Check, Check
These bonus couple of months in village have afforded me some time to reflect on what I will really miss when I leave here, and what things I’d put off my entire service, thinking I’d have more time, until I realized that there was no time left. So I’ve been spending these past two months running around, checking off boxes on my “Must Do in Mali Before I Leave” list. It has been great, and my site mate has been a good inspiration for me, because as I am preparing to leave and getting nostalgic, Christopher is just arriving and wanting to see as much as he can – so he is always willing to tag along.
We biked the cliff road that snakes through Dogon country – an amazingly scenic drive that I have somehow not biked these past two years, even though it is only 40km from my site. I’ve taken the road in a car, but it does not compare – being able to stop at precipitous hairpin turns to soak in the view is much easier on a bicycle. In fact a dump truck hit a bus full of tourists right in front of us, and we stopped long enough to see that no one was hurt, and then cruised off, leaving the quickly growing traffic jam behind us. We even found a waterfall in the cliff face, and waded in the water just long enough to ensure that I will most likely be contracting another case of schistosomiasis before I leave (That was not on my list of things to do before I leave – I think I’ve gotten the disease list pretty much checked off. The only sickness that is included on my list is to NOT get malaria before I go; miraculously I have escaped that one).
After the Dogon road trip, we went to a nearby village for their local church service. It was all in Dogon, and even though I barely caught the sermon (I’ve come to realize that my language skills are not good, and I think Christopher is quickly coming to the same realization), it was really moving and beautiful. Housed in a tiny mud chapel, the congregation sat on mud “pews” with a dirt floor, a pulpit and a plastic, somewhat tacky (and therefore fantastic) wallcovering of the last supper nailed to the wall behind the minister. But man, could they sing. With just a drum and a percussive instrument made from a halved gourd covered in cauris shells, they filled that place with sound. I was getting a bit choked up at times, it was so beautiful. And even though there is some debate between us as to whether it was Amazing Grace or Auld Lang Syne (I think it was a medley of the two), the congregation finished the service singing that song in Dogon while we hummed along. And then Chris fell over on top of me when we went to leave because both of his legs had fallen asleep during the service. It was a smooth exit.
Most of my other boxes involve just spending time with the villagers, not getting anxious about my last few weeks, and looking at the stars as long as my weary body will let me every night. I am grateful to have this time here, happy to spend another Thanksgiving with my teammates, and looking forward to coming home. I think that biggest box that I need to check off is realizing that I will never feel like I have done everything that I needed to do here, but that that is a good thing – it means that the village will still benefit from a volunteer, and that there is a capable person who is ready and willing to pick up where I left off. I’m stubborn to check that one off, but everyday it is getting a little bit easier.
We biked the cliff road that snakes through Dogon country – an amazingly scenic drive that I have somehow not biked these past two years, even though it is only 40km from my site. I’ve taken the road in a car, but it does not compare – being able to stop at precipitous hairpin turns to soak in the view is much easier on a bicycle. In fact a dump truck hit a bus full of tourists right in front of us, and we stopped long enough to see that no one was hurt, and then cruised off, leaving the quickly growing traffic jam behind us. We even found a waterfall in the cliff face, and waded in the water just long enough to ensure that I will most likely be contracting another case of schistosomiasis before I leave (That was not on my list of things to do before I leave – I think I’ve gotten the disease list pretty much checked off. The only sickness that is included on my list is to NOT get malaria before I go; miraculously I have escaped that one).
After the Dogon road trip, we went to a nearby village for their local church service. It was all in Dogon, and even though I barely caught the sermon (I’ve come to realize that my language skills are not good, and I think Christopher is quickly coming to the same realization), it was really moving and beautiful. Housed in a tiny mud chapel, the congregation sat on mud “pews” with a dirt floor, a pulpit and a plastic, somewhat tacky (and therefore fantastic) wallcovering of the last supper nailed to the wall behind the minister. But man, could they sing. With just a drum and a percussive instrument made from a halved gourd covered in cauris shells, they filled that place with sound. I was getting a bit choked up at times, it was so beautiful. And even though there is some debate between us as to whether it was Amazing Grace or Auld Lang Syne (I think it was a medley of the two), the congregation finished the service singing that song in Dogon while we hummed along. And then Chris fell over on top of me when we went to leave because both of his legs had fallen asleep during the service. It was a smooth exit.
Most of my other boxes involve just spending time with the villagers, not getting anxious about my last few weeks, and looking at the stars as long as my weary body will let me every night. I am grateful to have this time here, happy to spend another Thanksgiving with my teammates, and looking forward to coming home. I think that biggest box that I need to check off is realizing that I will never feel like I have done everything that I needed to do here, but that that is a good thing – it means that the village will still benefit from a volunteer, and that there is a capable person who is ready and willing to pick up where I left off. I’m stubborn to check that one off, but everyday it is getting a little bit easier.
