Limitations

"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them." - Albert Einstein

I left early for work and, in doing so, got a ride with Rodney and his coworker. They dropped me off at the Tour D'Afrique, a traffic circle with a monument to Africa in the middle of it and flags from all 54 African countries surrounding it. Rodney had assured me it was a 10 minute walk from that monument to my job.

Forty minutes later I arrived at work. Why did I keep walking and not hop on a Sotrame? Well for one I was convinced that I would get there any second, and after that it was to prove a point that I believe would be lost if I didn't time the walk the whole way. For the record it took me 43 minutes. Rodney apologized and said he guessed he was getting jaded with distances like the Malians. (When a Malian tells you something is 5 minutes away, run to the nearest Sotrame or taxi.)

I arrived just in time to take pictures of Coumba leading a module of a training session. I was heartened to see more women in this one, including Sogonna's little sister. After the module Coumba and I left to attend Sogonna's defense of her thesis on youth views on family planning in Commune VI in Bamako. We piled into a classroom at Ecole Superieur ANSUP (a university) in the Quartier du Fleuve (River District). Sogonna sat before a panel of two jurists, which became three an hour into the session.

I was surprised how hard and uncomfortable the benches in the classroom where, that windows were broken out and had not been repared so that people could jump in and out of the windows if they so desired, except that we were on the second floor, and so that holding class in the rain might be a near impossibility. But also some of the windows onto the interior hallway were also broken, allowing all of the hallway and courtyard noise from several levels to come into the classroom and drown out most of what was being said. Definitely not an environment conducive to learning.

Well Sogonna appeared nervous at times, presenting her thesis. And several times people came in and greeted the jurists while she was talking and then walked out. Are you kidding me? And then the jurists had their turn to present every problem they encountered. That went on and on and on and I started wondering if they would accept the thesis even though most of their issues were trite things like a missing s, or the annex and bibliography being combined. They asked everyone to leave and conferred and when we were invited back they congratulated Sogonna on the acceptance of her thesis. We had soda and pastries and took pictures.

On the way back home, Ouima called out to me. I went and sat with her and her nieces and nephews for a while in the shade of the tree in front of their house. And then Ouima suggested we show each other dances. She was particularly interested in the bellydancing Shakira does in her videos and I was interested in traditional Malian dances. I suggested we move into the courtyard (away from the eyes of the street) and we amused ourselves dancing until we were exhausted. Ouima announced it was time to eat. We washed up and sat on chairs in the courtyard ringing a large bowl on a stand. She gave me a fork which I appreciated and uncovered lunch... okra stew with beef!

God no! I'll eat anything but slimy okra stew where the sticky, viscuous sauce stretches from the plate to the spoon and slips in goops down my throat, eliciting my gag reflex. Come on Julayne you can do it! They are going to think you are rude if you don't eat. I reached forward and got a bunch of rice on my fork. The next bite was not so lucky, there was stew also in the bite. I forced myself to focus. Chew....now swallow...swallow!...try to swallow again!! Eat, eat! Ouima urged, as is polite to do. I smiled and nodded and got another forkful with some sauce on it. She pointed out a piece of meat and said I should eat it. I did, again chewing and swallowing with extreme concentration. You haven't eaten much, Ouima complained, pointing out the large dents in the bowl in front of everyone else, including the toddlers. You're right, I said. I just ate and I'm not very hungry (not exactly a lie if you count the pastry at Sogonna's graduation). I thanked her for the meal and moved away from the bowl to allow them to finish. Phew! Another disaster averted.