Another Point of View

Hello. This is Katie's American mom, Cecilia, posting a capsule version of our African adventure.

We (me, my husband, our 18 y.o. son, Will) visited Katie for 2 weeks over the Christmas holiday. My favorite part was watching, in amazement, as Katie so effortlessly interacted with the Mali people. I dubbed it the "LaLa Mega" show. We would climb aboard a "bashay"--basically the back of a beat up pick-up truck with 3 benches, minimum of 15 plus people crowded in. And the show would start. Katie would introduce herself, flowing from French to Bambara and back. Then the questions would start. Who we were, where did she work, how her husband and children are (currently nonexistent but just easier to flow with "fine,") I always knew when we got to the punch line because everyone would look at me and start laughing. They have a wonderful tradition of "joking cousins" among family names ( a much kinder version of the Hatfields and McCoys!) Katie gave me the Malian name of "Mah Coulibally" while the rest of the family had the last name of "Maiga." And, as I was introduced, it was explained that since I was a "Coulibally" and not a "Maiga", that I was a donkey and ate beans. It was incredible that this line always brought the house down, everyone would laugh good naturedly. It was just fun.
The most beautiful part of our trip was our hike through the Dogon country. Our guide, Hasseim, is extremely talented (speaks English plus many other languages) and is passionate about explaining African history and customs to visitors. It was wonderful.
Minor aggravation--my luggage never did appear (thank goodness Katie could outfit me but I sure missed my own shoes) and I'm not too convinced that it will ever appear or that Air Maroc will settle a claim.
Health issues--I stuck to bottled water to try to hold those to a minimum. Bill had a "touch" of malaria (my diagnosis based on his symptoms and the Peace Corps Health Handbook) which I could easily, and cheaply, purchase medicine for in the local pharmacy. He responded within the first 36 hours which was a big relief, although I did opt to cut out our return trip through Morocco.
Other thoughts--the Malian people are friendly, beautiful and hard working. Watching those women with babies on their front and back, pulling water from wells and placing these large buckets on their heads to carry long distances was incredible. My hope is that volunteers, like Katie, can do their part, however small or large, to help ease their lives.