Rainy season is upon us. Which means the mangos are diminishing, the mud is everywhere, the sun is a little less brutal, and the fields have begun to be planted. Besides the mud and the mosquitos, I love the spontaneity of rainy season… for the most part that is. When it rains, nothing happens. Nothing. Everything is canceled. No radio show, no vaccinations, no traveling. And it’s understood by everyone in the village. Anything you had planned- if there’s a storm, is not going to happen. So now, I have little breaks every now and again during surprise moments. I don’t have to even entertain Malians. I just crawl in my house, read my book or nap for a few hours, and wait for the storm to pass. And I don’t have to make any excuses for doing so. It’s like having mini-snow days multiple times a week. I will occasionally disrupt a plan for a run or a meeting, but nothing that can’t be rescheduled.
I’m in Kati now, working with the Rotary on an evaluation of the well improvement project, and meeting with the regional health center to get information on HIV rapid tests. I stayed with Hunter who just got back from Dogon country and showed me some spectacular pictures. I really hope it works out with my sister, Steve and Matt that we can go to visit it. After all that I’ve put him through, my loosing wallets, loosing my way, and my "away from site"-guilt-trips, I’m surprised Hunter is still my friend. There are some pretty amazing people here, and I got really lucky. Caroline too, stopped by after her vacation. I saw her briefly on her way back to Dio. Dio wasn’t really sounding too pleasant to her after she just spent the last two weeks on the beautiful islands of Cape Verde. I was really happy to see her, and I think she was happy to see me, but the thoughts of little ankle-biting children, cockroachs in her latrine, long days of greetings and trying to cook by a dim flashlight might have dampered her reaction.
I also got to talk briefly to my family and to Karen, who stopped over with pictures and gifts from the trip. So much amazing stuff is happening at home. My dad got an awesome new job. My mom just turned 50. Karen and all my friends from college are running, working, and just being the great people they are. I’m missing so much at home, I feel. I should be there for this stuff. Hunter is thinking about extending his service and asked me if I would ever think of that. I told him the truth- if I found a good job with an NGO in Bamako, I might be worth an extra couple of months to fill the gap before grad school, but I’m not sure yet. “Emily,” he says, “think of how hard this year was for you being away from your family. Could you really do that again?” He has a point. But it’s dooni dooni you know. And then next dooni step is the night of Aug 5 where my other half is coming to reunite- the notorious Katie Hurley. And her partners in crime Steve and Matt Hurley. Watch out Mali.
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