever seen.
Nandi and her mom.
Nandi trying to eat her hand.
Fatoumata.
Allima, again.
Allima.
Moussou.
Hanging out with Nandi. She's adorable.
I swear we didn't plan this pose! Ha.
The kids jumping up and down and going crazy for the camera.
The lake and dam in Manantali, a town a few hours from mine.
Gemma and Karmen.
Christmas time in Manantali.
Cool tree.
Seems that everyone loves him, right?
A monkey in the trees in the front yard of the Peace Corps house in Manantali.
Mmmmmmm, dinner!!
I left a small American flag outside my house and this is where I found it a few days later-- sticking out of the roof of the neighbor's hut. Ha.
Mamy and me.
Bezo, Mamy, and Hawa.
Me, Bezo, Mamy, and Ma.
Hawa and Mamy. Carrying babies this way is an extremely common practice.
Hawa.
Mamy.
Me and Mamy (pronounced "mommy"), my counterpart's daughter. Good times:)
Me and Mamy, my counterpart's daughter. Good times:)
Me, Mamy, and Bezo.
Mamy in the outfit I bought her.
Hawa, the servant, and Niama's new baby.
Habi. She wasn't happy at this moment.
Habi.
Mamu, Habi's mom, shelling peanuts.
Hawa eating mangoes.
Me and Hawa.
Lunch cooking.
A typical April day inside my house.
These two clay pots are full of water from a well, which family members drink. Almost every family has a pot or two like these in their courtyard, and anyone that lives in the concession (or any thirsty stranger walking by) drinks out of the same plastic cup that you see sitting on top.
Bezo's house.
Hawa and Mamy.
Ohhh Moussa, where have all your teeth gone?
Mamadou Salif Sow, the english teacher I work with at the local high school. Unlike many Malian english teachers, Mr. Sow speaks and understands english easily, which is great.
At our Close-Of-Service conference in Bamako, I was named the most likely to marry a host country national. Ha! Can't say I disagree:)
Fatouma and her brother.
Fatouma.
Badji.
Nandi. My favorite little girl. I'd steal her if I could.
Koumba.
Going to get water.
My cat Fitini had five kittens. Unfortunately, they all mysteriously died the following week.
Abraham, Marcel, and Bezo hanging out next to the street outside of Bezo's compound.
Abraham and Marcel.
This is a shot of the edge of one of the main roads in my town. On the other side of the concrete wall in the background is where members of this particular family bath (with well water from a bucket). The hole you see near the bottom of the wall is where bath water and urine exits the washing area and runs out into the street. As you can imagine (and see), the area is super dirty, and smells terrible. Children play near it, animals drink from it, mosquitoes breed in it. There used to be a large hole in the ground (called a "soak pit") here that the bath water would run into and then filter into the earth. But if the hole is not covered, it quickly fills up with mud and trash and ends up looking like this. The edges of every road in town are spotted with many messes just like this one (as most families' bathing areas drain onto the street). It's a real problem. The community sanitation project I was involved with repaired a total of 83 soak pits just like this one.
Hamara and his homemade racecar.
Hamara's homemade racecar.
A shot towards the river right as a big rain storm was about to hit.
A shot towards the river right as a big rain storm was about to hit. Upstream a few hundred feet, two large rivers join together to form the river you see here (the Senegal River). The names of the two rivers, the Bakoye and the Bafing, translate into "White River" and "Black River", and in this shot, you can, mysteriously, see a very clear difference between the two, with a line right down the middle. (Locals will tell you that the water in the two rivers never mixes, but this was the first time I've ever seen any color difference in the two rivers-- it must have been caused by the strong wind).
A very old woman returning home after working in the garden at the edge of the river.
It's common to see young children, like this boy, running through the streets pushing a tire along with a small stick.
A field near my house.
A path leading to the river.
The river's edge.
River.
Boats that transport people and goods across the river.
A man bathing in the river.
My house. The metal pipe hanging down to the right side of the house is a rain collection system. I lined the edge of the roof with rain gutter that drops down and enters the small window via a piece of rubber bicycle tubing. Just inside the window is a small tiled room where I bathe, and a 55-gallon barrel that fills up with water each time it rains. Awesome, I know:)
Nandy, my favorite neighborhood girl.
Koumba braided the "hair" of this used cob of corn, and it became her new doll. Pretty cool.
Koumba and her doll.
This is a shot of the Senegal River, which is formed by two large rivers that converge a few hundred feet upstream from this photo. The two rivers are called the Black and White rivers because of the color of each. Here, you can see a line running down the two, with each river clearly keeping its color, even after having converged to form the Senegal River. Quite fascinating, really.
A trip to Karmen's village, another Peace Corps volunteer living about 6 miles from my town.
Karmen and Jake with some kids.
The rain is coming!!
Koumba and her Aunt's baby.
Mamy enjoying a bath.
Koumba and Salama
Mamy and Nandy.
Nandy.
Mamy pounding millet. Adorable.
Mamy punding millet. Adorable.
