Desperate Roommates

"Let it be our duty as human beings -- blessed with the capacity for love and compassion, and inspired by the knowledge that our lives are, in the end, linked together – to do our part." - Congresswoman Nita Lowey

Friday night I asked to borrow Andrew's converter once again. It had been a day since I discovered the problem was not my phone charger but my adapter which had ceased working. He said I could borrow it for 5 minutes since he needed it to charge his computer. I knew 5 minutes would not do much as the 20 he had let me use it the night before did not do much, but I did not want to look a gift horse in the mouth. After 5 minutes I returned it and devised a plan to wake up in the middle of the night and use it when he no longer needed it.

At 3 am I went into the livingroom where he and Rodney were sleeping, as that is the only room besides mine that has AC, and took the converter which had been resting on the table. Ten minutes later, I kid you not, he was knocking at my door asking for it. I returned it and then at 4:30 I went back and retrieved it again and this time had it for 20 minutes before he awoke and came knocking at my door.

I told him I had only had it for 20 minutes and asked if it was possible for him to tell me when I could borrow it for 2 hours to make sure my phone was fully charged so I could field calls. He said you know you can buy your own. I said yes I am well aware of that but I do not know where to buy one yet and in the meantime you said I could use yours...it has only been 24 hours since I first borrowed it. He said he was saving it since one fuse had already blown and there was only one left. I said it was not that big of a deal and if the other fuse blew while I was using it I would buy him a new one when I bought mine. He said I'm not trying to be stingy. And I said hmmm goodnight. I just don't understand how he can be saving it if he stays on his computer all day and constantly has to charge it. Basically he should have just told me he didn't want me to use it at all.

His behavior is especially jarring in face of the communal living that takes place in Mali. People share what they have, however little or much. In general, I have felt that people are looking out for me and helping me do what I need to do, whether it's get off at the right stop on the bus or remember to rehydrate myself.

Rodney and I made plans in the morning to go to the market and the supermarket. The supermarket is what we are used to in the States and the market is an open air affair, think farmer's market just 50 times more hectic and congested. I told him that in no uncertain terms I must find an adapter that day and I told him the story of why and was satisfied by his shock. Rodney has been on the continent for a year so all his plugs were already for here.

On the way out I greeted the vendor across the street who sells phone cards in Bambera. (While French is the official language, the great majority of Malians speak Bambera, the language of the dominant ethnic group). I started with good morning and we both inquired about how each other was doing, how the families were doing and how each other had slept. And then into the order of business. I told him that I needed an adapter for my American plugs and asked him where I could get one. He said he would walk us to the store and help us find exactly what I needed which he did. I ended up getting what looks like a surge protector and has international outlets all along it so Rodney and I can both charge our electonic devices. I'm waiting for karma to kick in and Andrew's last fuse to blow out.

Rodney and I found a supermarket that is very close and shopped there and went to the bureau d'echange so he could convert some money. That night he cooked since I cooked earlier in the week. (We're still waiting for Andrew to cook.) Since Rodney is a vegetarian, we had spinach, potato curry, and rice. I am a vegetarian here too unless someone else cooks the meat. I simply cannot deal with the hanging carcasses in the market or the unrefrigerated cuts of meat.