Dogon Country and JMS

Greetings. I'm back from Mali; it was an amazing 5 day hiking trip through Dogon Country. I returned about 2 weeks ago, but have been busy, so haven't had time to update my blog yet. In fact, I apologize but I'm going to refer people to Erik's blog posting about our trip, because he did a thorough and excellent job describing it and also has posted much better pictures than i took. I know it's sort of a cop out, but I wanted to at least get a posting up, and I sincerely don't have much time. I'll add some of my pictures here as well, but for the most part, what he said. On the left, you can see the houses built into the cliff by the dogon people. They're no longer inhabited, but you can climb up and walk around and through them.

Voila a couple more photos from Mali, but please look at Erik's blog for professional style photos:

Exploring the houses on the edge of the cliff. With our hilarious guide Oumar's supervision of course. I agree with Erik's description of him as a mix between Borat and the Crocodile Hunter.

Climbing up the crack in between two huge boulders in order to get to the top of the escarpement. Photography by Oumar.

View of Douru, a village at the top of the escarpement.

OK. So as soon as we got back from Mali, I spent one night in village, and then had to leave again to go to Ouaga for our Mid Service Conference. MID SERVICE?? WHAT??? Yeah. So that was that. It happened to coincide with thanksgiving, so I was very lucky to be able to spend thanksgiving with my fellow PCVs. Our associate peace corps director (APCD) invited us all over to her house for a thanksgiving dinner, which was delicious. (She's Burkinabe, so we got to share our thanksgiving traditions with her as well). This also unfortunately nearly coincided with the biggest Muslim holiday, and a very important day here, Tabasky. I wanted to make sure I was back in village to celebrate with my villagers, but the fact that it was the Friday after thanksgiving made this a very difficult task. Not impossible, however, and as I've learned quite well here, even if something seems impossible, you find a way.

Usually on big holidays like this, transport doesnt run, so if you want to be somewhere specific, you need to go the day before, otherwise you'll get stuck. I called all the bus companies that go from Ouaga to Ouahigouya, and there was only one company that was sending buses, and they were only sending 2, very early in the morning. This bus company, STAF, is infamous for their disorganization at the station, and the subsequent and very common "getting on the bus injuries". They oversell tickets, so you have to fight to get a spot on the bus every time. And people are ruthless. It's not uncommon to get onto that bus bloody from scratches or having fallen. When I take STAF, I wear my bike helmet to get onto the bus for fear of procuring a head injury in the process. It usually goes down like this: People get into a huge mass as the bus rolls into the station, everyone fighting to get to the front of the mass. Before the bus even stops, people are jumping in through the windows, crowd surfing to get high enough to get in. They hang onto the windows, or onto another person who is hanging from the window, forming towers of people just hanging off of one another. At the same time, people are throwing things through the windows, because if your item is on a seat, that means it's your seat. It's amazing; with all the disorder involved in getting on the bus, this unspoken rule about seat saving is always respected. I don't know how that works, but it does. In any case, the whole thing is a huge scary mess. Now imagine this huge scary mess and multiply it ten-fold on a day when there are only 2 possible chances to get seats on the bus, and everyone is trying to get home for the biggest holiday of the year. Not a pretty picture. I knew it was going to be crazy, so I got to the bus station at 430AM to await the arrival of the bus. I had my game face on, but unfortunately, so did the other 300 people who were already there waiting. They had all slept at the station, in fact. As soon as the first bus came into view, people dashed into the street to meet it and start the chaos of jumping in the windows. I also had the disadvantage of having to get my bike on the bus, which comes with a whole slew of new issues. In any case, Before the bus even pulled into the station, it was already way overcrowded. There was no way I was getting on, but i made someone throw my bike on top, so at least i wouldn't have to deal with that anymore. If i didn't get to OHG, at least my bike would be there. I now had one chance left. I don't know how i did it, but by some stroke of luck, a very big strong lady took pity on me, and decided to help me get on the second bus. She literally pulled me up by my backpack straps. I was dangling in the air by my backpack, and then somehow made it on, even with people pulling me in the other direction. YEP. THAT'S HOW IT'S DONE.

I made it back to OHG just as my bike was being taken down off the first bus i had thrown it onto and biked to village as fast as my little legs could carry me. I ended up making it in time for the very important prayer of tabasky, in which the entire village prays together. It's absolutely marvelous to see. (i wish i had a picture, but i didn't get there fast enough to get my camera out).

The rest of tabasky consists of every family sacrificing a sheep (preferably all white, but not always possible), preparing it with rice and sauce, eating it, and then going around and giving some to everyone in the village. yes, everyone makes basically the same dish and trades them all around. i come over and give you the rice i've made at my house, and then you come over and give me the same rice dish that you've made at your house! it's one of the only days of the year when people get meat in village though, so it's very exciting, especially for the kids.

As soon as tabasky was over, I only had a few days to solidify my plans for World AIDS Day in my village. I knew I wanted to have a big sensibilisation and free HIV testing available all day on December 1, the Journee Mondial du SIDA (JMS), and started trying to plan this over a month ago, at which point, everyone said "Oh Ilana, why are you planning this NOW? It's so far away!"

I guess I understand a bit more now why people say things like that, because even if you plan in advance, it doesn't really matter. People don't necessarily stick to plans. For instance, I had asked a theater troup from a neighboring village that does HIV/AIDS skits and sensibilisations to come, and they had agreed, but then two days beforehand, they texted me and said that they could no longer come. This did not please me, so I sent them a message saying that I wasn't happy and that wasn't a very professional thing to do, and that i was very disappointed, so they agreed to come.

We started off the day with a Women's bike race, as is very common to do with any big sensibilisation day or fete in Burkina. It's a great way to mobilize people and also gives the women a boost of confidence, as they're being cheered on and encouraged by all the men and other women watching. Before the race, I took control of the microphone to greet everyone and talk about HIV/AIDS, and the importance of getting tested. My major also said a few words, as did the chief of my village, and the chief of one of my satellite villages. Having the support of the chief is extremely important, and can make any activity in village a great success. I'm very lucky that I have a chief that is not only supportive with everything I do in village, but also very helpful. So the Chief dropped the flag (a towel rag) to start the race, and the women were off! After the race, everyone gathered to listen to the sensibilisation. I couldn't even believe how well it went, people were actively contributing, and clearly listening and getting the message!! I think my entire village, plus my three satellite villages came, plus majors from other health centers, and people from the District headquarters. After the sensibilisation, we started with free testing for whoever wanted. I had gotten the free testing kits from an HIV/AIDS NGO in Ouahigouya that I work with. I wasn't sure how many people I would be able to convince to get tested, so I asked them to donate 100 kits, which they did, though they were a bit skeptical that we'd be able to reach that number. So many people wanted to get tested that we ran out of kits. Unbelievable.

I'm extremely content with the way the day turned out, but what's more, is that it's not only me. The entire village has been talking about how great it was, and how they all want to get tested now. People are discussing HIV/AIDS, which was exactly the point. To raise awareness, and lower the stigma of getting tested. We had a soccer game against a neighboring village to close out the day, in which my village gave me a jersey so that I could play on our team. Putting on that jersey made me feel like our village was united in the fight against AIDS for the first time. I felt like they recognized the importance of being aware of it, and in doing something about it. The village was so happy with the day that they decided to hold a traditional dance that night. They danced and sang about stopping HIV/AIDS until til 3 AM. Mam suur noomame, my heart was happy.