Our First Day in Kati

When we first arrived last night in Kati (actually 5 AM today), we were a little uncertain. Perhaps it was the giant softball-sized frog that hopped into our bedroom, or the mosquitoes hovering around our bed nets. It might have also been the heat that made us feel like we couldn’t breathe, or maybe the sound of scratching at the wall, which we later found out was geckos.

This morning, everything was brighter. We had crepes for breakfast, and started meeting our hosts. There are about 50 of them, because it seems like the whole village lives in our house. Each person has about four names, and they all speak to us in Bambara, the local language here. Our French is also coming back to us slowly.

We went up the red dirt road to the school, where we greeted by a swarm of friendly Bonjours and handshakes. Everyone wanted to meet us, from the people on the street to the children and teachers at IEP. We came home for lunch (rice and beef stew) and played in the courtyard with the family (again, 20 or so people, young and old). The other volunteers have been telling us all the local gossip, such as the tale of Maria’s son driving the car into the house (they just patched the hole up last week).

In the afternoon, we went to school / camp, and worked with the kids and the 24 women from Sikasso (another Malian town) who are here training to be teachers. After singing, we split into small groups and we helped with arts and crafts. When the sewing needles went missing, we taught a group how to make fortune tellers out of paper.

In the evening, everyone comes back to the courtyard and plays. We traced our feet with chalk, played tag, and photographed the children. We also showed off the supplies that we brought, and it even rained for a few minutes, which was wonderful. To our delight, we got switched to a new room, complete with brand new beds and air conditioning!!! This is clearly the deluxe accommodations, and will vastly improve our ability to sleep at night. We set up our new room, put our things away, and finally feel at home here.

Now we need to go to sleep, because there is a field trip tomorrow!