My City in the North

I have just returned from my Site Visit. My town for the next two years will be a city of 20,000 named Douentza, which is in the Mopti Region of Mali. It is pretty far north east of Bamako, about a 15 hour bus ride. Its an amazing city with giant rock cliffs that line both sides of the city. its a great view to wake up to in the morning. I was only there for 3 days but it was enough to get a taste of what is to come in the next two years. My job is with the local radio station and working with tourism. I am pretty free to have secondary projects to help the community in anyway they want and need. There are a few other volunteers that are either in my town or within 50K from my town. It was an amazing trip but i know there will be challenges ahead and im ready for them.

Mali is a great country and the people are even better, everyone is always willing to help or just greet you with a smile and multiple greetings that start to sound like mumbles after a while. The Malians love to greet people and have about a 5 mintue speech they go through everytime they come across someone they havent met in the last 10 minutes. Hence the Malians never really being on time for anything. I mean its pretty hard to be on time if you greet everyone with a, " Ine Sogoma. E Ka Kene, Toura te, Somogo bede, Toura Tou la, E Fa ka Kene, Toura ta la, E Be ka kene, Toura Ta la.".....you get the drift. but its amazing how everyone says hello to everyone and everyone has a smile on their face.

Im still having a blast and my health is doing pretty good, about as good as can be expected. I am still making friends wherever I go, whether it be another trainee, another PCV, or a Malian nieghbor. Its been great to hear from everyone and all the news back at home. Thanks for all the love and support.

Miss everyone
-Abou Ba