Work and WAIST

Not only has it been too long since I've written, but a lot has happened in the past 2 months. At the begining of February I did a Hearth in the little tiny village of N'Guinia. Since it's farther away than most of the villages I've worked in, I decided to stay there for the twelve days instead of going back and forth from my village each day. This was the best project so far because I was able to spend the afternoons visiting the women and their families, learning what its like to really live in the bush. The women were more interesd than ever in the health talks, and the babies had the best average weight gain yet. My favorite little girl was Djoni, a smiley little 1 year old who it was worth spending time with even if I did catch pink eye from her.
After the Hearth, a bunch of PCVs and I hopped on a bus for WAIST (the West African Intermural Softball Tournament) in Senegal. For 3 days each year, ex-pats all across West Africa (which is in large part made up of Peace Corps volunteers) gather in Dakar to play a lot of softball and drink alot of beer. It was fun meeting volunteers in other countries at the games during the days and at the dance parties at night! Us Mali volunteers loved wandering around downtown of what, to us, is a huge metropolitan city. After the tournament, we took off down the coast to find a little beach town, and we found paradise. We rented a house right on the beach and spent every possible moment in the waves. I had missed the ocean just a little bit:) Fortunately, some of my closest friends and I were able to spend a few extra hours on the beach because after the 36 hour bus ride from Bamako (3 hours of which my eyes were completely sealed shut thanks to Djoni and her pink eye), we had made the genius decision to fly back. 1 hour with an inflight meal beats 36 hours living on egg sandwiches and peanuts.
Back in Tioribougou, I started another Hearth in the village of Djanyabougou. Since the water table is higher there, there's a big, beautiful vegetable garden and I often came back with papayas, lemon grass, and salad. It's amazing. Remember when I wrote that I thought I had seen everything, then witnessed the bean-smearing fertility ritual? I continue to be amazed. Once day during our session, what strode into the concession? None other than an enourmous white camel and it's rider all the way from Timbuktu. He told me the journey had taken two months. I asked if I could ride his camel and after making me promise I wouldn't fall off, he clicked his tongue and the animal gracefully knelt. I climbed on amidst laughter and "je! wallahi!" from the women. The owner clicked his tongue again and I was suddenly 7 feet in the air. So yes, there are camels in my own backyard.
What else is new...mango season aka hot season is begining, I've adopted an orphaned baby chick, I'll most likely be home at the end of September, and I'll be spending St. Patrick's day rock climbing in Siby. There you have it!