Rock Climbing

I decided to be real spontaneous this week and went on a random rock climbing trip, even though I had never been before. I got a call from a friend who said he was heading north to Hombori to climb the Hand of Fatumata. If I wanted to meet the bus he was on and tag along, I was more than welcome. So, I grabbed whatever I could find that I thought might be useful and caught the bus. We arrived in Hombori around 2am and crashed at a little campement. The next morning we met up with another PCV (now there were 5 of us... PCVs me, Kevin, Eric, Jared and Kevin's friend from home, Christine). The following morning, we woke up around 7am, hopped on another little transport van and found ourselves at the base of Fatumata's Hand by 9am. We started out with some sport climbing on a block that had fallen from one of the rock faces at some prior point in history. There have been people climbing these rocks for decades, so some of them... the block included... had already been outfitted with bolts. Jared and Kevin initially lead the top ropes. Basically they climb up first while hooking themselves into the bolts and hope they don't fall. Once they reach the top, they then set up the rope to fall back to the bottom. The rope forms an inverted V. The beleyer works the rop from the bottom ensureing safety. The rope then loops through the top anchor and comes back to the climbers harness were it is locked in through a figure 8 knot plus a safety knot.

Kevin and I gearing up before a climb.



That first day, I climbed up the block three times in the morning while it was shady. As the day wound on, the sun started beating on the rock pretty well and heating it up to oven temperatures. We rested in the shade until the day wore on a bit and the sun started to cool everything off. Around 3pm, we found an India-Mali pump and washed up a little bit before making our climb on the other side of the rock. We had to fight cows for the right to some water; they weren't happy about that. After many attempts on the opposite side of the block, none of us were actually successful. In terms of just having fun and trying to climb, we did well. I fell a few times grabbing for what looked like a strong hold, but just slipped in the end. The pendulum effect can be scary, but if you trust your equiptment and beleyer, it's really no big problem. Just try not to smash your ankle like Eric did!

This is me at the top of the block after my first climb.



That night we slept outside next to the block without tents or anything. I slept on mat with my sleeping bag, and it really wasn't that bad until the wind picked up. The wind kept blowing my sleeping bag away from me and pelting me with grains of sand, dried grass and little rocks. Definitiely not the most peaceful sleep I've had. Also, I was nervous that maybe some snakes and scorpions would find me in my sleep, get scared and bite me. That was not the case.

Sleeping below the block worked in our favor because we were able to wake up and just start climbing immediately before the sun got too hot. I failed my first few attempts, but once my muscles warmed up and I began to learn the techniques better, I was making my goals happen. It is just an insane adreniline rush when you finally figure out exactly how to make your move, get beyond it and realize that you are just that much closer to the top. When that view from the top is attained, your head just rushes.

There I go!



After lunch in the afternoon, we hiked up to one of the figers on the "Hand." Jared and Kevin set up a top rope and I made my first real climb on a mountain face. Before going up, I had some serious doubts considering how high up I was supposed to go. But, you just do it. I started out the climb going over a bulge, and that was a real physical and mental teaser. I did some mental route planning, and eventually figured it out. The next few moves were a breeze, but I soon came to a stand still with me hands and feet spread in all directions just trying not to fall. I leveraged myself up at one point and swung backwards off the face. Jared was beleying, and saved me easily. Determined not to be discouraged by a fall, I pulled myself back onto the wall and found a route. I had to "leap" upwards... it was almostl like the scence in 300 when Leonidas is climbing up to see those old leppers... My hand gripped a small ledge, and my fingers stuck. I let out a huge WHOOOAAA and everyone at the bottom laughed when they realized my surprise at actually sticking to the wall. At this point, the top o the climb was so attainable. Ijust made it happen and was beaming once I made it to the anchor. I had to lean back for a few minutes to admire the view before I let Jared bring me back down to earth.

You can see me on the face as a tiny little blip. I am wearing a green shirt and am in a middle of the photo. Look at me go.


That night I was riding a pretty good high after nailing the climb. We celebrated at a campement with some chicken, cous cous and a beer. Shortly after, we were all exhausted and asleep until Kevin woke us up again at 5am to begin our final climb.

Third day of the climb on the mountain as the sun is rising.

The sun was not yet up at 5am, so we packed our belongings up in the dark and hiked up to the face. As we had left the top rope up the night before, Eric made the initial climb as the sun was just peeking above the horizon. Jared screamed up to him, "Hey Eric, the early bird catches the worm, huh?" It was so appropriate. When Eric came down, I climbed up again... this time without falling, and posed for some pictures at the top. Jared has them, so hopefully they'll be sent my way at some point. Eric and I caught a bus back to Douentza around 10am while the rest of them decided to stay and climb on for the rest of the day. It was difficult to leave such an amazing adventure, but it was time to get back to reality. I have been bitten by the climbing bug and can't wait to make it back out there again. In two weeks, we're gonna do some scrambling and bouldering around the Douentza rocks... if you're reading this and in the area, let me know what's up.

Laughing and relaxing with the little kids that watched us climb everyday.

Here is Jared on beley with Eric climbing a sunny face of the block. Those little kids came by every day to sell woven trinkets, but we said to bring food. They never brought anything but woven trinkets. I tried to explain that we couldn't eat woven trinkets, but their heads were kinda thick. We just wanted peanuts or the sesame seed bars the villagers make here.

A couple photos to pass the time

This is Fikru and I at the Dogon Festival last weekend. It was wicked dusty, so I put on the bandana.


Dogon stilt dancers.

More Dogon dancers. The drums were nonstop for like 4 days.

Here's me being just kinda dumb and Fikru putting up with my antics. Rufus is just relaxing in the background.

Animal Stories and Other Adventures

After roughly 7 months in Mali, I have finally "tracked," killed, and eaten an animal. My friend Hama showed up last week and brought three pigeon-like birds with him. He said that it was my job to slaughter the birds and cook them up for lunch considering he had brought them to my house. I sat staring at hte box for a while, trying to figure out how i was gonna go about this whole bird killing business. I tried to tell them I didn't know the correct Muslim prayers. so it would be blasphemous for me to kill the birds. Hama said that was nonsense and he would teach me. We struck a deal that he would kill the first one and I would watch, learn and then get the second. First, the pigeon flew off and went into my house. I "tracked" him through the first room, into the back room, under the bed and finally I caught him over the book case. Step one. After that, I took the bird out and stepped on his wings as instructed. Finding his neck, I pulled his head back by his beak. I took the knife and said aloud "Bisimilla," which means something like welcome to God. As I said this, I started to saw the little birds neck open, but it was tough and took some strength. I finally got through the skin, and blood squirted out all over my hands and feet. As this happened, I was instructed to say "Allah akbar!" God is great. As the proclaimed the greatness of God, the damn bird's head came off in my hands. I think I cut too deep. All in all, Djugal (a local kid), de-feathered the birds, cut out the insides and washed them off. I cooked them up in a pasta and tomato mixture for a delicious lunch. Currently, the third pigeon is being raised my my homologue's nephew to be eaten at a later point.

I came into Douentza this weekend for the Ginna Dogon, or the Dogon Festival. If you're going to give a festival to a group of people in Mali, it should definitely be the Dogons. On Friday morning, I left village on bikes with my friend Difru. We made it about 2 or 3 km, but couldn't go any further because of the intense wind coming straight at us... Harmattan I guess. A converted truck/bus picked us up for a small price and we headed back out onto the road at a much faster rate. After another km or 2, we stopped to pick up some more guys heading to the festival. The last guy to get on has about 3 guns, snake skins, and a monkey on a rope. This monkey did not want to get into the back of the truck, but his owner wasn't about to leave without him. The monkey was jumping and howling and just acting like deisagreeable monkeys act. The guy sits next to me with his moneky, and the monkey starts screaming in my ear, tearing at my pants and shirt and climbing all over me. I had my fist in the air ready to punch the creature right in his little head if he had any plans to bite me. The guy reassured that the monkey was his friend, wouldn't bite and would settle down momentarily. Needless to say, I was still a little scared, and the monkey never did calm down. The lesson learned is that monkeys do not make good pets.

The festival was awesome. I hung out with Fikru, Phil and Antony (three other Peace Corps Volunteers in the area... by the way, I'm in Mopti-manville.... the Peace Corps won't send girls up her for some reason.) The festival was full of Dogons shooting off their guns... they load them with as much gun powder as possible and fire them into the ground. Lots of noise. Lots of smoke. No bullets, thank god. There were skits acted to out drumming and music all weekend and I pet a hyenna that looked like a really big dog. Wierd. One night we went to a Malian "dance," which was like a middle school dance. Loud music and no one dancing. Maybe one or two brave souls in the middle with everyone watching. By this point I had had a beer or two and was in the mood to act even wierder than I usually do as one of the only white guys around. I grabbed a girl from crowd and dragged her out to the dance area and we danced like crazy dogons for a while. To dance like a dogon you have to semi-squat, kick your legs up real high from the knees, and hold your arms out straight. It almost looks like you're imitating bik riding. You can jump and spin, too, if you feel so inclined. Then I ran into the middle of a bunch of kids and danced for all of them as fast as I could, kicking up clouds of dust... as it hasn't rained once since I've been up here! The kids loved it and wouldn't let me leave the circle, so I was stuck dancing for a while. Once I broke out, my friends were ready to go. Maybe I embarassed them a little? Oh well, I had fun and the Malian kids loved it. The next day in market, I was surrouned by kids again yelling for me to dance, but I told them it was a one time thing. Maybe tomorrow?

Last week I had brought Rufus to Douentza to get his rabies shots. As he is too big to put in a basket on my bike now, I had him follow me on foot for the 25 km. It was a slow going 3 hour ride, but I enjoyed with because it gave me a chance to stop and speak with locals along the way instead of just breezing through on the bike. Rufus skinned the bottom of his feet a little, but he had a few days to recover. We left for village the following Monday and Rufus tagged along on foot. He was starting to limp, so I attenpted to hog tie him. After wrestling the dog for about 30 minutes, I managed to get the roap tied tightly around his legs. He bit and fought the whole time. Then, I put him on the bike rack and started to wrap rubber strips around him. This was, apparently, the straw that broke the camel's back. Rufus somehow flipped over got one of his legs out and hollered louder than I've ever heard a dog holler before. He fell off the back of the bike, teeth and claws flailing everywhere, and basically let me know he wasn't gonna be tied there. So, on foot he went. The best part was he slept for the entire next day, so I didn't have to deal with him at all after that.

On another note, here are some pictures of a house contruction project that I took a few weeks ago. It's a little bit different from the work I did back home, huh? This house is being built behind my house. You can see the dry brown landscape in the background with the little trees and scrub bushes that make up this part of Mali.

Making it happen

It's well into February. Hard to believe that I've been in Mali for almost 7 months already; I have 19 more to look forward to. After returning to site post-IST, project implementation has been in full effect. I was a bit nervous at first proposing my ideas for potential projects, as I've been sitting in village learning Fulfulde for 3 months straight. In terms of getting work done, I hadn't accompolished anything (don't worry.... it's not due to lack of motivation, it's the Peace Corps' rule). I practiced speaking about the projects to myself and my to my PC friends in Fulfulde before unveiling them to the villagers, and I worked out many kinks in the language. It's amazing how much a dictionary helps here. For the last week, I have been holding meetings at various places around the village in order to gain support for the projects, organize material lists, translate work between English and Fulfulde and back again. I pretty much just jumped into the work instead of trying to get my feet wet first. This has been a surprisingly easy transition and everyone I am working with in village is more than motivated to get going on the projects.

For the millet field test projects, I have already singled out 4 farmers to work with, devised a tentative work schedule, worked out cost benefits, and have made plans to store successfully grown seeds in the seed bank to sell to other communities the following planting season. That works out the best because it allows me to take out two projects in one. Those would be finding a drought resistant millet strain and updating the seed bank. Check.

Furthermore, the cereal bank project is going faster than I had imagined and is actually going to be a hell of a lot easier than I had initially thought. There is a pre-existing structure in village that housed grains at one point until the ceiling caved in (this happens often, as the homes are made of rocks, sticks and mud). We measured the dimensions of the building and plan to tear it down in the coming weeks and build a new one in it's place to roughly the same dimensions. This makes my job easier, as funding projects in Mali requires a minimun of at least 25% contributions from the village. My village will be supplying all of the rocks for the structure, all of the wooden cieling beams we salvage, all of the workers and hours. a strong metal door from the existing structure and will hopefully be able to kick in some grains. When I write up the proposal, I need to create a very specific materials cost and needs sheet that is divided up into community contributions and monies requested. This is well under way, in both Fulfulde and English. It's been difficult work, but has been keeping me very busy... obviously a big difference from the initial 3 months in village. Basically, the village will need the money for bags of cemement, record keeping materials, a new lock, scales, cereals, bags, lamps, etc. This is much less than I had originally thought.

I spoke with my APCD (Oumar, who is in charge of the Ag sector) today and he is thrilled to see that my work is taking off so quickly. He put me on a list of seed recipients for the millet field testing, but I want to call the project manager directly in order to ensure I get exactly what I need. We're looking for varieties that will seed in roughly 60-75 days, as we don't get much rain here. I also told him about the cereal bank project and asked about funding opportunities. More specifically, I wanted to know if the Peace Corps funding options covered the cost of the grains that will be stored and sold in the bank. He said it coveres everything as long as the commmunity contribution is at least 25%. So, I'm set there. Also, I met with a local NGO today and pitched my projects to them. They were very positive about my work and would like to collaborate on projects in the future becasue I live in village and am a valuable resource. We spoke about the cereal bank, and they have actually funded, built, and stocked multiple cereal banks in the Douentza area. They are willing to work with me on that project, so that's another win for me.

These projects will keep me busy through the next harvest season (until about December). After that, I will begin gardening projects during the next cold season with the villagers that are aimed at income generation. Really, I just want to grow vegetables to eat that aren't onions. I could go for some carrots about now.

In other news, Mike and Zack bought their tickets and will arrive in Bamako on June 12. They'll be in Mali for roughly 3 weeks, so I have a lot of planning to do before they get here. Also, I'm going to Bamako for more training in early April, and hopefully after that, taking a trip to Ghana with some friends to escape the hot season and get to the beach. I'm going to need a vacation by that point. I can tell that the hot season is inching closer and closer because it is getting near 100 degrees by mid day and I can't sleep inside anymore. My house is just rocks that bake in the sun all day. Funny how they showed us how to build a heat conserving mud brick stove that is built just like my home.

What is Dave gonna do?

After 2 weeks of training, I'm finally done and my head is full of ideas. The question remains: What do I do next? Well, to begin I am going to travel back north relatively slowly. Tonight, I am going into Bamako in search of a hot shower ("Insh Allah!"), American food and a beer. I'll spend two nights at a hotel and then take a 10-12 hour bus ride to Sevare on Monday morning. When I get to Sevare, my first project will begin. My buddy Phil and I have decided to go hunting for supplies to build solar food driers. We have two different plans, and aren't sure which one is better. The plan is to build both of them and try them out... a little experiment with fruits. Solar drying will be a small income generating activity (IGA) that I hope to introduce to the village. Already, my village grows mangoes, papayas, bananas, guavas, onions, garlic, etc. The problem is that they eat them right away. When they're gone, they're gone. By introducing a solar drying technique, the villagers will be able to conserve fruit for later consumption (benefit = intake of vitamins at a later point) and/or be able to sell them in the various surrounding markets. Now, I am unsure how well they will sell, but it is worth the try. I figure that I will fund the first solar drier, as it will only cost a few dollars to build. Once I make it, I will bring it to village, teach the people how to use it and tell them what the benefits are. If they are interested, I will then offer instructions on how to build one for themselves. There is a village 10km away that sells bamboo at an extremely low cost; just a short donkey cart ride away! I will speak with the man that sells bamboo and builds bamboo furniture about the feasibility of providing wood and/or building the driers himself. Either way, he makes money... added business.



Next comes the BIG project! Well, one of the big projects. I have spoken with ICRISAT, an experimental agricultural organization. They have been developing millet varieties that are drought resistant, have higher yields, seed faster, grow bigger, etc.... basically they are attempting to create super-millet without the use of chemicals. They want to work with Peace Corps volunteers and their communities in order to test out the millet varieties in the different regions throughout Mali. As of yet, I don't think any one has tested the millet varieties up north yet. My plan is to speak with the main families in village and convince 4 of them to share a plot of land with me (roughly 1/2 a hectare each). These plots will all have to be pretty homogeneous in terms of soil condition, shade trees (preferably none), compost composition, water availability, etc. Once I determine where the 4 plots will be, I will divide the 4 plots into 5 subsections. I hope to acquire 4 super-millet varieties for each plot, plus use the local variety as a constant (I get to play scientist! Who would have thought?). In terms of organization, this is going to be a huge project to get running. Everyone is going to have to be convinced to donate land for the experiment and be dedicated to working equally as hard. The variables really shouldn't be changed between plots in order to get consistent results. The project comes with a few guidelines, but it gives a good deal of leeway. The benefits of this project are that, if successful, the village will have new and improved millet varieties that they can eat and/or sell to generate a small income. As they will be receiving the initial seeds for free, I hope that they will also pass some results on to other farmers if their is a high success rate. I will begin organizing this project as soon as I get back to village, writing up a proposal in about a month, receiving seeds around April, tilling the soil and composting through May, planting in June/July, weeding the fields until September/October, and harvesting sometime in November (so Allah jabbi). Phew... it's gonna be a lot of work!



In terms of other projects, there is also the cereal bank that I want to build, but I don't have enough information on that yet. When I get back to village, I will organize meetings to determine who will be responsible for forming the association needed for the bank. Once the association is formed I can then work on drafting a funding proposal. If anyone wants to donate, I will be putting the draft up on the Peace Corps Partnership Program website. This won't be for a while, but keep your eyes open! I will have a lot more info on this subject and how it will benefit the village within the coming months.



There is also the seed bank that needs to be updated. Since I've been in Bamako, I picked up some baobab, jatropha, moringa, and Senegalese acacia tree seeds. It will be nice to go back to village with something tangible. Also, I have learned valuable gardening techniques that have to do with composting, raising soil fertility, erosion control, channel irrigation, aeration, etc... that I hope to implement when I return. I really just want to grow some carrots, actually. I also have ideas in my head about building a library and additional school building in Beguma, getting 4-6 India/Mali pumps for the well in my village, and a trash collecting campaign in Douentza. I probably have too much on my plate as it is now, but it is good to have available options in case of failure or if the villagers aren't motivated towards a certain idea. I will learn to practice patience, flexibility, and motivation over the coming months.

Info for Mrs. Kelley

After all these years, we're reconnected! And, I don't even have to stand on my head and spit wooden nickles! You didn't leave a contact e-mail on the blog, so I am hoping that this will be effective. Yes, I am interested in keeping contact with students at St. Francis. There is a program through the Peace Corps called the Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools Program. It connects volunteers around the world with students and teachers back in the States. I have not fully looked into the program, but I know it works more effectively when the volunteer sets himself up directly with a teacher. Also, I'm pretty sure that the Peace Corps reimburses postage (always a plus!). If your students are at all interested in learning about Malian culture, the education system, agricultural practices, or even just life in general, I would gladly correspond with them. You can contact the Peace Corps through this website (http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/), or we can just write back and forth... depending on if you would like the formalities or not. The Peace Corps may even send you educational supplies for you and your students, so it is definitely worth looking into. St. Francis provided me with a strong educational background; therefore, I look forward to giving back any way I can... except monetarily at this point! Also, there is a village next to mine where the students are beginning to learn English. Perhaps they will be able to write as pen pals with the students at St. Francis if their English improves. If not, I am friends with the teacher, and I am sure he would be thrilled to act as translator in order to bridge the cultural and language gap. The students could learn so much from each other. Contact the Peace Corps from the website or send me an e-mail/regular mail with details.

My e-mail is: davemunsell@hotmail.com

Or you can write to:

Dave Munsell, PCV
Corps de la Paix
Douentza, Mali
West Africa

A jour e bon?

I'm back at the Peace Corps training center for two weeks of Agricultural/French/Fulfulde lessons and it is awesome. I am eating really good food. I had green beans today and nearly peed myself with joy. Back in, say 1992, had my Mom said, "David James, you're going to eat this green beans now because one day you won't have them and you'll even crave them," I would have called her a big liar and said I was just gonna eat my french fries and candy bars. Well, those green beans today definitely filled my belly with pure food-joy.

I have been here a week and am looking forward to another week because the food and company is just so easy to appreciate. In the Peace Corps, the number one lesson to learn is the value and quality of what you normally take for granted (such as green beans!). When you're at site out in the sticks eating "To," reading by a kerosene lamp and listening to people you barely know babble on in Dogon in front of their rock houses, you can only imagine how good a burger, a beer and someone to speak English would be at that time. Comfort food has a way deeper meaning for me now.

Besides the food (can you tell how happy it makes me?) I am actually learning a lot of really practical information that I will bring back to site and implement there. My first goal is to train the villagers to make and use compost. As of now, they take straight up cow poop and just place it on the fields. Generally this adds too much nitrogen to the soil and causes the plants to turn yellow and "burn." Although making compost seems like such a simple and small project, it is the education of the villagers that will be the toughest part. I have to convince them that this project, even though it will tend to be more labor intensive, is actually worth the extra effort. If you've kept up with this blog, you'll remember I wrote about the experimental Farmers' Field School. With compost, this is were I will finally be able to test out the theory/practice.

The other day we built a water containment cistern out in the garden from a mud brick form, chicken wire and mortar. Getting the mortar to stick to the chicken wire was the most difficult part and it took me a good 20 minutes to get the right wrist/arm motions down. Had I built a cistern in village without any prior experience, I would look like a complete jackass trying to toss mortar onto the frame. This is the best part of IST. The Peace Corps training staff has prepared a full schedule of programs to train us on. We are able to do all of the activities through a hands-on process in order to work out the kinks and learn how to create them successfully. Over the next few days there will be more training as well as developing a calendar for the next 3 months at site until the next IST. I haven't given my individual site calendar too much thought, but I have many ideas floating around in my head. I'll write it up later in the week when I have a more concrete idea.