The Toubab Who Stares at Goats..and chases them

Even since I wrote that entry not even a month ago, I have had many more crazy adventures in Malian transport.

One volunteer had a bag stolen/lost off the top of a bus. The sketchy bus company attempted to somehow put the blame on us. At this point several other volunteers jumped to her aid and started screaming at the employees. It feels good for all of us to get that out of our systems every once in awhile. Unfortunately it didn’t accomplish anything.

I had another bus ride that took over 8 hours to travel 50 miles (80 km) to my closest site mates in Kenieba. It was worth it though. I always turn into Chatty Kathy when I get to see my friends after a long stint at site. I’m sure they’d like me to take a breath or two.

Other than the terrible bus adventures, my last month at site was going pretty well, at least until I started getting sick.

It was really hard being sick in village. What made it harder was that I really didn’t know what I had. Malians kept insisting I had night fever, whatever the heck that is. I thought that was a John Travolta movie, personally.

Whatever it was, I knew I was sick. I would sit around for tea, and fall asleep, instead of contributing anything to the conversation.

I was kind of hoping my cats and goats would comfort be, but this was not the case.

Maybe because I wasn’t around for my kittens’ first couple weeks, but they are the meanest kittens I have seen. Every time I try to pet him, he hisses, thinking he’s super ferocious. It’s almost cute until he starts to scratch me. I wanted to give my friend Billy a kitten but I didn’t think he’d be too happy with this one. I even feed him all the time and he still won’t let me pet him. At least Nala is still nice to me. I’ve never been a cat person before. But here, I find that Nala is good company.

On the other hand my goats are not so great. My homologue got a mother and a baby as a bonus. The mom seems like she’s getting old. The young one used to be super cute. Now though as he grows up, he’s just getting more and more aggressive. For someone who has never so much as spent a day on a farm, it’s a little scary. I have no idea what to do with a charging goat. I hold onto his horns and just hope he forgets why he’s angry or something. So, our cute little guy has grown up and become a fierce animal with big horns.

We’ve started tieing him up most of the time as a result. One day, a little boy from my host family came to give me some breakfast before I went off to school. That was very nice of Sakoumba. Unfortunately he also left the fence/door to my compound slightly open. So, as I got ready to go to school, the young goat seized the opportunity and ran out of the compound. I soon realized what happened, and chased after my goat. He was just looking for some loving, clearly. He ran and jumped on any females he could find. Meanwhile I went through my village sprinting after him. People were laughing hysterically. I’m sure it’s not every day they see a toubab running after a goat. I was cracking up. How could I not laugh at the situation? It was an absolutely ridiculous scene. Me chasing a goat, the goat trying to jump on females, and escaping my grasp.

Finally a group of young kids saw how much trouble I was having catching my goat, and we finally surrounded him. I grabbed him by the horns and dragged him back to my compound. I closed the gate and headed to school.

I showed up sweating profusely and a little late. I greeted my homologue (the principal), told him what happened. I’m sure I looked ridiculous. We shared a laugh. Late for class because I was failing at getting my goat under control. How great is that?

Now, I know I have to keep a close eye on my goat.

As I write this, I’m feeling much better. I’m back to my old self. I’ve been completely cleared to go back to site. All my tests came back negative. I actually have some energy these days. I was actually somewhat useful playing basketball the other day.

Unfortunately it’s also getting much, much hotter. Hot season is here! At least it’s starting. It’s about 110 right now, headed up to 120 or so. March to May or so is hot season in Mali, until the rains start to come in June.

To me it’s almost as though hot season is my last true test of my service. I’m hoping that since this is the second time I’ve been through this, maybe I’ll be a little bit better prepared mentally. I’m definitely looking forward to sleeping under the stars.

So, I’m back to site today, at least that’s the plan. You never can tell with Malian transport.