Sinsina;
As the Bambara proverb says, "donne donne, little by little a bird builds his nest." That quite aptly describes my first month as a Peace Corps Trainee.
I have mastered the art of conducting my basic life functions in the absence of running water, electricity, toilet paper. If provided with access to a stable supply of food, Sudafed and chlorine tablets, I find that living without the creature comforts of Western civilization isn't so bad after all... it's kind of like camping, only with chickens, sheep, cows and donkeys.
After a month of linguistic shock therapy, I am now able to verbalize my basic life functions in halting Bambara. During my first few weeks of living in Sinsina, my only interaction with my non-Francophone host mothers consisted of rather awkward conversations; e.g. "Bucket!" "Water!"
But now I can actually say function as a human being in Malian society.
I knew that I had hit a milestone when I was able to string together this masterpiece: "N ye keni dun, ni loriebulu ye sigi keni kono. N tese ka a laje, ni a barisa n ye a dun. Koffe, a tarra yan; a barisa n ye fono la fali caman kerefe. fali ye n laje."
For those of you who have yet to pick up the Bambara tongue, "I was eating rice, and there were leaves in the rice (for flavoring). I could not see the leaves, so I ate one and it was lodged in my throat. So I vomited next to many donkeys. The donkeys were watching me."
Other masterpieces by yours truly, which unto themselves might shed some light on my daily life in Mali thusfar;
"Kunun su ye fono nka sheo kono. n be n ko ni sheola ni nka loofah. n te n ko fe ni sheola bi sogoma."
"Last night I vomited in my bucket. I wash myself with that bucket and my loofah. I do not want to wash myself with that bucket this morning."
"Ayi, n te ebolo fe. e ye kalo ebolo kono."
"No, I do not want to hold your hand. You sneezed in it."
"Ayi, Tupac sara."
"No, Tupac is dead."
The World concludes that Israeli Lies Smeared the Main Aid Agency helping
Starving Palestinians as “Terrorists”
-
By Binoy Kampmark ( Middle East Monitor ) – The Israeli authorities, in
their campaign of remorseless killing, doctoring and adjusting the numbers
of the P...
No comments:
Post a Comment