Is anybody out there??

With less than 2 months to go I feel like I should be meeting or talking to other volunteers that are leaving to Mali at the same time as I am.  Other volunteers that will be with me during out 2 day staging here in the states (I'm thinking Philly or DC), other volunteers that I will spend 10 weeks with in Mali for training...other volunteers that will be living somewhere near me and that I could possibly develop friendships with and stay in contact with while we are in Mali for the next 27 months.  I haven't spoken to anyone.

When I filled out some paperwork for the western region PC newsletter, the person that I e-mailed that information to said that he could get me contact information for other volunteers that would be going to Mali at the same time I was.  Would I like to get this information?  SURE...I would love to at least talk to someone.  I contacted Marlow 2 weeks before I was leaving to go visit my brother in Santa Rosa.  As it turns out Marlow lives in San Francisco.  About an hour south of my brother.  We emailed back and forth a couple of times and actually made plans to meet when I got in town.  How exciting is that.  Finally another person to talk to.  Someone that I will now know when I get to staging.  This will be awesome.  I'm not alone anymore.

Back in October I was asked to fill out some paperwork, send an updated resume, write an aspiration statement and fill out the information for my passport and visa.  I accomplished all of that within 10 days.  I haven't heard another word since then.  No email saying they received this information, nothing saying you will hear from us soon, nothing.  I thought at least I might hear from someone from the PC with a list of the other voluteers who were leaving at the same time.  I'm kind of working on a wing and a prayer right now that everything is going well, without any gliches and that I am actually flying out on January 30th.  It feels weird though to be making plans, purchasing all of my supplies and already being packed without any word since the invitation I received 2 months ago.  When I think about it it's a little scarey.  I don't have a job, I don't have my house, I don't have my car, I am living with friends, I got rid of my grandmother's dining room set...MY GRANDMOTHER'S DINING ROOM SET...(thankfully it got to stay in the family) and MY MOTORCYCLE!!  I'm hoping to hear anyday with the information I need to make my flight arrangements.

December 7th I drove from my brother's house into San Francisco to meet Marlow.  I'm so excited.  I recognized her right away from her Facebook picture waiting for me outside the restaraunt we were going to have lunch at.  Sengalese food.  Unfortunately, they are only open for dinner.  So we walked for a while and found some place else to eat.  Eating was secondary to our meeting and chatting it up for a while.  We sat down and talked for about 3 hours.  It was great.  We talked about what we were going to be doing, what we were doing to get ready, what we were packing, what we were going to be doing until it was time to leave.  She told me about the group on FB.  I was excited about that as well.  MORE people to make contact with and get to know before we depart.  There is someone putting together a document that had comments from current and past PC volunteers that had information about what they brought with them, what they brought with them but didn't need and what they didn't bring but wished they had.  They were also putting together a spreadsheet of the other volunteers names and their job assignment.  Can't wait to get my hands on that information...especially the packing information since I have already started shopping and would be doing more shopping while I'm in town with my brother.  Our visit was fun and very informative.  I thought we really got along well and I will look forward to seeing Marlow again when we meet up for staging and then for training in Mali. 

When I got back to my brother's that afternoon I got right on FB and joined the group with the other Mali volunteers leaving in January.  I can't wait to see what everyone is writing about.  I made contact with the Jessica who is getting together the documents of packing info and the volunteer spreadsheet.  I also looked around on line for blogs of volunteers either in Mali currently or that had been and are home already.  That's where I found Kristin.  It seems that she has been in Mali for about a year already.  What good information can I find out from her blog that they don't tell you about in the Welcome Book.  OMG...I'm not sure I was ready for some of the stuff I read but I am grateful to hear it beforehand.  Somethings it is not good to be surprised by.  The stories below postd by Kristin Richards...http://kristinrichards.blogspot.com.  She's a fantastic story teller.  If you have some time you should check out her blog.  Before you read some of the passages by Krisin just know, somethings you can't unread...

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 posted by Kristin Richards 











Fixing my roof











My kitchen hut in the middle of redoing my roof before rainy season begins












Seeing as 'weird' medical things tend to happen to me, naturally health was a major concern of mine for my two years of service in Mali. We learned early of the numerous things we could and most likely would encounter, hwo to attempt to prevent them, and how we will be cared for when they do (in the case of parasites, we wont get treated, because we will just continue to get them throughout our 2 years, so why overmedicate?). Current PCVs have warned that it is a reality of Peace Corps that you will poop your pants. I had come to terms with this, but didn't expect it quite so early. Two nights in a row during my first homestay, I woke myself up with a minor accident. My days go through highs and lows. I will be find for a couple hours, then have the runs for a couple hours, then have the worst bloating and gas of my life with nothing producing. Pepto did nothing to relieve the discomfort. When we returned to camp, I got a stool sample and the results are in....


I have amoebas! You get it through contaminated water or food. Bummer. So, now i'm on 3 days of meds (which cause naseau, headaches and general malaise) and then I'll be all good (until I ingest more contaminated stuff)...
Truthfully, I feel ok physicially and am great emotionally, so it's all good.

-I love that farting is funny anywhere. Seriously, on many occasions a whole group of people has been laughing and when I ask why, they explain because one of them just farted. Even adults. The main way to 'josh' or 'rib' someone is by saying that they eat beans, because, we all know what that leads to...

-The coming of rainy season has brought some minor, but seriously needed, relief from the incessant heat (you don't know what 100+ degrees feels like until you have no escape from it- no fan to sit in front of, no cold drink to refresh your pallet, no way to cool down enough to even sleep) but it appears to have brought an onslaught of insects with it. They're not all bad: Grasshoppers in the hut are startling but harmless; Cockroaches emerging from the pit latrine at night make me nervous but, truthfully, what are they gonna do? And some are even welcome: Right after a storm there are these beautiful, florescent pink, fat little buggers roaming around; And occasionally, with a gust of wind, the air is filled with swirling fluff resembling the white, feathery leftovers blown off an aging dandelion and, I am told, later in the season, when these "mamas" are larger, we will eat them. But, there are some I could really do without. The mosquitoes that come from no where and nip at my ankles at dusk. The large termites (and countless other things I can't even recognize) that can't resist a bright light, making it impossible to read or write after dark. And of course the spiders that so resemble scorpions that even Tosh (her dog), after working so hard to catch one, thought better of eating it.



















-My site-mate/best friend got a special surprise. I'll let you hear about it in her own words:
Rising to its reputation, Africa comes along with a whole buffet of exotic medical issues to boast about. I've felt many a surprising spark of envy as my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers relay brave stories:  worms crawling underneath their skin, removed with a Swiss army knife;  bacterial dysentery announcing its immediate arrival at the beginning of a two day bus trip; your array of intestinal worms, amoebas and other parasitic invaders; and malaria leaving volunteers achy and hallucinating. Our bowel movements are a regular topic of conversation, and, as our saying goes, "you aren't a real volunteer until you've shit your pants." Sadly, I haven't earned that badge yet.  Other than a three week long battle with Giardia (parasitic dysentery), I've avoided most of these encounters, ameobozoa and animalia alike. I know, I know, we can't have it all. But alas, I knew this love affair I've been having with mangoes would come back to bite me in the ass.

Yes, thats right. The Tumbo fly, aka the Mango fly, has struck in the most unforgiving of places. It all started when I came back to village, as I sat squirming in the hard wood chairs during my community meeting, a strange feeling of aching on my bottom invaded my already lacking attention. I assumed I had bruised myself in my local Bush Taxi as I tried to balance myself on the hard wood bench during the bumpy ride. On further inspection using a pocket mirror and an unspeakably awkward position, I saw a strange red bump right in the
middle of my left cheek, with a black dot in the center. Perplexed, I looked in my healthcare manual, assuming a strange rash of some sort.  And there it was. Apparently, the Mango fly is nicknamed for its
favorite breeding grounds - damp and warm - which is also well provided by clothes hung out to dry near mango trees. So there in my sun-drying underwear it found a perfect place to lay its eggs. Those eggs were then transferred to my, um, behind, as I wore said underwear as it burrowed into my flesh. The eggs then hatched into larva, creating the unrelenting feeling I was having of tiny pins, exacerbated by the lack of comfortable, cushioned seats. The health manual advised immediate removal. Thanks. As per its instruction, I
covered the area with Vaseline, which apparently suffocates the larva, bringing it to the surface. And then I squeezed - pop! - out squirted the larva, finally relinquishing my left cheek of its occupation. I was flooded with relief as I cleaned the empty wound and went back in my hut for a nap, Tumbo fly free, with my wounded part in the air.  And so, well, Africa I really do love you, but right now you are really a fucking pain in my ass.

-Speaking of mangoes, its peak season here so we are knee deep in mangoes as big as our heads. It's awesome.

-I now pee in a bucket in my hut in the middle of the night and empty into my nyegen every morning. I know you are judging me and I don't blame you. Though, while I obviously can't prove it, I do suspect that if for a midnight urination (and 10pm and 2am and 4am) you had to put on appropriate clothes, unlock a door, grab a flashlight, go outside, put on shoes, get your feet all dirty, and usually step on a frog, you would probably do it too.


November 25, 2009

I haven't showered in 2 days. I haven't left the stage house in 3. I am literally out of money and literally all alone. I have consumed a disgusting amount of food, partially because it's Thanksgiving, partially probably for comfort, and, likely, in a cruel, twisted effort to punish myself for previous overeating.

I threw up twice after our make-shift thanksgiving dinner (parasites, food poisoning, body just wondering what the hell all that was?) and, to add insult to injury, I poopped my pants last night. I don't even know where it came from. I just woke up with crap in my pajamas (not even enough to soak through) and I haven't had to go at all since. How did my body need to go so badly that it couldn't wake me up for it, when I'm not even sick enough to go again all day?!
Above posts by Kristin Richards

Again, I hate knowing these things but at the same time I'm grateful I can try and prepare myself for them...more mentally than physically. 

I hope that my achievements in life shall be these...

I hope that my achievements in life shall be these - that I will have fought for what was right and fair, that I will have risked for that which mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need, that I will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've been.  -C. Hoppe

It's been a while since I've posted anything.  Really...nothing has happened since I last wrote.  Nothing in that I have not heard anything from the Peace Corps.  Like most things in life you have to hurry and wait.  No one contacts you until a few weeks before it's time to leave.  Then they will give me the information I need to make flight arrangements, the date I am supposed to be there, and where "there" is. 

In the meantime I have been busy.  I think I wrote last time that I spent 3 weeks in New York visiting my sisters and old friends.  That was great!!  Then last month I spent a week in Henderson, NV (next door to Vegas) visiting my sister, Gail, and brother-in-law, Rick.  Rick is leaving January 9th for a years service in Afghanistan.  He has been in the Army Reserve for quite some time and although they've had him on the list to go several times it never worked out that he actually went.  This time is for sure.  My poor sister.  Her husband is leaving and then the next closest relative, me, is also leaving...and not just leaving town...leaving the country.  Going to places most people would not voluntarily visit.   My visit with them was good.  We hung out, we got to go on a motorcycle trip out to Death Valley with a couple of their friends.  I rode my sisters Sportster...my first Harley experience.  It was great!!

These last two weeks I've been up in Sonoma.  Santa Rosa to be exact.  An hour and half north of San Francisco.  I stayed with my brother Rodger, his wife Denise and two kids, Logan and Eryn.  I drove up there with a U-haul as I had some stuff that I wanted to give him.  Not to mention my motorcycle.  I hate giving it up but what I am going to do with it for the next two years?  Put it in storage?  That doesn't make sense.  My brother has always wanted a bike.  But the way life works is that once you have a house and children and all the repsonsiblities that come along with that you don't get to buy yourself extravagent gifts like a motorcycle.  So it was a wise, feel good choice for me to give it to him.  Of course it wasn't running right either.  So I felt kind of bad aobut that...LOL...but if you're going to own a bike you must learn how to work on them.  So we/he spent time taking the carbs off, bought them in to be cleaned, changed the oil, the spark plugs, etc and then put the carbs back on.  It runs like it's brand new now.  I really hated leaving it after it was running so well.  But I took it on my last ride for a couple of years.  Awesome...I really like riding up in Sonoma.  It is so beautiful up there.  It was a good visit. 

I know they probably think I was bored and we didn't do anything but it was exactly what I wanted to do.  Just sit and visit and hang out.  We talked and ate and decorated for Christmas.  We watched White Christmas and drank hot chocolate and ate popcorn.  I did get to see one of my nephews basketball games and got to see my niece cheer for the high school football team...in the cold...and the rain.  We had a very emotional good-bye.  Even though I won't be leaving for another 47 days..LOL...I won't be seeing them again until I get back.  At least 27 months.  My brother drove me to the airport by himself.  So I said goodbye to Denise and the kids at the house.  I hugged Denise and then hugged Logan.  Logan is a great kid, but not much emotion.  He never gets mad, never really gets very excited, laughs sometimes, but not often enough...never really sad either.  This type of attitude has it's good points and some bad points.  But when I hugged him goodbye I couldn't help but start to cry.  He hugged me a little longer than usual and he said, "I'm going to miss you" and all tears broke lose.  When I finally let go I think his eyes were welled up.  It tore my little heart out.  Then I hugged and kissed and cried with my niece.  Then at the airport with my brother.  I thought he would just drop me off at the curb.  I was kind of hoping he would.  This way I would have a quick cry and he'd be gone.  But alas, he is a glutton for punishment.  He parked and came in with me.  We checked in and then got on line for security check.  Everytime he looked at me I started to cry, then he would cry.  Then we were fine.  Then I'd cry and he'd cry.  When we finally got to the end of the line where I had to go through security and it was time for him to leave.  He gave me a quick hug and ducked out of line under the security ropes/bands.  I was crying some more and he said "Don't cry Clarey".  Then got teary eyed and made the sign language sign for I love you and walked away.  It was horrible.  They could have made an after school special based alone on our airport goodbye. 

What's silly in a way about me being so emotional is that it's ONLY 2 years.  Think of all the things you've gone through in your life that were just two years ago, or things that you haven't done in 2 years, or the people you haven't seen in two years.  I just saw my sister Lynn in NY...I haven't seen her in 5 years.  We talk on the phone.  Even that's only a few times a year.  My sister Karan is back and forth to California alot so I see her at least once a year.  When my sister Gail lived in New Hampshire I think I was 8 years without seeing her once.  I've been 2 yeas without seeing my brother before.  It seemed like I only worked for the Red Cross for such a short time...8 months maybe.  It was 2 years 3 months.  There's alot of other things I've gone without for 2 years before...hardly unnoticed.  Unbelievable how time flies.  In the grand scheme of time 2 years is nothing.  I think it will go slower for me being away from who and what I know, than it will go for those of you here.  You're lives will go on as usual.  Barely noticing I'm gone.  When I start freaking out a little about leaving my brother is always able to ground me.  "You know what's going to change and be different here while you're gone...NOTHING.  The kids will still be in school, I'll still be working, Denise will still be working, still be paying my mortgage."  Maybe someone I know will get a new job..maye someone will get engaged...may married.  Even with my own boys...they will still be in college hopefully well on their way to a bachelors degree.  Maybe they'll have been through a girlfriend or two.  Although babies can be conceived and born easily in this period of time...but I'm hoping for the best.  Surely I've taught them better than that. 

This will be the hardest part for me.  I've gone years without seeing one or more members of my family.  I've done without many things over the years that I don't even think about...but I've never been without my boys.  And they...they have never been without me.  I think this will be good for them though.  Some may say I'm crazy for leaving them...what kind of mother does that, they are still young, they still need me...but others think it's a good lesson for them to learn to live without someone handing them everything they need.  And they are taken care of financially by our very loving, generous uncle that passed away a few years ago...as long as they stay in college.  So they can go to school full time and they are set.  They will get part time jobs to supplement their college fund...which I was doing...to pay for gas, food and fun.  Right??  I guess I'm still feeling a little queezy about this part...guilty...not very mother like of me!!  :-((

Thank goodness for modern technology.  I have my Magic Jack, email...and SKYPE...Skype i believe is a gift from the heavens I'm sure.  And although I may not have electricity and/or internet in the village I am living in how far away can I possibly be that at least once a week I can get on the wonderful public transportation system of Mali and travel 1, 3, 6, 10 hours to get into town to make my weekly phone calls and skype my babies. 

Public transportaion...


            
  









Pictures courtesy of Kristin Richards current PCV in Mali...I hope she doesn't mind me using her pictures since I am not there to take my own yet.  They really topped off the last part of this blog...