on the way to fourth of july



it was a little cramped



the participants in my formations



monkey



hippo, little ot sticking up









sandstorm



I am very very tired. I just got off a bus that left from Kita at 2am and got into bamako at 5am, making this the 5 or 6 night in a row I haven't gotten my regular 9-10hours of sleep. This past week I've been on a little mini adventure for the fourth of July and got to see a drastically different side of Mali, so different I felt as if I was in a different country. Several volunteers got together in Manantali, a small town/city in the southwest corner of Mali for the fourth of July. In addition to the good food and cool weather, there is an amazing river that passes right next to the volunteer house which is home to hippos and monkeys! Needless to say I was in heaven. I couldn't get over how drastically different two different parts of the country could be. Granted you find this in the United States and other countries I've been to before, but I think because I've been getting so used to the desert, coming to this green paradise was so refreshing and it was really tough to leave! The river reminded me so much of New England in the summer. I've posted some pictures of the festivities, monkeys and one of the hippos. I was much closer to both during my stay there but didn't have my camera on hand.

My trip down to Manatali was pretty long too. My fellow gao PCV, Sarah and I arrived in Bamako on Wednesday morning after a 20 hour bus ride and then upon discovering that everyone else was leaving for Manantali that day, we grabbed egg sandwiches and hopped on another bus for another 4 and a half hours. We had a night's rest in kita and then all 23 of us packed into a bachee and headed off for a bumpy ride through the bush. When we got there though, it was totally worth it and now I know a place to go when I need to remember what water looks like.

Since I last wrote in I've started my tree nursery formations with a great group of motivated women and men who seem genuinely interested in what they're learning; how to plant a tree, how to plant seeds and care for them after germination, how to make a compost, relationship of trees and nutrition (vitamins and nutrients from tree leaves, fruits), agroforestry techniques and grafting. Each participating association has to do a public tree planting somewhere in town and they will also recieve saplings they can take home or to their association garden. At the end of the formations, they will also decide how they want to proceed with the nursery we've started, whether it be as a large cooperative, sharing work, or just one individual person who wants to run it independently. I think by leaving the decision up to them of how to continue, it creates a sense of ownership and pride and will help the project's sustainability. When I have pictures of the public plantings, I'll let you know and put them up!