Greeting

Spent a busy morning weighing babies—it was only me and Bébé due to the Easter Monday holiday. But you see, broussey people still come—they don’t know what Easter Monday is! So quite frankly the fonctionnaires should work anyway! Everyday here is practically chômé.

"It was let’s roast Mariam Day" at Aliou’s. I saw his brother Ibrahim at the hospital and threw out a War ga ban? but clearly that wasn’t good enough because I only greeted him in passing. I have to warmly shake people’s hands and say hello. Not even my joke about him being sick got points! So then all of them, even my teammate, laughing at their comments, was party to the roast. Conclusion: Mariam doesn’t greet. I walk with a purpose and do not greet people along the way. And if I hear my name often I don’t respond. I’m aloof. I chuckled knowing Pingping and Liang Bocong and Shaohua all used to say the same thing when I was in China. For me here, if someone yells Mariam! And I take the time to respond and all they say to me is Ay ga baa ni! "I love you!" Is that really worth my time? No.

Another afternoon spent talking about development. What is the solution? One, Aliou, if I knew the answer to that I wouldn’t be here! He says America needs to change their image in the world. Putting more money into Foreign Aid would help. And spending less on the military and fighting stupid wars. Extremists come from universities too—so education isn’the only solution. Aliou believes Mali has reason to hope. Look at how far it has come since Democratization efforts began in 1992? True, but it still has a long way to go. 

I believe the West is in a position to take risks to truly discover what works. But it seems we aren’t willing to get out of the current rut. Aliou says why not dredge the Senegal river to Kayes and suddenly Mali would have a seaport. Think and plan before execution, but even if it seems crazy at least it is something. God knows we’ve poured money into the Africa Project over 30 years and have yielded little. But never will you hear me say Mali is screwed. Why join PC, why work in development if you have no hope? There is a big difference between pragmatism and cynicism or hoplessness. Vision and hope are crucial to being pragmatic. Your logical well thought-out steps need a direction.