(right to left) Jen, Yai Keita, Laura (another Peace Corps volunteer), and Yai Keita's sons - Dinsa and Balnkale

Dear Tucker,

Hi! Things are going pretty well here. I've been at my site for almost 2 months now. My village is SibiSibi. It's a Dogon village (speaking the dialect of Donoso) of about 500 people. The village is on the top of a rocky hill, overlooking a river. In the rainy season, people grow millet here. Right now, almost everyone's working in the gardens, which are down below the village to the west. The big crop here is onions but some people also grow hot peppers, tomatoes, and melons, etc. A portion of the river above the dam still has water in it during this season, and the gardens are built up on either side. Fields and fields of green stems, broken up into little sectioned off squares with dirt or stone. It's an amazing contrast to the otherwise stony, stark landscape - it looks almost magical.

The village itself is pretty compact. Houses are made of stone and mud. There are stone walls everywhere, dividing concessions and forming little paths through the village. It's like a maze. I'm sure I haven't been down all the paths yet! There's a small Catholic chapel and mosque in the village center. Besides these two religions, there are also Animists here. Last weekend was the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. As you probably guessed, there is no electricity/ running water in SibiSibi. We are lucky to have 2 pumps. The only catch is that they are way at the bottom of the hill. Though there are no electrical lines, it seems everyone has a radio and listens to it. In training, we talked about using radio as one way to get a message out and you can see why - people bring radios everywhere - they're at home and in the fields sometimes.

As far as my living situation, I'm in my own house with my own concession on the edge of the village. I cook my own breakfast and eat lunch and dinner with a family that the village had chosen for me. My host mother and father are Pepelon and Anage. They have 4 kids. Usually, I stay for tea after dinner and people come over to visit. Tea here involves heating up a tiny pot over charcoals, and adding lots of sugar. It takes a long time (they do three progressively sweeter rounds and drink out of a glass the size of a shot glass) and people talk/socialize. Sometimes, one person makes it in the field when people are working - it is an interesting custom.

Right now, I'm working on settling in, getting my bearings, getting to know the community, and trying to learn the language. These last two go hand in hand and are really hard. People are really kind and helpful, but not being able to converse definitely makes interaction difficult. I think the ability to communicate is the key to many things - Donoso is a hard language - lots of conjugation, different tenses, and no dictionary/grammar books. I do get tutored about twice a week, which helps a lot, but progress is slow. I will begin working at a local women's NGO after all the holidays are over I will be working in health education. Hello to everyone at Tucker and I will write again when I begin to travel to different villages to do health promotion and education.

Take care,
Yahibem Karoumbe