Hey all! I know I have been a horrible blogger, and have written nothing...but I am going to do my best to find some motivation and start updating my blog, since I feel that I have done a horrible job of communicating to everyone what, exactly, it is that I'm doing here in Mali. I know this is a year late, but it's better than nothing...
First of all, some information on Mali: Mali is located in West Africa and is bordered by Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Niger, and Algeria. Mali is one of the poorest 5 countries in the world. Most of Mali is made up of the Sahara desert, with huge empty spaces in the north. The most populated areas of Mali, however, are in the south in the area known as the "Sahel", the border between the Sahara desert and the more tropical areas to the south. Within Mali, there is a tremendous amount of diversity between the different regions. I live in the Mopti region of Mali, near Burkina Faso. Mopti is the most touristy region of Mali - tourists come to see the Dogon people and their traditional, animist culture (that hasn't really changed much in thousands of years) and to hike along the magnificant Bandiagara cliffs. Djenne, with the biggest mud brick structure in the world, is also in Dogon Country...because of this tourist influence Mopti region is, well, different from the rest of Mali ;). It's not unusual to see foreigners walking down the street, kids asking you for things in French, guides hassling you...but in spite of all that, Mopti region does have its charms...there IS a reason tourists come here, after all!
What exactly am I doing here, and what is my job? My official job is to work with tourism - that means helping hotels, guides, and other tourist structures improve the way they do business, attract more tourists, work on hygiene, stuff like that. I help out with guide/hotel trainings, help hotels make web sites, survey tourists and residents on what they do/don't like about tourism...fun stuff like that. I help volunteers organize trips when they come out here, and try to promote Mopti region as much as I can! I've been in Mali for a year, and have about a year left, so time is definitely flying by...
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little intro to my life in Mali - now that I've introduced things, I can start writing about random things whenever I get online! If you have any questions or comments about Mali, let me know - à bientot!
