Dimanche a Bamako

Hello all

I leave tomorrow morning to see the village of Kissa, where I will be spending the next two years of my life!  What I know so far is that it has about 700 people, mostly farmers, with the majority of the population being youth and children.  It is in the far southwest of the country, very close to Guinea and Ivory Coast.  The region it is in receives the highest levels of rainfall in Mali, which means I’ll have access to a wide variety of tropical foods!

I’ll be working for a small NGO in the region called AMEMP (Associasion Malienne pour l’Emancipacion du le Monde Paysan)(sp?).  I’ll be doing a variety of things, like establishing a community garden, encouraging the use of various forest resources (ie, nutritious leaves and seeds), and planting trees, especially the wondrously nutritious and useful Moringa tree.  Those are all things I’ll be doing in the long term, though; my initial focus will be on learning the language and integrating myself into the community.

I’m very excited to see my village, meet my neighbors, and start to settle into my life here!