Tomorrow morning I am leaving for the first 2 weeks of my home stay in the village of Sinsina. The village is relatively small, with about 2,000 people, and is south from Bamako. The homestay is essentially a dry run for the site I will eventually be at, and I will live with a Malian family, have meals with them, take language and culture classes from my “Language and culture facilitator” in Bambara (the most prevalent local language in Mali), and generally try and integrate myself into this community alongside 4 other PC trainees who are also going to be water & sanitation volunteers. We’ll be taking 10 ceremonial nuts with us to present to the village chief, and this is where I’ll be doing most of my training for the next 2 months.
Yesterday, in preparation for our entrance into Malian society, we had a cultural festival here at Tubaniso. There was a dance troupe with accompanying drummers as well as a Tuareg band (from northern Mali near Tombouctou). Several people were selling bright African print cloth and there was also a tailor with his treadle sewing machine in the middle of the courtyard taking orders. I purchased two 2 meter pieces with the intent of getting “tafe” (tah-fay, or wrap skirt) with matching head wraps made, as well as some bracelets beaded by an organization that has been started by a PC Mali volunteer. The fete was really great, with quite a few trainees joining in with the dancing, though I was unfortunately waiting in line for the tailor for most of that and couldn't bust out moves from my African dance class. There was a flurry of color and excitement that was only a small taste of what I will probably experience in a real market town, although with all of the information we’ve been receiving for the last few days I’m happy that yesterday was such a simplified version.