Though I woke up at 5:30am with the sun, I only got out of bed by 6:30am or so. When I saw a kid standing up on the roof of his house high up trying to catch a radio signal through his little hand radio set, I immediately wished I had come here with enough supplies to build and fly kites, just like they do in India. This place is so perfect and actually almost more perfect than India to fly kites given how high up they are and how much space they have. Note for later, if/when I come back here, bring so supplies to build kites. (Learn to build and fly them well first...wouldn't want to make a fool of myself trying to teach the local kids something I barely master myself).
Today was such a long day!!!!!
Because Amadou was going back to Bamako and I was going to Bandiagara, we decided to head out to the market to put our names on the corresponding bus passengers lists. So after saying good byes to his family, we got to the market by 9am. We knew his bus wouldn't leave before at least noon and we were told that my bus would leave soon.
So we went to a side spot in the shade to drop our bags and wait.
After a while Amadou went to get us some food to eat as we were watching all the village becoming alive around the market. So many kids just stood up right in front of me, just staring at me, as if it were the very first time they saw a white person. That didn't annoy me all that much, am used to it and the majority at least put up a smile after a few seconds. Bit what upset me quite much was when the big kids, young teens, would walk up to me and ask me to give them a gift or money. It really pissed me off and has been doing so since I got to the village. Not so much for the kids but rather for the fact that it reflects such a poor and careless education from the parents and from the teachers. Such a tremendous mark of a lack of politeness.
My bus, actually a van, after the driver managed to stuff 35 people inside (including me), only departed at 1:30pm. Amadou's probably took off by 2pm. 35 people in a van, and yet I had to fight and create a rebellion from the other passengers to forbid the driver to put more people inside the van. On top of that the roof was way over loaded. This is just beyond stupidity from both side. The driver treats his passengers like animals and the passengers accept to be treated like animals. No wonder the country is not evolving! The normal capacity of such a van is under 15 people.
The ride was terrible. 2 hours to do 43km! Simply scandalous!
When I finally arrived in Bandiagara, I got off the van and realized I was entirely covered in red dust. Ufff! What a way yo male a first impression in front of the NGO I was about to meet up with.
Thanks to Patrick, with whom I worked when I was at AED, I could connect with Alleye who worked with Patrick in Bandiagara a few years ago on an eco-tourism project for the area. And thanks to Alleye I could connect with Mr Coulibaly who heads a large multi-axes NGO based in Bandiagara. So that is the reason why I came here today, to connect with the NGO and spend a week volunteering with them and see how I can help them.
Mr Coulibaly, like most Malians, seems very nice. His NGO GAAS Mali has been running since 1992, so quite a lot of experience. And the list of their funding partners is quite impressive: CARE, UNDP, WFP, etc...
Yet, when I walked into his office, I met his project supervisors, and tried to learn about the NGO problematic, tasks, and impact, I realized that it would not be easy at all. Mr Coulibaly have me a PowerPoint document printed and told me I could read it later tonight. Then I tried to ask a few questions to understand the problematics they are working on, and the solutions they are proposing with the expected outcomes. Details and quantified off course. Impossible! Not a single person in the room was able to give me a single answer. Surreal. I tried a different approach and asked Mr Coulibaly to pretend I was a funding organization with a USD10 million to grant, and that he had 10 minutes to convince me to give that grant to his NGO. In other words, a mini sales pitch about his organization. Any CEO or founder of an NGO will know that by memory. His answer was, and I am not making this up I swear: "you, Gregory Valadie, today you are wearing pants and a T-shirt. Well, maybe after a week in the Pays Dogon you will be wearing traditional clothes...it's just an example, you see?." I swear! I gave up and said we should sit down some day and talk this through further.
I just have no clue how this NGO has managed to sustain so many years and get money from so many world renown organizations. I don't know and am very concerned about the rest of this week.
After they dropped me at the hotel they put me in, I was finally able to take a good real shower and scrub off all that dirt I had accumulated in the van.
Later on, Allaye came to pick me up and go eat dinner. Grilled chicken is all I could eat. Well, I didn't want to take any risks yet in terms of food, even though last night I ate some pasta. The chicken was amazingly delicious. I love marinated grilled chicken so much!!!
We chatted a bit about the region, his family, his current job, and my time in Mali. He is an agronomist by training and so a very interesting person. And finally it was so relieving to meet a person in Mali, with whom I could have a real educated deep conversation. Finally! I was started to get worried about this country.
After a late dinner, he dropped me home and I went straight to bed, exhausted.
Tomorrow should be interesting. I am being picked up and will go on a couple of sites with the Resilience project team .
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