à pied

Coming home

2012-01-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

I had a lovely vacation in the US, and it has been a bit hard to come back to Mali. But I think I found just the thing to get me over my homesickness:

a KILO of dried mangoes! Um, yum!

What to love about Mali

2011-09-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I was running some errands around town, and saw a little restaurant selling nems. Nems are one of my favorite foods in Mali - they are basically meat-filled spring rolls, with a delicious dipping sauce, and a side of raw onion and lettuce which offers a delicious contrast to fried crunchiness of the nems themselves. Yum!

Actually, this restaurant wasn't really a restaurant, but more of a food-cart. It was tiny, hardly large enough for the woman behind the counter to move around. It was also located on the side of a very busy road. Since I was far from Sikoro, and nems are best eaten hot, I looked around for a place to sit down. No stools, no chairs, no benches in sight.

I turned to the food cart vendor and asked "Is there anywhere I can sit and eat?" "Sure," she replied, and pointed to her own chair inside the restaurant. I went inside, sat in her chair, chatted and ate my nems.

And that is what I love about Mali.

Mali!

2011-08-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

As some of you might know already, I recently accepted the position of Programs Director for the Mali Health Organizing Project. I am very excited to be back at MHOP, back in Bamako, and back in Sikoro. I spent the last week working (no break there), visiting old friends, and generally feeling a sense of deja vu (in a good way) to be back. I will obviously keep blogging, sharing my experiences here in Mali with all of you over the next two years.

On that note, MHOP is currently in the midst of a matching campaign. I hope you will contribute! Before August 12 (that's 10 days from now) your donation will be matched, and we can also win a $10,000 if we get 250 donors - so tell your friends! You can donate here or mail a check to Mali Health at P.O. Box 20, Westminster Station VT 05159.

I will be sharing more about my work with MHOP on this blog, but if you want to learn more now, check out our website: www.malihealth.org

Top Ten

2011-08-02T11:28:00.001-07:00

I left Cameroon just one week ago, and I wanted to reflect on my time there and share with you the best and worst of my experiences.

Best Fruit: Pineapple

Well of course this was a hard category: mangoes, oranges, watermelon, dates and all sorts of tropical fruits which we don't have in the US. But Cameroonian pineapples are amazing. Sugary, juicy, and available for 100CFA a slice on the street corner. Nothing as good as eating a freshly cut slab, juice dripping down your chin, walking down the streets of Yaounde.

Cutest toddler: Didi or Bapayaya

Its a tie really. Didi, shy, sometimes petulent, and budding artist (just don't try to color on her coloring book!) vs. Babayaya aka Papinou, a little wild, but an adoring older brother to the family's new baby ("Mama's baby").

Papinou
(Fadi said: Devon, why do you always take such silly pictures of my kids?)
vs.
Didi (right)

Coloring books calm down braiding time.

Best climate: Ngaoundere

Ngaoundere, at an altitude of is probably 20 degrees cooler than the other major cities of Northern Cameroon, less humid that Yaounde or Douala, and in the rainy season feels downright cold. Hooray for jeans and long-sleeved shirts!

Prettiest city: Maroua

Ngaoundere's climate can't beat the beauty of Maroua. For someone who grew up in Portland, the tree lined streets (a rarity in Cameroon) make the city heaven. Courtyards are also paved with river-sand, which is a lovely contrast to the red dirt of other cities. The river which bisects the city is usually dry (the sandy bottom absorbs water quickly), which makes the sight of the river after a rainstorm all the more beautiful. Pictures coming soon.

Worst form of transportation: Yaounde taxis while handicapped
Yaounde traffic is terrible snarl. Taxis, which operate as shared transportation, weave in an out of traffic to pick up new passengers, and stuff them in - 2 in front and 3 in back. There is no time (I assume) to help a wheelchair bound passenger into the car. Instead, handicapped individuals stay in their wheelchair outside of the car, and hold on the passenger-side mirror, allowing the taxi to pull them to their destination. It is hard to underestimate how terrifying this form of transport appears, as the taxi and wheelchair rider speed though traffic.

Best form of transportation: Moto-taxis
Yes, they are dangerous (and yes, I wore a helmet). But you can flag them down anywhere, go down the tiniest of backroads, get a cool breeze on a hot day - and they only cost 100cfa.

Worst road: Kumbo to Korup National Park
Despite a stretch of road steamrolled by palm oil companies, the road into Korup National park is dusty, rocky and bu-bu-bu-mpy. Miles and miles of ruts, bumps, and thumps. The worst road I traveled on by far.

Prettiest henna: Djami's wedding henna
The younger sister of my SIT host mother got married this July (I say younger sister, but she is actually close to my age). Another Fulbrighter and I attended her wedding: prepared the food, bagged kola nuts to be given to the guests, and danced with the bride's younger sister. Her wedding henna went all the way to her knee (normally it stops mid-calf), and was absolutely gorgeous. The dye was washed off of her legs by older women in the family at the yiiwordu, in preparation for the wedding ceremony itself. Pictures coming soon.

Least useful library: University of Yaounde I
Books locked in cages. Books missing. The main secondary source at this university are other student's thesis. Even the list of thesis materials for the history department is falling apart - it is impossible to see what theses were written 10 years ago. Very sad.

Best friend: Too many to count
I met and reconnected with so many amazing people on this trip to Cameroon. I can't choose just one. Fadi, Djami, Bello, Mackenzie, Miste, Garba, Adam, Prof. Saibou, Fanta and Rougayatou, Bilki, Mamie, Prof. Sehou, Comissaire Souley and Habiba, Barbara, Eric, Marie Ange and Marie Francoise, Souley and Fanta, Aissata, Lynne, Gena, Tchouma, Brandon, Aminatou Didjatou, and Francois, thank you for making my experience so wonderful!

Research: Part 3

2011-08-01T06:10:00.000-07:00

My final research interest concerns the story of a political party operating in Northern Cameroon, near the border with Tchad, from 1958 to the early 1960s. The Union Democratique d'Action Sociale (UDAS) shared a political philosophy with the nationalist Union des Populations Camerounais (UPC), and was according to some (especially French sources) actually a front for the UPC, which had been banned in 1955. Regardless, UDAS was certainly no fan of the Cameroonian Prime Minister and later President, Ahmadou Ahidjo, and they campaigned against the Ahidjo-backed constitution in 1960. Like other radical Cameroonians, members of UDAS felt that Ahidjo was simply a puppet for French interests.

As mentioned in my other posts, anti-colonial political action in Northern Cameroon was often interpreted as the work of "agitators" from Southern Cameroon. The discussions about UDAS were no different. But there are also many indications that residents of the region bordering Tchad were involved in this political party, including the fact that there was a covert police action in two small towns with high levels of enrollment in UDAS, causing the displacement of over 50 people.

The region bordering Chad (the Logone and Chari) had a different pre-colonial history and ethinic compostition than other parts of Northern Cameroon (it fell outside of the direct path of the Fulba lamidats of Northern Cameroon). The Logone River facilitated trade and exchange between what is now Chad and Cameroon. In the case of UDAS, many prominent members of the party would hold meetings in Cameroon before crossing over the river back into Chad (as protection from Cameroon's police).

The history of this political party, which was crushed by Ahidjo's security forces, can give us insights into rural political activity in a region where few individuals were educated, the capacity for cooperation between individuals from different regions of Cameroon, and the fact that the political and social processes of the pre-independence period did not stop on January 1, 1960 but continued to develop in the new Cameroonian nation.

Research: Part 2

2011-07-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

The second topic of research which I have been exploring is the history of a 1964 agreement between Cameroon and Mali allowing travel between the two countries without a visa or even a passport (as well as other things, such as aviation routes, extradition, and so forth). To my knowledge, the agreement between these two countries is the most extensive such accord signed by Cameroon – it certainly goes father than the agreement with Nigeria and other neighbors such as Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have no sort of agreement at all. Besides my personal interest in things concerning Mali and Cameroon, this accord begs the question: why does it even exist at all? Mali and Cameroon are not neighbors, they don't share extensive trade, and at the time (1964) the presidents of Cameroon and Mali were on opposite sides of the Cold War divide.

The most prevalent rumor in Cameroon to explain this agreement is that the first President of Cameroon, Ahmadou Ahidjo, was of Malian origin, and perhaps that his father (whose identity is not confirmed) was Malian. Although Ahidjo, like most Fulbe people in Cameroon, traced his ethnic origins to Mali, I do not believe that his father was Malian (although it is interesting that his connection to Mali is so often framed in terms of family links!).

Despite my research however, I don't have a better explanation! The logic behind this accord remains mysterious (and is something I am going to continue to research when I go to Mali). Some of the explanations or aspects I am exploring include

The Number of Malians in Cameroon. There were certain number of Malians living in Northern Cameroon in the colonial period. Some came as members of the French administration, others stopped off during their pilgramige to Mecca and never left (the overland route passed through Northern Cameroon). Most of the Malians in Cameroon were of Fulbe origin, and probably felt at home in the dominant Fulbe culture of region. Although many people cite the presence of this population as a reason for these accords, I am not convinved; in addition to Malians, there were a large number of Senegalese and Guineans (Guinea-Conakry) living in Cameroon before and after indpendence. Presidents Abidjan and Senghor had a close relationship, and there were many economic links between Senegal and Cameroon, which were both regional powerhouses. It is not totally logical that Cameroon could sign an accord with Mali but not with Senegal (assuming of course that Senegal was interested – which perhaps it was not). (As for Guinea-Conakry, the reason for a the lack of an accord is clear. There was a conflictual realtionship between Ahidjo and Toure, who harbored UPC rebels fighting against Ahidjo's governement in turn, Ahidjo welcomed Peuls fleeing from Guinea).

A Personal Relationship between Presidents Ahidjo and Keita: One potential explanation is a personal relationship between President Ahidjo of Cameroon and President Keita of Mali. President Keita visited Cameroon for the independence celebration in January 1960, and Ahidjo flew directly to Bamako upon hearing of the break-up of the federation between Mali and Senegal in 1960. The idea of a special friendship is contradicted by the fact that some of my sources have denied that Ahidjo and Keita were friends, and the fact that the accord was not signed by either president, but rather by the Foreign Ministers of each country (on the other hand, the accords were a presidential decree, so they certainly passed through Ahidjo and Keita at some point)

The Role of Sissoko Sekou Cheik: Sissoko Sekou Cheik was a Malian doctor sent to Cameroon by the colonial administration in the 1950s. He was subsequently elected to the Cameroonian National Assembly and then became the Secretary to the Presidency, a role he played for around a decade. He and Ahidjo were very close. One intriguing aspect of the accords between Mali and Cameroon is that they allow for citizens of each country to work for the public service of the other. Was this provision impacted by the fact that a Malian citizen was working at the highest level of the Cameroonian government? Unfortunately, I have not found any direct evidence that Sissoko was involved. Certainly, he played an important role as unofficial diplomat between Cameroon and the countries of West Africa and was very importance in Ahidjo's presidency. The place of a Malian in the development of the Cameroonian nation does bring up interesting ideas about the role of “foreigners” in developing nations, and contradicts the idea that nations are built by and for a single population.

Panafricanism: The 1960s was not simply a time of deliberate nationalism (the development of flags, anthems and other markers of "nationness"), but also provided opportunities to put into practice ideas of pan-African development. Ahidjo was a supporter of pan-Africanim and perhaps he wrote the accord with the Mali as a test run for other accords which could have put these ideals into practice. His his connections to West Africa make sense to a certain extent– Ahidjo grew up in a region of Cameroon which has a lot of cultural similarities with West Africa, and many in his cohort of Central African leaders came from a very different cultural background.

These are my theories: anyone else have any ideas?

Research: Part 1

2011-06-27T03:36:00.000-07:00

Although you might not know it from this blog -- which has really been a blog about my life in Cameroon -- I have been hard at work here!

In general, my research has focused on the development of political identity in Northern Cameroon in the 1950s and 1960s. This is clearly a large topic, and I've been taking advantage of the looseness of the Fulbright requirements to do research on whatever interests me, rather than focusing on a single topic. In the end, much of my research has come to focus on the interplay of “strangers” and locals in political action in this region. My research is not finished (even though my grant almost is), but even though I still have questions I thought I'd share with you some of what I am working on in a series of 3 posts.

In 1950, a man from the Mafa ethnic group (from the Mandara mountains near Maroua) traveled to France with his employer, where he met and married a French woman. The couple returned to his hometown, Mokolo, where the immediately attracted the negative attention of the French administration in the region.

Colonial administrators were concerned about the impact of this couple on the region. Their fears played out in an environment of growing political action in Southern Cameroon, especially by the Union des Populations Camerounais (U.P.C.) which took a anti-colonial stance, demanding immediate independence from France and the reunification of the French and British portions of the Cameroonian territory (which were divided at this point in time). The French administration saw the northern part of Cameroon as a potential political counterpoint given the general cultural differences between the two populations, and local animosity towards the UPC (local chiefs were understandably unhappy with the UPC which had called for the removal of “feudal” leaders in the North). What is most striking to me in my research is that throughout the 1950s the colonial administration tried hard to make their vision of a pro-French, conservative region a reality. Even when faced with cases which showed clear northern support for the UPC, they were liable to dismiss these supporters as insignificant as opposed to Southern agitators operating in Northern Cameroon.

In light of these political developments, the French administration was especially concerned that this Mafa-French couple would cause local populations to loose respect for the French administration. A white woman married to an African man upset gendered and racialized expectations of power and propriety. But even allowing that certain mixed-race couples could be accepted (a number of contemporary African heads of state married white women), neither the husband nor wife in this couple fit with administrators' conceptions of how a proper mixed-race couple should behave.

Some things I am interested in exploring:

Letters and reports about the couple suggest that by 1953, French administrators working in Mokolo believed that there was a certain kind of African for whom it could be acceptable to be married to a white woman. But the husband in this couple was not one of them. He did not fit their image of an appropriate husband because of his class, his ethnic group (a member of the Mafa ethnic group, a historically non-Muslim group, which was saddled with stereotypes of violence, sexuality and primitiveness), his lack of education, and the fact that he was not at all connected to French administration, having gained his exposure to European culture and met his wife through his employer, a French logger.

Concerns about the wife, which outlasted her stay in Mokolo, came to focus on her deviance from norms of gendered behavior, namely in three spheres: the state of her household (cleanliness, etc), her actions as a mother (which were not seen as very good) and her sexuality (she was castigated for engaging in sexual relations with Cameroonians, including but not limited to her husband)

The family's story was not a happy one, and the couple divorced withing a few years – but it is interesting in demonstrating the ways in which the domestic spheres intertwined with the political sphere during the colonial period.

Artice for the Wesleyan Alumni Magazine

2011-06-27T03:24:00.000-07:00

I wrote an article about my experiences in Mali and Cameroon for the Wesleyan Alumni Magazine. Check it out here.

Inderi

2011-06-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

Among Cameroonian Fulbe families an inderi, a baptism or naming-ceremony, takes place 7 days after a child's birth. The inderi has several parts: a celebration for the men of the family, where the Imam announces the infant's name; a woman's event, where the baby's head is shaved; and sometimes, an evening party for friends and co-workers.

My friend Fadi recently gave birth to her 5th child, and I took the bus down to Ngaoundere to attend the inderi for the baby - Aissatou.

7-day old Aissatou. She was named after Fadi's mother.

Fadi and Aissatou.

3 of Fadi's sisters, from l. to r.: Mama, Bilgi, and Djamila

Some guests.

And the food for the guests.

Me, Fadi, Aissatou, and Mackenzie, a fellow Fulbrighter and friend.

I guess I found something really funny while we were taking pictures!

Me and Fadi.

Cameroon in Photos

2011-04-09T05:48:00.000-07:00

In Ngaoundere (Adamaoua Province), I was able to look through a collection of photos taken by Norwegian missionaries who first began proselytizing in the region in the 1920. The photos show a wide variety of subject from the 1930s-70s: architecture, traditional rituals and dances, colonial events, local chiefs and kings and of course, missionary activities! The photos present a really lovely complement to the archival documents I've been reading – and so I have to thank the Norwegians who had the time, equipment and interest to document everyday scenes! Here are some of my favorites:

Buses along the road from Ngaoundere to Tibati, around 1956. Photo: Aansel Achang

Colonial documents talk about the role the French administration had in controlling the selection and deposition of lamibe in Northern Cameroon (and chiefs throughout their colonial territory). But nothing quite reinforces that as the image of the regional administrators standing next to lamido Baaba Djelani of Ngaoundere on the day of his coronation, 1955.
Photo: Sigred Knudsen.

And yet, one wonders how they manged to rule looking so ridiculous in their shorty-shorts (and why on earth they chose to wear white in such a dusty climate!),
1945. Photo: Soeur Flottam.

Independence Day, January 1, 1960, in Tibati.
Photo: Arne Aasen.

The war against lice!

c. 1950. Photo: Jan Walle.

In the 1950s and 60s, Cameroon was racked by a civil war/insurrection in the Southern part of the country. This photos shows the destruction of a town in what is now the West region.

1961. Photo: Arne Aasen.

Missionaries share the apex of Western civilization: sewing. I find this photo really interesting when thinking about the way gendered practices were imposed/introduced based on Western expectations of gender roles. (There are also a number of photos of knitting and crochet circles too).
1935. Photo: Soeur Flottam.

The guard at the entrance of the lamido's palace, Ngaoundere.

“Young circumcised Dii boys at the end of the period of seclusion. In the middle is the mask, Guekke. They are bringing wood to the Dogna, the leader of the circumcision ceremony, and to the chief. This ceremony is called Mandakki. [The circumcised boys] stay in the woods with two guides and the mask."

Sakje. Before 1959. Photo: Soeur Flottam.

Some great hairstyles...

A procession carrying the dowry for a marriage - nowadays, all the goods presented to the engaged couple are loaded into cars!

Lamido of Mbe.
1964. Photo: Jan Walle.

Cool, right!

March 8th - International Women's Day (Part 2)

2011-04-09T05:10:00.000-07:00

I have met some awesome women in Cameroon. In honor of Women's Day, I thought I would share a little about one of them – Fadi.

Fadi was my host mother on my first trip to Cameroon, in 2006. She is a religious, conservative Muslim women, who grew up in Ngaoundere. She married at 17, and in the last 10 years has had 6 pregnancies and 4 children. But since her marriage she has also finished high-school, completed her bachelor's degree, and received her teaching license after attending the Higher Teacher's Training College 8 hours away from her home. Fadi benefited from a supportive husband, and family (her mother looked after the older children while she was in school), but also from a personal desire to continue her education. At the beginning of the next school year, she will start teaching high-school history – she is the only one of her sisters-in-law to work outside the home.

On my first trips to Cameroon, I felt that Fadi was really unique. And she is, but then again, she is not. On this trip, I have met many remarkable women from all regions of the country who have pursued higher education and careers, while balancing all of the work of raising a family (much like many women in the US....). These women work as professors, accountants, study abroad instructors, government employees, and cashiers at the National Lottery.

A bit late – but happy Women's Day to all of them! And to all of you!

March 8 - International Women's Day (Part 1)

2011-03-07T06:36:00.000-08:00

Although it is not celebrated in the US,March 8^th is International Women's Day, and it is a big deal in Cameroon. The day itself is marked by a parade of women (marching before the Governor, Prefect and other important figures – ironically, most of whom are men), dressed in the official Women's Day pagne. The sale of the official pagne has become a huge industry, and in some ways to commercialization of the whole event reminds me of Valentine's Day in the United States.

In honor of Women's Day, I marched with colleagues from the University of Maroua, dressed in our “uniform.”

The crazy sleeves of the official University of Maroua kaba

My roomate Charlote and I, showing how everyone can style their kaba as they wish.

Waving the Cameroonian flag before the march.

Female staff member of the University of Maroua

The events of March 8^th are not the only aspects of the celebration. In the week leading up to Women's Day, there were workshops (how to make different fruit juices), handball tournaments, and talent shows (which features some awesome dances from around Cameroon). I also attended a very interesting debate hosted by the University of Maroua about the place of women in education, science and technology. Sitting in the hot conference hall, listening to several female professors describe barriers to education, I also wondered about what it means for me to be a feminist in West Africa.

Unlike (apparently) a lot of American women of my generation, I have never shied away from identifying myself as a feminist. In Cameroon, I sometimes find it difficult to live out this role. As a guest and an outsider, I try to avoid judgment of Cameroon's many cultures--especially given the many challenges women continue to face in the US (...pot calling the kettle black). I am also somewhat outside of gender roles of Cameroon: I am included in men's activities (often invited to eat with the men in places where men and women eat separately) and excluded from women's activities (being shooed out of the kitchen, ostensibly for my lack of skills).

But this doesn't exclude me from being judged based on my gender (and race and nationality of course). Sometimes this means incessant catcalls in Yaounde, but at other times, I knowingly play on my gender to make things easier for myself (an action which makes me uncomfortable at the same time). A few days before the debate, I went to the University library. I wanted to check out some books which had limited accessibility – and in order to convince the librarian (a man), I simpered, I played dumb and acted the gamine. The person who I presented to librarian had nothing to do with who I am, it was simply a role to make the situation easier, and it is a role I have played with unfortunate regularity.

So my challenge for myself: how can I live out my principles in my day to day actions here in Cameroon?

A Pet Peave

2011-03-04T02:16:00.001-08:00

Since I arrived in Cameroon, I've been trying to learn Fulfulde, a beautiful/difficult language spoken in the northern part of the country (and actually all across West Africa). Fulfulde is a very challenging language (and I am not just saying that because I am studying it) - for example, there are 25 different noun classes (that is to say, 25 different ways to say "it" depending on what you are referring to) and in classical Fulfulde each adjective is modified to correspond to the noun class (i.e. the "white horse" is "puccu baleju" while the "white cow" is "nagge baleje", bal- being the root of the word white).

So, in the process of learning this new language I have been disheartened to hear Cameroonians speak of their own native languages, including Fulfulde, as "patois." Patois is a French word meaning dialect, but Cameroonians use it to refer to local languages. If you ask someone what languages (langues) they speak, they will tell you "French and English." But dig a little deeper and you will learn they speak not only French and English, but also Fulfulde, Guider and Moundang (three local languages). "What about Fulfulde, Guider and Moundang?" you say. "Well those are my patois" they respond.

This might seem to be a small semantic difference, I think the use of the word patois instead of langue says a lot about the way local languages are devalued in Cameroon. (And it is all the more bizarre because I don't remember Malians referring to local languages such as Bambara, Soninke, and Tamashek as patois). As someone who finds it hard to learn new languages, I have always been impressed by the number of languages spoken by my Cameroonian friends and colleagues, and I find it sad that people don't respect their own languages for what they are - languages with complicated grammar, intricate proverbs and a unique worldview.

Home Sweet Home

2011-02-22T04:51:00.000-08:00

As some of you might know, my home in Bamako was pretty basic (but I still loved it!!) - one room, cinder block walls, tin roof, and an outdoor latrine.

So it was a pleasant surprise to arrive at my apartment in Maroua. It was partially furnished, and my roommate Charlotte and I have finally gotten some extras to make the place a bit more like home...

Huge bedroom...

...with a big bed

...and a pretty little desk I just bought. It really is quite small (although the picture doesn't quite show that) but perfect for me. My "bulletin board" is really a traditional rug woven out of grass, but I think it serves the purpose well - you can hang things up by slipping paper clips between the woven strands.

Living room, with classic overstuffed Cameroonian furniture.

And a kitchen...you can see the edge of the sink (running water!...most of the time) on the right

...and a (gasp) gas OVEN on the left.

Welcome home, Devon.

Jabbama!

2011-02-02T01:31:00.000-08:00

In late January I arrived in Maroua - a tree-filled city of over 200,000 in the Extreme-North province.

The University of Maroua is my host university for the Fulbright, and the staff here have been incredibly generous - offering me an apartment and an office. It is especially kind considering that the University is only 2 years old, and without a permanent home (classes are being taught in converted warehouses from the defunct cotton company while the university campus is being constructed).

Coming from Mali, which currently has a single university (the University of Bamako), I have been impressed by the interest in higher education in Cameroon. There are over 6 state-supported universities in the country (and many private institutions), and while many lack the necessary resources to function a la American universities, they are home to devoted academics and students.

Here in Maroua, I have been slowly furnishing my apartment (pictures to come), hanging out with Charlotte, my German roommate, and taking a gazzilion pictures...

....pictures of archival documents (and hence reeeaaalllly boring to post on a blog!). Like many public institutions in Cameroon, the regional archives in Maroua are severely understaffed. The archive is run by the Regional Delegation of Culture, so during this days leading up to Feb. 11, i.e. World Youth Day, all off the archive staff have been busy recruiting local high school students for the festivities. They kindly opened the archives last weekend, and I took hundreds and hundreds of pictures of documents to read later.

I really enjoy the city of Maroua (like I mentioned - trees!) and coming back to the Sahel - Maroua is climatically and culturally similar to Mali. Northern Cameroon was actually my favorite region when I visited the country in 2006, and so for that reason too, its good to be back.

Searching for a hot water shower

2011-01-15T01:43:00.000-08:00

My family came to Cameroon for a visit, and we had a lovely (if incredibly hectic) time, hitting some of the tourist hot-spots in Cameroon and getting a sense of the diversity of the country:

We visited the black-sand beach at Limbe (and looked up into the clouds at the place where Mt. Cameroon was supposed to be ...)

We hiked through a rainforest preserve, Korup National Park, near the border with Nigeria.

....narrowly avoiding biting ants!

And all the while feeling a sense of deja vu -- despite the different vegetation, the feeling of this first-growth tropical rainforest was the same as that of our temperate rainforests at home in Oregon!

We celebrated the New Year in the kingdom of Bamoum, as community members presented gifts to the Sultan on New Year's Day.

And took a 14 hour train ride to Ngaoundere, where my real family met my Cameroonian family.

It was a lovely trip. Even though (despite some "nice" hotels) we didn't get a hot shower until we made it back to my calm apartment in Yaounde.

Ahhh. Relaxation!
(actually, this is in Limbe, but it was pretty relaxing there too!)

Beach Vacation

2011-01-10T00:25:00.000-08:00

Beach resort or forest? Which do you think I wanted to see??

Forest, obviously!

As a sort of Christmas present to myself and Vieux, I rented us a room at a very nice resort (http://www.semebeach.com/) on the Cameroonian coast which is mostly frequented by wealthy Cameroonians and expats from Douala, the economic capital of the country, only an hour's drive away. The resort is very nice, but it is a resort, with palm trees planted in a row, and a very proper beach with lounge chairs etc.

In contrast, along the rest of the coast tropical forest grows right up to the black sand beaches.

Naturally, this is the part I wanted to explore, so one morning I forded a small creek which marks the border of the hotel and started on my way. I only walked 10 minutes or so before an employee of the hotel hurried up behind me, telling me it was too dangerous for me to walk alone along the beach at 11 AM. As we walked back to the hotel, I noticed a member of the Cameroonian army holding a machine gun guarding the edge of the hotel's property....

This was not the first time that Cameroonians (or Americans too) expressed concern about safety and crime, in (sometimes over the top) terms which makes it hard to know what is the reality, and what is overreaction...

But it did make me ponder a few things:

Cameroon is wealthier, and the class divide seems larger than in Mali (where in contrast, expats and Malians rarely discussed crime and safety - and certainly not in the same terms). How does this impact actual crime rates? How does it impact fear about crime?
In both Mali and Cameroon, people discuss spikes in crime around the holidays. "People need money for Tabaski/Christmas/New Year's" they say. What a difference from our own conception, when the holidays are the time when people are supposed to be the most generous and loving (even if it might not be true).
How frustrating can it be to be a woman sometimes, when your gender makes people more concerned for your safety! "You can walk along the beach if you take a man with you" the Seme Beach guard told me as we walked back to the hotel property. Blerg.

But, mindful of my own safety, I headed back to the hotel, beautiful but rather staid in comparison to the jungle just a few meters away.

History Rockstars

2010-12-20T09:46:00.000-08:00

In early December I had the pleasure of attending the conference "Searching for the African Voice in the History of Enslavement, Slave Trade and Slavery" at the University of Buea, in Cameroon's anglophone Southwest province. I tagged along with two friend/mentors, Professor Ahmadou Sehou of the University of Yaounde and Professor Henry Kah of the University of Buea. The conference concerned slavery in Africa, including the Atlantic slave trade as well as slavery on the African continent. I am quite interested in this topic and although my Fulbright research does not directly concern slavery, the repercussions of slavery echoed through and shaped the political and social worlds I am researching (and many African communities). The area of my research, Northern Cameroon, was home to a hierarchical political system deeply connected to plantation slavery from the 1800s into the 20th century. In the 1950s, one lamido (king), himself an elected representative in the National Assembly of Cameroon, wrote a letter to French colonial administrators defending the continued importance of slavery in his kingdom and similar kingdoms in Northern Cameroon. Indeed, the French colonial government did not outlaw slavery in Cameroon, only the slave trade. * So slavery clearly had a great impact on the period of my research and, as many of the conference participants discussed, African societies to the present.

In addition to meeting a number of historians from Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, the US, Brazil and Canada (mostly from Canada!) I had to chance to meet two rockstars of African history....If you have ever taken a course in African history, or picked up a book on African history, or thought about African history you have probably read something by Martin Klein and Paul Lovejoy!

And if you haven't, check out some of their writing (seriously, its really interesting! believe me non-historians!):
Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, Martin Klein
Women and Slavery in Africa, Martin Klein and Claire Robertson
Transformations in Slavery, Paul Lovejoy

Happy reading.

*Thanks to Ahmadou Sehou for this crazzzzy information!

Thankgiving Traditions

2010-11-26T03:18:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last 3 Thanksgivings abroad. This year I was lucky enough to attend a Thanksgiving diner at the home of an Army family, complete with turkey, cranberry sauce, and pie. The last two years however, I have had wonderfully slapdash Thanksgiving celebrations with American friends. We would pull together a delicious Thanksgiving -esque dinner of roast chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, and other dishes we could make from local ingredients. For desert I would make lemon curd (can't make a stovetop pie!). I made some this year as a hostess gift, and I think this desert is my new Thanksgiving tradition.

Lemon curd is surprisingly easy to make - despite what you might think! It requires basic ingredients found across West Africa (and the US): lemon/lime juice, sugar, eggs, and butter. In Mali and Cameroon, fresh eggs and sugar are found at every corner store. Limes, which happen to be in season around Thanksgiving time, are sold 6-8 for $0.20 at the market. Butter, the hardest ingredient to track down, can be bought at larger grocery stores (alimentations).

I have found the basic recipe very forgiving: I've made lemon curd with peanut oil (admittedly not so good), with ghee (pretty delicious), with whole eggs, with whatever pots I have on hand to make a "double boiler."

A typical makeshift double-boiler.

Although I've taken to cooking by proportion and taste - a necessity in my poorly stocked kitchen (no measuring cups!) - I will give you a real recipe in case you like to measure things...

Lemon Curd:
4 large lemons - juice and zest (Abroad: 1 plastic bag of limes)
4 large eggs (Abroad: 4-5 eggs)
1 1/2 cup sugar (Abroad: estimate sugar to taste)
6 Tbsp butter (Abroad: thick slice of butter or several pats of butter)

Whisk eggs (no, you don't need to seperate them for this lemon curd), then stir together the lemon juice, eggs and sugar in the top part of the double boiler. Mix continually with a fork over a low boil until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take off the heat, and stir in the butter. Cool and eat!

Easy and delicious! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Cameroon v. Mali, redux

2010-11-03T01:11:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Cameroon about 2 weeks ago. I came straight from Mali (with a day-long stop-over in Casablanca). Although Cameroon and Mali are similar in many respects, there are a number of small differences which keep tripping me up. You should see if they are any different from the differences I noticed when I arrived in Mali from Cameroon in 2008.

Money :
Both Mali and Cameroon use the Franc CFA as their currency - but they use different Franc CFA. Mali forms part of the West African Currency Zone (dark green) and Cameroon is a member of the Central African Currency Zone (light green).

All of the countries in each zone share a common currency. As a holdover from French colonization, each currency was first pegged to the franc, and the then (now) to the Euro. Both the West African and Central African FCFA are pegged at the same rate. Their bills also look similar:

West African FCFA (Mali)

Central African FCFA (Cameroon)

Can you spot the difference?

Hint, look closely at the colors!

Although the 10,000 and 5,000 bills are purple and green respectively in both countries/zones, the colors of the 2,000 and 1,000 bills are flipped! This has caused me no end of confusion. I never realized that I associated the color of a bill with the denomination, until I started giving 'blue' bills for things which cost 2,000CFA instead of 'pink' bills. Its mightily confusing!!

Language:
In Mali, I became proficient in Bambara, the local language. Bambara was spoken in my neighborhood, more so than French, and I used it for all of my daily activities - greetings, buying food, and taking taxis. Since I found that speaking Bambara with taxi drivers was apt to get you a better price, I always always spoke in Bambara with them. It's a hard habit to break, and I find myself biting back words when a Cameroonian taxi pulls up, or else:

Taxi driver, in French: Ou vas -tu (Where are you going?.)
Devon, in Bambara: Ayi, n te taa (I'm not going, i.e. I don't want a taxi now)
Taxi driver, in French: Huh, ou vas-tu? (Huh, where are you going?)
Devon, in French: Desolee, je ne vais pas! (Sorry! I don't want a taxi!)

Whoops!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T12:44:00.000-07:00

I don't always get excited about Halloween in the States, but for some reason I love this holiday when I am abroad! (Perhaps because it seems uniquely American - every country has an independence day and holidays where you make and eat food with your family - who has a holiday about costumes and candy??) Last year, I went as a mosquito. This year....

Miss Cinquantenaire

As you may recall, the Cinquantenaire was the celebration of Mali's 50th anniversary of independence from France. Anything was and could be Cinquantenaire themed: jewelry, shoes, meals at restaurants. Mali also has a number of "Miss" competitions - beauty pageants - including one for expatriate Malians in New York City! When I saw this dress in a second-hand store ("yougu-yougu" in Bambara) I knew I had to go as Miss Cinquantenaire!

If you look closely, you can see I repped the Cinquantenaire theme with my green dress (for the agricultural past and future of Mali), red necklace (for the blood of patriots) and "yellow" earrings (gold for gold - Mali's mineral resources!)

Some of my other ideas for costumes included dressing as a Malian bride (crazy bouffant dress, stage make-up) and Leona's eventual costume: Super Cinquantenaire.

(Once again, when we saw these leggings in the store, we KNEW "Super Cinquantenaire" had to be a reality! Both the top and the leggings are from a store selling clubbing outfits to young Malian women - imagine seeing those on the dance floor!)

Some of the other attendees of our party went as:

A bottle of Flag, a Malian beer.

A Dogon

A Newsie

A Malian woman (got to have some cross-dressing!)

One of my personal favorites was Alys. She captured the look of a Bamako taxi to the tee: black and yellow exterior paint (check), air freshener hanging from the rear-view mirror (check), taxi sign on the top of the car (check) and - fake fur spread on the dashboard (check!!).

(PS Alys, thanks for the photos!)

The only thing we didn't have was carved watermelon...oh well...

Happy Halloween!

True Love

2010-10-21T02:10:00.000-07:00

I'm in love! ... with the Parc National du Mali.

The park/botanical garden recently re-opened after a two-year remodel funded by the Aga Khan Foundation. For that whole time, I watched with great interest every time I would pass by the gated space, wondering what it would look like. Well, the end result is beautiful!!

Fancy bathroom, right.

Way back in 2008, I used to come to work here - before MHOP had an office to call our own. My co-worker Lassi and I would plan our week looking out over the many joggers using the park as a place to run. At the time, the park was overgrown, but I craved the green of the underbrush and the sense of being away from the Bamako hustle. One day, we arrived and all of the understory had been cut down - bushes, flowers, everything. Oh no, I said, its so ugly now, with only bare dirt under all the trees. No no no Devon, said Lassi, its beautiful - look how neat it is!

Now it is neat and green, so I suppose we can both be pleased.

An acquaintance told me that the architects in charge of the remodel had to go back to the archives to find out which trees were planted where in the park - all of the identification had been lost in the intervening years. The new park has an intense play structure, a state of the art gym, two tea houses, and an over-priced restaurant built over a waterfall. All of that is a bit much for me - but there are benches for reading (also popular with young Malian couples), gravel paths to tromp down, and a sense of calm and tranquility that is hard to find in the rest of my Bamako life.

Do you know anywhere else that has a restaurant built over a waterfall??

Yep, this is it! True love.

Help Support the Mali Health Organizing Project

2010-10-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember last year’s Global Giving Challenge, during which nearly 400 friends of the Mali Health Organizing Project (the NGO which I've been working for in Mali) came together to raise over $60,000. This year, we want to do it again– bigger and better! The matching funds through Global Giving have already run out - but we are continuing the matching campaign through out own website. With your support, we will hire and train 13 new community health workers and provide health care to an additional 400 children in exchange for their parent’s community service. Click HER E to give!

Why support MHOP? Besides the fact that I work for them? Well! In the past two years I have seen MHOP grow from a tiny start-up to a structured organization. With the generous support of grassroots donors, we’ve opened a new clinic and launched a program to provide comprehensive health to kids. Kids are visited twice a month by community health workers who monitor their health (using an innovative text-message system) and teach their families about health. When kids get sick, workers take them to our clinic for free care. In exchange, families participate in community service– like trash clean up and malnutrition awareness– to improve the health of the entire community. In 2011, we want to take it up a notch. Next year we’ll be expanding our program to reach twice as many children, and we’ll be doubling team of community health workers.

In Mali, 1 in 5 children die before their fifth birthday. 90% of these deaths are from preventable and treatable conditions like malnutrition, malaria, and measles. With a per capita income of $470, most Malian families can’t afford to go to the doctor. By providing free care, we ensure that kids receive the treatment they need. But this isn’t charity– it’s health change. In exchange for enrollment in the program, families work to improve the health of the community as a whole.

How does the campaign work? Several anonymous donors have agreed to match your donations! We are trying to raise $50,000 in funds to support our programs through 2011. You can donate HERE. Donations of any size go a long way in Mali. But beyond giving money, you can spread the word! Last year we had an incredible outpouring of support from people who learned of the campaign through email, Twitter, and Facebook. Send a note and make sure your friends and family know that this opportunity to join together in health change is out there!

MHOP is an organization close to my heart. I came back to Bamako in part to support their work - and I have been impressed by the gains that have been made even in the short time I was away. I truly appreciate your past support, and hope you will give again to support health change in Mali!

Commuting

2010-10-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

I have been spending weekends in the Kalaban Coura neighborhood (which is across the river - the Niger - from my old neighborhood, Sikoro). My commutes back and forth have given me the opportunity to appreciate the immense triumph of bridge traffic.

Bamako, population 3 million-ish, has only two bridges spanning the Niger River, which essentially bisects the city and its population. Most of the morning traffic flows into the north side of the city, and returns to the residential neighborhoods south of the river in the evening (much like Portland-Vancouver traffic). Unsurprisingly, this leads to horrendous traffic jams. To combat this problem someone (traffic police? city officials?) has resorted to an ingenuous, logistically-complex scheme: they shut down two-way traffic on one of the bridges for the entire rush hour period! Imagine - closing a bridge to allow only one-way traffic for a two/three hours!

In a city where many things don't seem to work perfectly, it is amazing to me that someone is organized enough to coordinate this massive project. How many streets have to be shut down? How many cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, bikes, sotramas have to be rerouted? And they do this all twice a day? Wow.

Le Cinquantenaire

2010-10-02T06:41:00.000-07:00

September 22 was the 50th anniversary of Mali's independence, and as such necessitated a huge celebration. The Malian government (with help from countries such as France and Libya) undertook or rushed to finish a series of huge construction projects (such as an immensely complicated overpass, the remodeling of the national park, and a fake waterfall tucked into the hills). The festivities themselves included free concerts in the city center, two parades (one for the military, one for civilians), parachutists (with green, yellow, and red parachutes of course), and the sales of yards of special Cinquantenaire fabric:

Some of my Malian friends questioned why the Cinquantenaire celebration was a priority for the Malian government, when the country still has a long way to go towards achieving quality health care, education and so on. It is a very valid question. But I feel like Mali should also celebrate the gains they have made in the past 50 years - when I remember that the colonial period is still within the memory of many living people, it causes me to pause and appreciate the real changes and gains that have been made since 1960!

Home Again

2010-09-23T03:38:00.000-07:00

Now that I am back in Mali, it really feels as if I never left. Everything - the greetings, the smells, the heat, the look of the street corners - is familiar and comfortable. Which makes the small changes even more shocking. Such as the gas station which replaced a set of small woven-grass lean-tos where men would pound bazin (a type of cotton cloth soaked in gum arabic and beaten with wooden mallets until it is shiny)...

Cameroonian Politics, 1944 -1960

2010-07-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last blog post, in November I will be returning to Cameroon to conduct independent research with Fulbright award. Cameroon is a country on the border between West and Central Africa, with great geographical, cultural and religious diversity (“Africa in miniature” as the Cameroonian tourist board likes to say!)

I’ve developed a little summary of my project that I tell people who ask about my research:

“I will be studying the development of political identity in Northern Cameroon in the 1950s. I am specifically interested in how the memory of former imperial powers influenced discussions of Cameroon’s future within the French Empire after WWII.”

Hmmm, you say, I don’t even know what that means. Good point. So here's some background:

By the 1940s, Northern Cameroon had been ruled by three distinct empires.

First, in the 1800s, Northern Cameroon was conquered by the Sokoto Caliphate, an Islamic state based in Sokoto (present day Nigeria). The Sokoto Caliphate was a centralized, hierarchical state administered by regional kings (lamido).

Very approximate borders of the Sokoto Caliphate. ~1800 to 1900.

PowerPoint Presentation - Projet Sigida Keneyali The Mali Health Organizing Project

At the turn of the century, Cameroon was colonized by Germany (while the rest of the Sokoto Caliphate became part of the British colony of Nigeria).

Approximate borders of the German colony of Kamerun. ~1900 to 1918.

PowerPoint Presentation - Projet Sigida Keneyali The Mali Health Organizing Project

When Germany was defeated in WWI, its colonial possessions were distributed to other countries as mandate territories under the jurisdiction of the League of Nations (and later the United Nations). As mandate territories, these areas were administered by colonial powers such as Britain and France, but were technically controlled by the international community. Kamerun (as it was known in German) was split between France and Britain.

Approximate border of the French and British mandate territories (the latter ruled as part of Nigeria). ~1918 to 1960.

Near the end of WWII, the French began to offer citizenship and political representation to their African subjects, including Cameroonians. And this is where my research project really begins.

In retrospect, it's easy to say -- of course African countries became independent along the colonial borders. But the years 1945 to 1960 (the year when many African nations became independent) were full of debate over how African colonies should and could become independent (and for many colonial leaders, the fact that colonies would become independent at all was not set in stone!). Many African political leaders discussed the idea of federations (think the EU) with various degrees of seriousness.

In Northern Cameroon, because of shared histories of Sokoto and German rule, citizens and political leaders debated what physical borders an independent Cameroon should have. Should an independent Cameroon reunite the two sections of the German colony? Should Cameroon become independent along the boundaries of the two mandate territories? And so on.

These are the discussions I want to study. What did people say (if anything) about German rule when they talked about the future Cameroon? How did political leaders in Northern Cameroon talk (if at all) about the Sokoto Caliphate -- especially because many of the local leaders that the French government worked closely with were descendants of the Sokoto kings?

You could say that I am researching how peoples use history to justify their conception of the present and future. It's true! I think that is one of the most interesting aspects of studying history! Studying the pre-independence period of Cameroon will be especially fascinating because this was a time when there was a real sense of possibility and change, but the question of how people define their citizenship (who they exclude and include when they talk about "Cameroonians") is important in all communities and at all moments.

And you ask, what actually did happen with Cameroon's borders? Well...Northern British Cameroon voted to remain part of Nigeria, and Southern British Cameroon voted to rejoin French Cameroon, making an amalgamated new country which didn't quite follow the borders of any of the old administrative divisions!

All clear? Great! Now you won't be able to stare blankly when I get into the details of my research....!

I'm back!

2010-07-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m back. I think we can all agree that I am not a very good – or maybe, very consistent – blogger! But, I’m starting a new project, so I thought this would be a good time to get back into the writing spirit.

Since I last wrote (over a year ago, eek), here’s what has happened:

After spending June 2009 in the US, celebrating my brother Mackenzie’s graduation from high school, I returned to Mali, where I was promoted to be the Mali Health Organizing Project’s first ever Programs Manager. Basically, I was in charge of the day to day operations of all of our programs, which included –

A community radio show, which invites local residents and government officials on air to constructively discuss community issues;

The construction (after years of delays) of a public clinic, which was supposed to have been built in the early 1990s;I actually bet one of my co-worker that this clinic would not be finished before I left Mali. Happily, I was wrong!

The development of MHOP’s community health workers program, which provides free care to kids under the age of 5 for malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infections – the four diseases which cause 90% of child death in Mali.

In addition to all that, I supervised a staff of 10 (Malians and Americans), wrote contracts, signed contracts, ran meetings, sucked-up to important officials, community leaders and partners, solved an infinitesimal number of problems, rewrote documents, created a filing system, and sometimes played janitor! In short, it was a hectic run, but well worth the stress, as I literally saw MHOP transform into a solid, effective organization. I left

Mali

in January 2010, after 15 months, but obviously MHOP kept growing and you can see some of their current work at their website: www.malihealth.org.

I returned to Portland in January and promptly started a quilt of West African fabrics.

I spent a short amount of time working as a caseworker for Oregon Child Welfare, before loosing my job in our massive budget cuts.

And finally, in May I was honored to be granted a Fulbright Student Fellowship to pursue independent research in

Cameroon

. As some of you might remember, I studied abroad in

Cameroon

in 2006, and I am delighted to return and conduct research on political debates in the 1950s. I’m planning on doing a blog post detailing my proposed project (as a historian, I obviously have to give you all of the background information, right), but my plan for the next year is:

2 months in Mali, seeing friends and volunteering with MHOP
10 months in Cameroon, pursuing my own research, on my own time, and testing my love of history!

It's going to be a great year, and I promise to keep you better informed through this blog. Here’s to the next year!

PS: As you can see, I’ve changed my blog title. Which is to say, I’ve removed the old name. You can’t call you blog “There’s Something About Mali” when you aren’t just talking about

Mali anymore. So...any suggestions?

Thanks to my friends, from whom I stole the lovely photos of MHOP's clinic and radio program!
I also can't seem to make this post in a single font. Oh well.

2009-05-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

Johanna Justin-Jinich, a classmate of mine at Wesleyan, was murdered on campus last Wednesday.

Because there was some indication that her shooter might target other members of the campus, the school was locked down for close to 24 hours.

I didn't know Johanna, but she sounds like an amazing woman.

As I searched for more information from the internet cafe in my neighborhood, the violation of this praticular (safe) space, a space that I know so well, was increadibly painful to follow.

Eric Lach, also '08, wrote a piece for the New Yorker News Desk, and I think he nicely describes what it was like to follow this story from afar.

For more information, see this and this New York Times piece, and this blog from a Wesleyan professor.

Developing National Health Insurance through Government Partnerships

2009-05-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

One of MHOP’s strategies for growth is to develop partnerships with larger NGO and government programs who will be able to use their resources to implement exciting and innovative projects (developed by us!) across Mali and West Africa. Of course creating these relationships can be difficult, so it was very exciting when the National Department for Social Protection and Economic Solidarity (DNPSES) invited us to participate in a workshop on their new national insurance program. ( I don't even want to think about how politely obnoxious and pushy I had to be to get this invitation - a bit out of my comfort zone!)

The DNPSES is starting a two-part insurance program in 2010. AMO, or obligatory medical insurance, is directed to salaried employees in the public and private sectors. AMO is designed to build on the national insurance/Social Security programs already in place. The second program, RAMED, will provide free health care for the poorest 5% of the population. MHOP is most interested in RAMED, and we would really like to be involved with the development of this program, as there are many potential flaws— for example the current program of free health care for indigent populations is in fact mostly used by the relatives of government employees and elected officials! MHOP is taking a two-pronged approach in integrating ourselves into the development of the RAMED program; one, by working closely with the national leader at the DNPSES, and two, by collaborating with local government (mayor's office), who will ultimately identify and serve the indigent populations included in RAMED. We would ideally like to steer the program to address the needs of residents who lack financial access to health care, a distinction which will ensure that the program will have a clear impact on the health of Mali's poor.

The workshop itself took place over 2 days and involved representatives from the Ministries of Health, Finance and Social Protection, representatives from the National Association of Community Clinics, Doctors, and Nurses, the Union Techniques de Mutuelles, the two current Social Security agencies and more. We discussed the financial and technical aspects of the program in depth and broke into working groups to suggest and finalize the internal structure of the program, debating over who will collect the AMO dues, when and how funds will be transferred to the national program, what the title of each program employee should or should not be. Ok, so it was incredibly boring at times! But the workshop allowed us an inside look at project development by the Malian government and will hopefully serve as an important step towards a lasting partnership with DNPSES.

Cross-posted at www.malihealth.org

Sadio's Wedding

2009-03-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

My friend and across-the-street neighbor Sadio (Sa-djo) got married last weekend.

Sadio is on the left.

The morning of the wedding, my host mother Mama and some of the other women in the neighborhood went to the market to get food for the party. A LOT of food.

I did my part peeling garlic and unwrapping what felt like hundreds of Maggi (bouillon) cubes.

The zame (similar to fried-rice) was cooked in pots large enough to hold several children. It reminded me of Hansel and Gretel for some reason.

Mama is on the right.

This is not an optical illusion. The pots were huge!

Everyone dressed up in beautiful embroidered bazin outfits.

My host -sister, Ma, is the one in the taupe.

Including me.

I spent most of the day with Tanti and Assa, or "N togo ma," meaning we have the same Malian name.

Tanti, Assa, and Assa

After having spent three days in seclusion in her house, Sadio went with her mother to the beauty salon and arrived back at the house decked out like a true Malian bride: huge pouffy dress, piles of weave, lots of make-up, and little wristlet gloves.

She's probably still the prettiest Malian brides I've seen, even with the crazy painted on eyebrows.

She waited at her house, taking pictures with friends until the groom, Cheik, and his extended family arrived.

Cheik entering Sadio's house.

The entire party drove in a convoy of cars and motos to the mayors office where Sadio and Cheik signed their marriage documents, took more pictures and then came back to her house (I was cooking, so I didn't get to take part in this ordeal).

The couple return from the mayor's office.

The wedding party spent the day bouncing between the bride's house and the groom's house. To celebrate, Sadio's female friends and relations flooded the street in front of my house.

Most women, including myself, wore the Malian equivalent of bridesmaid dresses: "l'uniform" (the uniform), dresses made from the same cloth.

We danced. And were lauded by the griots (praise-singers) hired for the occasion. The dancing lasted from noon until 6 pm.

The next weekend, Sadio returned home for the last time, officially and ceremonially moving out of her parent's home and into a new house with her husband and son.

She came in the morning to pack up, and spend the day hanging out with her friends.

Fana beaded "waist-beads" for Sadio.

In late afternoon, Sadio changed into a formal, traditional Malian outfit. She was veiled, and led into her family's courtyard where the dugutigi (village chief), her father, and other male relatives gave her advice and blessings.

Her family had gathered together all the items she will need in her new house: pots and pans, charcoal braziers, cutlery and dishware and even an entire living-room set (two couches and two chairs!). Apparently after a week, her husband will give her parents money to defray the cost of all of this.

The items were stuffed into a rented sotrama (like a bus/van, always painted green).

Later, we stuffed ourselves into a sotrama, so we could see the location of Sadio's new house.

And then we all went home, leaving her with Cheik and their really really cute son, Papa (sorry, no pics on hand).

The Ambiguities of Peace Corps

2009-01-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

I have very conflicted feelings about Peace Corps.

I have met some very amazing Peace Corps volunteers (PCV) here in Mali, I know many returned volunteers and some of my best friends are considering or in the process of applying to be volunteers—I have even at times thought about being a PCV myself. My contacts with Malian PCVs, including one of my colleagues, have greatly impressed me and obscured for a while my criticisms of the organization in general. Additionally, Peace Corps as a program has many elements which appeal to me, the employee of a small NGO with limited resources: security officers to deal with airport hassles, post office boxes, medical care, 2-month language training, support staff. I can also recognize the many positive element of their program —two of the three goals of Peace Corps concern cross-cultural connections, and I think as a whole they often succeed in linking volunteers with residents of the host country. Most PCVs I have met in Mali (but certainly not all) are interested in Malian culture ( although this seemed to be less the case in Cameroon), and based on my acquaintances and friends, Peace Corps it a life-changing experience which affects volunteers long after they have returned to the US. I have also heard arguments that the work done by PCVs does contribute to the host country' development. For example, the academic director of my study abroad program in Cameroon, who had worked for Peace Corps, believed that the organization was important because PCVs would work in areas where no Cameroonians would choose to go. In Mali too, Peace Corps volunteers build contacts and connections through their work in small villages and they are uniquely placed to understand the needs of these communities—more so than many large development organizations.

But being uniquely placed to understand the needs of people doesn't mean like you are uniquely placed, or successful, at meeting these needs. Most volunteer initiated projects that I have encountered are unsuccessful (by the admission of volunteers, and through my own observations): projects fail to get off the ground, they don't last after the volunteer has left. Certainly this occurs with larger development organizations (for the problems with these orgs, another post). But the fact that in some cases 1/3 of volunteers leave before their 2 years are up speaks to the unpreparedness of most volunteers and their (understandable) inability to do the job that is expected of them—to work in communities with unfamiliar social, religious, and economic backgrounds, to be teachers in fields they themselves are not trained in, and to be community leaders when it is unlikely they could be so in their own communities in the United States (by this I mean, by virtue of age, lack of job experience, lack of experience with community mobilization of any sort)

In college I took a (very good) course on African-American history after the Civil War. My professor offered us a critique of the push for school desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s—the underlying argument for desegregation rested on the idea that the most important element of a good education for young black children was their proximity to white children—not the skill of the teachers, not the resources of their schools, but their proximity to white bodies. This is also how I think about Peace Corps— the assumption behind the whole program is that the most important element of a development program is the proximity of Malians, or the citizens of any country, to Americans—not the work experience of the volunteers (as most come straight out of college), not their experience in the specific country or in any developing country (in fact I have heard an unsubstantiated statement that Peace Corps will not send an applicant to a country where they have lived for longer than 6 months), not their language skills (most are placed in countries where they have no language skills), nor any other element besides their nationality (and perhaps race—my assumption anyways is that Peace Corps workers are mostly white and there is a very long history of racialized assumtions about development and who can serve as the teacher, developer, and 'civilizer'--but again, that is a whole nother post). Peace Corps training is admittedly intense, and offers language lessons, cultural and historical training, and some specific job training over a two to three month period . But ultimately it is only this training which qualifies any PCV to act as a community leader.

If Peace Corps was truly interested in being a successful development program,¹ they could be much more effective by limiting the size of their programs, thus allowing them to be much more selective in the choice of their volunteers. Even if Peace Corps did not recruit applicants with specific job skills (such as engineering) having a volunteer cadre with work experience, instead of a majority recent-college graduates, and actively recruiting people with in-country or region experience, would make a great difference in the success of their development activities.

I still think, and have seen, that Peace Corps volunteers can provide exceptional services to their communities. But I believes that this comes out of the individual— their commitment, their willingness to educate themselves about their host community, and their own awareness of the pertiance and feasibility of their project— not the organizational structure. Until the structure of Peace Corps changes, I do not think they can be a successful development organization.

1And I am not convinced that this is their primary goal: there are many political elements of Peace Corps which promoted the founding of the program, and rule the locations volunteers are sent too, and so forth, and which in my view probably take precedence over their success as a development body.

Cultural Tourism in Mali

2009-01-14T03:00:00.000-08:00

My parents recently came to visit, and we had the chance to tour a bit around Mali. We were able to have a number of unsual experiences –taking 8-hour bus rides, staying with families of acquaintances—but we also went to two of the most touristy sites/activities in the Mali (and perhaps West Africa): Dogon Country and the Festival of the Desert. Both experiences were thought provoking, but first, some background.

In Dogon Country, visitors hike between cliff-side villages (somewhat like the Anasazi communities in the American Southwest) which in the past protected the Dogon from animal and human predators. http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5325466172011775556&postID=5218588620442895866#

Most of the region's population now live in communities above or below the cliffs— and each town has a “campement” or mini-hotel with beds, showers and food for those passing through. It is almost obligatory to do your trek with a local guide.

The Festival of the Desert was founded in the early 2000s through a collaboration between Tamashek (Taureg) and European musicians, and based somewhat on the concept of traditional Tamashek gatherings.

It takes place in a almost non-existent desert town 2 hours outside of Timbuktu. The festival brings in very famous Malian and African musicians and has set up a sophisticated infrastructure (toilets, restaurants) in the middle of nowhere, where everything must be driven in by 4x4 or camel caravan.

Both regions (Dogon Country, and the Timbuktu region as well) rely on tourism as the primary economic activity. And there is certainly an argument that tourism supports the economy in an important and relatively harmless way (as opposed to say, logging, a factory, and so forth).1 But I don't see it as harmless— cultural tourism in particular is predicated on assumptions about who should be visitor and who visited, a difference in the treatment that each group is thus seen to deserve, and a transformation of potentially interesting and exiting human connections into monetary interactions.

Inequality:
I don't think I will be going out on a limb to note that cultural tourism, and most forms of tourism, rely on (or exist alongside) an inequality between those who provide services (locals) and those who consume these services (visitors)--think of Hawaii even. In Dogon Country for example, where most villages are not electrified, the “campements” which feed and lodge through-hikers offer a variety of cold sodas and beers for sales. There is certainly a generator to power a refrigerator to keep these drinks cold and while it is possible that the generator powers the electricity for certain homes, I would guess not. The prices that these drinks are sold for are far above what the local population would be able to pay, and again, although local people might buy these sodas at a reduced price, it seems unlikely. While amenities like soda and electricity might serve villages, but they are not there for them. This was the same case at the Festival of the Desert, where infrastructure (such as restaurants) were designed for high-spending tourists (juice cost $2!! In Bamako, one could buy the same amount of juice from a street-side vendor for 20 cent!)—and the majority of Malians attended primarily in service capacities, as drivers, guides and cooks.

Cultural authenticity:
Cultural tourism appears to negate the division between the server and the served— the tourists visits because they see the local culture (the culture of the server) is an interesting and valuable. But this “value” is based in most cases on the problematic2 assumption of a static, single “culture” which can be accessed, understood and viewed by the tourist, i.e. the idea that the Dogon do this, and this, and this, and these elements define this group as a culture and a community. I find myself falling into this idea most often when thinking on how “development” might destroy unique aspects of the Dogon and Tamashek cultures—how “modernization” might ruin or undermine a “pure” or “unique” or “traditional” community. But this kind of thinking assumes a static culture, one which can be destroyed, whereas all of my academic training has been grounded in the idea that culture is not static, that it is continually changing in response to historical situations. Most anthropologists, historians and other social scientists have come to the conclusion the “culture” is best defined as a shifting negotiation of social and political boundaries, which may encompass or rely on certain symbolic characteristics but which can change (meaning either the symbols themselves, or their meaning).

The cultural tourism market and most of the people who consume it, do not buy into this—in fact it goes against our simple/logical/innate/ understanding of culture and history. At the Festival of the Desert, there were a number of young men who circulated the camped tents. They would come up to you (a tourist) and start chatting about their life, sometimes for a good 15 min (or even over several visits) before starting into a sales pitch for jewelry, leather goods, and so forth. All of these young men had similar “life stories”—they were nomadic, who worked on salt caravans to Taoudini,3 they had never been to school (and yet spoke a very good French, better than many Malians I know in Bamako!). Clearly this sort of particular basic story was predicated on (assumptions of ) what tourist wanted to hear, a story which these young men assumed would guarantee them a sale. This stock life history relies on a fairly static and historicized version of Tamashek culture, one which situated the speakers outside of modernizing influences (settled versus nomadic life, schooling versus uneducatedness). They relied on a specific notion of what “authentic” Tameshek culture should be like (i.e. nomadic) when many Tamashek, and most likely these young craftsmen, live much more “modern” lives—not that I begrudge their clearly savvy marketing tactics. Additionally, the very fact that they spent so much time spinning such stories before trying to sell anything shows that they knew/suspected that the tourists at the Festival were interested in some sort of cultural exchange, an “authentic” connection.

Cynicism:
My mother wisely noted that tourism makes people cynical. I know this is the case for me, and it is most evident in my gut reaction to interpersonal relationships. Cultural tourism assumes that there is a real potential for human interaction, interconnections, and cultural exchange. But I am (cynically) suspect of interactions with people involved in tourism, living in tourist-ed areas, etc. I always initially assume that the person approaching me at my campsite at the Festival wants to sell me something, never that it could be a real connection; if someone is selling me something, I automatically think they are trying to cheat me (even if I know them, even if they are a friend of a friend—I know many people who have been ripped off by trusting in interpersonal relationships). And I am sure that the young man Muhammed Ali who came to chat with my family several times before making his sales pitch likewise saw us as potential clients above all. While I think that real connections are possible beyond this twisted basis of interaction, they are difficult to uncover and to sustain. And although the idea of human interaction being reduced to economic calculation is incredibly disturbing to me, I cannot shake my feeling that it is this exact type of calculation which underpins the interactions between the tourists and the toured.4 And how can you have any sort of human connection when each side always assumes the worst of the other?

Seli ba/ Tabaski/ Eid al Ahda

2008-12-12T08:48:00.001-08:00

Dear vegetarian friends, Seli Ba is all about slaughtering and eating a sheep, scroll down at your own risk.

Cameroon v. Mali

2008-11-22T10:11:00.000-08:00

I was hopping to write this post in honor of a football (soccer) game between the two countries, but sadly there doesn't seem to be one soon. So in any case, here are some differences I've noticed between the two:

Being able to go out at night: In Cameroon, due to the crime rate and the paranoia of my study abroad program, we had a 6 pm curfew (roughly the time of sunset). Even when I lived in Cameroon on my own I was so used to being inside after dark, and had absorbed enough of their fear-mongering to actually be nervous about going out late, that I tried to be home by 7 or 8, if not earlier. In Bamako no one gives any thought to staying out until 11 and sometimes later, although you may find the door of the compound locked. Luckily one of the walls of my compound has fallen down (its made of mud-brick) so even a locked door poses no problem for me.

Transportaton: Bamako has a very, lets say well developed, system of public transportation. There are taxis of course, but also two bus systems which go everywhere in the city, although you may have to transfer at several points. Bani Transport is a greyhound-type bus which runs on a set route, with official stops. Sotramas on the other hand are old vans painted various shades of green; the back section has benches along the outside walls and an open space where a sliding door would normally be. The "prend-ticket" or "apprentice" (usually a boy between 10 and 25) leans out the door yelling the name of the destination in an incomprehensible manner (at least to me). Sotramas are crowded and very hot, they don't seem to have set routes, they stop for inordinate amounts of time in the main markets waiting to fill up but I love taking them becasue it is a hilarious opportunity to meet Malians and try to speak Bambara (and because they are cheap). In Cameroon on the other hand there was not public transportation system at all. In Yaounde, the capital city, you take taxis everywhere: to get a taxi you stand by the side of the road yelling the name of your desination and the price you are willing to pay to passing drivers--if your destination is near that of another passenger (because these cabs are always packed--up to 6 people: four in the back, 2 in the front, the one sitting over the clutch is called the "petit-chauffeur" or "little driver") they will stop and pick you up. Rides were usually under 50 cents (taxis in Bamako are 1-2 dollars). In smaller towns, the transportation system was ruled by moto-taxis, thats right motorcycle taxis. One or two people could fit on the back of the moto and speed dangerously across town. Motos were actually safer in Cameroon in my opinion because there were many fewer cars on the road, whereas in Bamako the risk of a moto/car crash is very high and very scary. Additionally in some towns, moto-taxi drivers were regulated through a registration system and union!

Language: In Cameroon I felt like I could get by speaking only French wherever I went. Certainly in smaller towns this was more difficult, but in larger towns this was always the case--but even in Bamako, the capital city of Mali and the largest city in the country, I need to know how to speak Bambara. Even people who have attended school do not speak very good French nor are they comfortable with the language. I have some educated guesses about why this is the case:

The education system in Mali is one of the worst in the world; I learned the other day that there is no standard elementary school curriculum in the country! Consequently, or perhaps concurrently, Mali has one of the lowest education rates in the world (something which contributes greatly to their low place on the United Nations Human Development Index). In Cameroon by contrast, the problem is not a lack of education but a lack of jobs. Many people successfully finish high-school if not college, but then cannot find work and become moto-taxi drivers, thieves or both, leading in part to the high crime rate mentioned above-- contrary to what one might assume, it is educated men without jobs who are the major perpetrators of crime in Cameroon, in this case education itself has not led to an improvement in living conditions, as is so often touted.
Cameroon bills itself as "Africa in Miniature" -- there is an incredible diversity of ethnic/linguistic groups in the country (between 200 and 300 by most sources) and no single common African language. While in Northern Cameroon, Fulfulde serves as the lingua franca, this is not the case in the southern part of the country due to the limits of the historical spread of the Fuble people and so French (and in some parts of the country, English) has taken the role as the common language on a national scale. The Mande language group is the most common in Mali -spoken by more than 60% of the population- and the Bambara language in particular, which is spoken by 30% of the population, is the universal language of the country. Although I cannot speak to the particular history of ethnic relations in Mali, in Cameroon the religious/political tension between the Northern and Southern regions of the country, the location of different ethnic groups in relation to centers of political and economic power, and the lack of a majority linguistic group mean that the Bamileke, who are also close to 30% of the population, do not have the same linguistic hold over the country as the Bambara do in Mali.

Handshakes: Remember those insanely difficult handshake/snaps? Well here people shake hands and then bump fists: so much easier!

yes we can!

2008-11-05T02:24:00.000-08:00

Luckily, being in Bamako (the capital city of Mali), I have access to cable tv when necessary. So never fear, I too watched the entire electoral returns process on CNN (World) although with the time change the first returns came in at 11 pm and we didn't get to see Barack Obama's acceptance speech until close to 6 am. I went with one of my co-workers, who is in the Peace Corps, to a hotel near their office (stay tuned for a coming post on my conflicted feelings about Peace Corps). There were about 20 of us who stayed up all night watching the returns, drinking overpriced espresso and wondering how it is really possible to call a state when 0% of the vote is in. But the long night was worth it in the end! Woohoo, President Barack Obama!

2008-10-31T10:05:00.000-07:00

Trader Joe's sells a wide variety of dried fruit, including dried hibiscus flowers. My mom and I like them a lot, although they are a tiny bit gelatenous. So when I saw fresh hibuscus flowers at the market near my house I thought I should try them, especially at only 25 cfa (10 cents, maybe) a pile. Unfortunately they really do need to be dried and probably doused in sugar to be as delicious as the ones at home. Instead, I am planning to make juice with them, which is what any normal person here would do.

Mutuelles-Or What I am Doing

2008-10-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

My primary project here in Sikoroni is to develop a mutuelle, or a community insurance program. Just like in the US, in Mali the uninsured (i.e. most of the population) delay or avoid going to the doctor when they are sick for lack of money. Often their illness develops until they must go to the ER or local equivalent. Recieving care in an ER or hospital is much more expensive for the individual than seeking care intially would have been and these expenses can deplete a family's savings or force them into debt. Mutuelle systems usually have two goals:

1. To increase access to healthcare for the population by decreasing the upfront cost. If you remove fees for health center visits ("point of service fees" - there are so many catchphrases in this minifield) you can encourage people to seek care early in their illness when it is both less expensive and easier to treat.

2. To create fiancial stabilitly for the local hospitals and clinics by providing a consident source of funding.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, these two goals are mutually exclusive. If you would really like to enroll the largest number of people in your program, the membership fee must be quite low. Conversely if you'd like to create a fully functional health care system (without much outside support from the government or NGOs) then the membership fee must be set quite high in order to earn back the money needed for personel and administrative costs. Additionally, even if the price of membership is relatively cheap, financing is -as the jargon goes- regressive. All this means is that no matter the price, having a set enrollment fee means that if a poor family enrolls they will pay a larger percentage of their income towards the mutuelle than relatively a rich, or even "less-poor" family.

The community I am working in, Sikoroni, is an extremely poor neighborhood in northern Bamako (the capital city of Mali). It is unlikely that the population could support a high-priced mutuelle and in any case the organization I am working with takes the first goal of mutuelles much more seriously. To that end, we hope to develop an alternative payment method(s) either of a scaled-payment plan based on a family's wealth, or of payment in-kind, either in goods or services. Both of these options present a number of difficulties, which I will probably mention at a later point. So if you know anyone in health financing, international development or the likes, let me know! I'd love advice and the like.

Casablanca to Bamako

2008-10-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Mali last night after a pleasant and hectic 17 hour layover in Casablanca. I got to visit the Hassan II Mosque, the third largest mosque in the world. The mosque was absolutely lovely and in any case I felt very lucky to be able to enter a mosque as a non-Muslim. Pictures below, although I appologize for the poor quality:

An outside view of the mosque.

Inside the main hall, you can almost make it out in spite of the blurriness!

Onward Ho

2008-10-06T22:32:00.000-07:00

I still haven't left the US yet, so if you have my blog address, I've probably given it to you in anticipation for my trip. Keep checking back though, as I hope to update often once I arrive in Mali.

For my friends who are already overseas:
Make sure to vote! Did you know you can even print out a ballot and mail it in if necessary? Check out more info at

https://yvo.overseasvotefoundation.org/overseas/home.htm