Oh happy days

Hi again,
So not much has happened recently, but I'm having a really good day and thought I would treat you all to a another lovely post from meee! They changed my malaria meds and I am totally puke free for an entire day. Today we did a community assessment at a local HIV/AIDS NGO, which was confusing and consisted of a lot of Framanankan (French and Bambara - which in Bambara is Bamanankan), of which I could understand a full 30%. We have the day off tomorrow (thank goodness!), so I can get a lof of laundry and sleep time in before the trek out to my site.

I just wanted to thank everyone for all of the comments and emails that I have been getting! - It is really amazing to read your thoughts and get all of your support, especially when things get frustrating over here.

That's all for now, tomorrow, if the internet is faster, I may try to post some pictures, since I know that is severely lacking at the moment.

Qu'an ben soni (Talk to you soon)!

Sarah

Site Announcement Day

They announced our sites today and am incredibly excited to visit mine. I am going to live and work in Diema (pronounced like Jemma). It is a larger town of about 5,000 people, with both a CSCOM (smaller community clinic) and CSREF (larger regional hospital). It is in the Kayes region, which is among the hottest (temperature wise) places in the world. There is one other volunteer who is in a smaller village 25km away. Other than that, it's essentially a 4 or 5.5 hour trip to larger cities in the region or Bamako to see other volunteers. In my job description it said that I would be doing a lot of work with mother and child nutrition (the main focus of health work in Mali), but that I would also do sensitizations (presentations) on prevention of HIV and AIDS, which I am really excited to be doing. When I was talking to my site buddy she said that because it is a larger town I might have electricity in my house or at least readily available, although there is no internet to be found. I will also have very good cell service when I am there, so I won't be totally out of contact with the world. The other trainees in my region are really great (albeit very far), and I have friends who are in the other regions around Mali too.

Right now, my phone is dead and I can't find the charger, but I will let you know when it surfaces again. I am still feeling essentially the same health-wise, which is a bummer, but I'm dealing with it. It is really great to be back at the training site with the other trainees and current volunteers. Life is good.

Just to clarify

I am in the med office because I have been unable to eat without vomiting afterwards for 11 days now. I came to the med office because I had so little food in my system that I blacked out (and almost passed out) when riding my bike to a nearby village.

I just ate lunch and will see what happens with that...

Med trip to Bamako

So, continuing my longstanding tradition of constantly being sick, I am in the med office in Bamako (with AC and internet!). Something in the delicious bananas and food my host mother makes is not agreeing with me and I'm having blood drawn tomorrow to rule out anything major. I don't feel too bad...just weak, and my host family makes vomiting noises at me whenever I leave the negen....out of love I assume. Plus...if no food is getting through I can't have 'Mr. D', like many of my peers.

In fun and exciting anecdotes for this update....
My host brothers and sisters were having a great time blowing up a balloon and then slowly letting the air out to make fart noises. I, having the maturity of a 5 year old thought it was hilarious and would laugh histerically when this happened (and they told me that so and so must have eaten a lot of beans). Seeing my amusement, they handed me the balloon. Not even half a breath in, and while it was still smaller than when they did it, it burst in a loud pop. I tried to apologize, but that just brought about even more laughter. As far as my Malian family knows, I am incapable of just about anything. (Except fixing the chain on their bike - I did manage to do that to make up for my balloon fail.)

Also, we have been learning adjectives and body parts recently in Bambara lessons. While useful and funny for anyone, this was all the more amusing, when during lunch that very day I was replacing the seat of my bike to a tractor style seat I brought from the states. When one of my host mothers asked why I was doing this, my host sister replied, cracking up histerically, because she has, what amounts to in Bambara, a huge ass. Had this taken place only hours earlier, it would have been more meaningless jibber jabber (Boston Legal!) at my expense, but this time I was in on the joke, and was able to actually laugh rather than awkwardly giggle like I usually do. Language success!

So, just another comment on communication: My cell here is 784-555-13. It can be very hard to get through the circuit, and if you get a French recording, it is my voicemail. When I am at homestay, my phone is only on between 4 and 5:30 pm EST and on weekends until 5:30 pm EST. I cannot receive texts, but I can send them.

Also, send me your addresses and phone numbers (by email - sarah.a.gallagher@gmail.com) so that I can send a post card or a quick hello text or something - communication with Americans, by letter or phone is seriously one of the best ways to brighten my day! :D

Hope all is well in America!
♥Sarah