What I am doing in Bamako...

Peace Corps Mali tried really hard to find us evacuees quite a few temporary assignments. From these options I chose to work on a program that's called "Programme de Gouvernance Partagée", Direct translation is shared governing program, more in depth explanation is this is a program that help and guide the local government at the commune level (there are about 700 of them in Mali) to better manage their problems and development issues, better budget their revenues, strive to maintain fiscal prudence and transparency, make better use of their resources and make better annual plan to improve the condition of the commune; advocate to the population to hold their local government accountable, to assume their rights and responsibility as citizens to pay taxes, vote and take part in politics. Since the revolution that took place 16 years ago in Mali that brought down the dictator, an event not too different from what happened recently in Guinea, Mali has adopted a new constitution that calls for decentralization of political power from the central government, giving more power and say to the local government to better manage their affairs, therefore the governing power is more widely shared.

But who really makes up this local government that makes decisions on for example what to do with the taxes that they collect, let it be building more schools, pay the salary for a doctor to work at the health center, invest in conditions that will favor more income generating activities for women, etc? You guessed it right; there are 90% men in all different level of government while 52% of population in Mali is women. No one knows his needs but himself, no one knows women's needs but women. You see what I am getting at? Us women can't go cry that our needs aren't taken care of if we don't go out there hold public offices and make our voices heard. On the other hand, a decentralization process that strives to widely share the governing power is never fully functioning, with such weak participation of women. So, one component of this program is to inspire women and to assist women to assume their rights and responsibilities to participate in politics, to change policies and make decisions that will now favor in improving lives of more than half of the country population. When everyone has equal access to education, health, economic activities, the whole country flourish; such is a goal that isn't easy to achieve. We can say in the U.S., women can do this and that, but don't forget how long we have struggled to come to this point, and not to forget the glass ceiling many women still face at their work, the eventuality of many women having to choose between climbing the career ladder and having children. Being ambitious is a positive thing for men but has more of a negative connation for women. For the first time we have a woman presidential candidate and we are always at the forefront to promote gender equality and democracy. Now, we are talking about in a traditional African country with Islam as the predominant religion, where man can marry up to 4 wives and it is written in the marriage contract that he is the chief of the family; where girls are still excised; where most women are still illiterate, less informed about their rights and responsibilities as a citizen, less financially capable to run for public office, their lives are heavily weighed down by taking care a large family; women face monumental obstacles to be political active. That's not to say that we don't try and things aren't starting to change. Just look at the fact that Mali had their first female presidential candidate this year. An interesting observation is that there are just as many traditional practice and mentality as I have encountered in Guinea, but there are also more forward thinking women.

I have learned a lot in the past three months and even with my mentality of politics is dirty, I realize the importance of exercising our rights and responsibilities as a citizen, be it holding a public office or vote or pay attention to what your local government is doing (especially with your tax dollars) or the local officials that you voted into the office are really representing you. Hoping to be soon working with young people again, I want to add this new dimension to the things that I talk to them about, to educate them about citizenship and roles of government. It isn't always god who makes our life the way it is, it is our silence or voicing our opinion that does.

While I enjoy learning at this new assignment, I am bored because I haven't been able to make much contribution. Very different from my work as a teacher in Guinea, where I am at the frontline interacting with kids, delivering lessons, creating and organizing activities; here I am at the central office that assists the local NGO that assists the ministry of promotion of women who conduct activities with women in Bamako. So, I am very much in the background, doing more observing and give feedback and suggestions. Since all this is quite new to me, not to mention a whole load of French vocabs to twist my tongue, I am slow at giving my 2 cents. I have felt rather frustrated a lot as not being able to contribute right off the bet like I was in Guinea. Everything is a matter of time, be it on American time or on African time, I finally was able to contribute somewhat, instead of being on the internet a lot at the office.

Just as I felt that I can be more useful at this current assignment, I am coming up again on having to make a decision on what I should do next. My 3 months temporary assignment is coming to an end.

I never thought it will be a question whether I will go back to Guinea when and if the program reopens. People at my work have grown on me, especially the woman who is in charge of promoting women's participation in politics, her passion for fighting for women's equality is infectious, and I can't help to feel when I leave I am abandoning her with this important cause. I hope she will understand that even if I don't work directly on fighting for women's rights, I will do my part somehow. So what else can possible keep me from rushing back to lush, green, more temperate Fouta Jallon (the mountainous region) of Guinea? Definitely not the thick layer of dust, the suffocating heat, the beige landscape, the cars, trucks, motos, bikes, donkey carts crowded roads, the begging children at every street corners, the fields of trash, nope, none of above.

What I liked being Guinea was I felt that I was being very useful, so through someone at USAID I met an American woman and a Malian woman duo who founded an education institute/NGO and a community school in the suburb of Bamako. Pretty much all the free time that I had last month, I was developing some demonstrations/activities for the physics curriculum for the 7th to 9th grades. Surfing through the internet to find simple and fun activities and adapt them to the material resource available here. Think of applications of these concepts that kids here can relate to, like water pumps that draws water with help of atmospheric pressure. Unfortunately, my simple rocket just kept burning up but never launched.

So, they have asked me if I would like to work as a third year volunteer if I don’t go back to Guinea. It would be very interesting to see where I can go with this possible career of marrying my engineering/science background with education in West Africa. Now that I understand a lot better how students learn here, what resources are available here, what applications familiar to kids here and related to the science that they learn, I can really do a lot to work off of many ideas that have already been developed in the U.S. and adapt them to conditions here. So students will learn by seeing, touching and experimenting, instead of copying explanations and theories into their notebook only.