I guess the deep down part of this post is that my life isn’t as bad as I’ve made it out to be, or might have made it out to seem in the past month or so in Mali. Yep, it's hard and tiring but I've got the best life here. I'm white, I have $, and I'm relatively oblivious about problems. I speak enough bamana (the language that people speak, as opposed to French) to keep up friendly conversations and have mastered the 8 minute standard greeting to not seem rude or overly obnoxious/disrespectful.
So yeah, although I complain a lot I have stopped a bunch of times in the past week or so, acknowledging that I rant all the time and its no good. I should enjoy where I am now, and deal with the future later. I keep thinking "What the hell am I going to do next year?" and where am I going to live in the spring and what classes should I take and what will I do in the 9 days I have in CT before I go back to school, but in reality, I should focus all that misspent energy into working here and learning this stuff, and soak up so much more than I am. My normal uber-inquisitive, almost nosy self has died off, and I'm turning more passive and silent and selective. Am I adapting to the "African" woman's role--just suck it up? But that has made me so flustered since I arrived and just realized how atrocious this place is (in those terms). But I get SO bent up on the same women’s stuff that I just quickly turn "african't" and when I try to rationalize the differences I find myself quickly stuck in their patterns of complicity and acceptance. Where is the balance? When is "difference" ok to be "bad" as opposed to "cultural sensitivity" and relativity.... is beating children OK?
Story: this afternoon I was walking down the path from one house to my house and there was a young girl (maybe 8, but I'm SO bad at judging ages here) that had a stick and was chasing after a younger girl, maybe around 3 or 4 trying to hit her (as her mother probably does to her). A lady (20+) saw this (so did I and my teacher, who’s a 54 year old Malian woman) and my teacher started to yell at the 8year old "don’t you hit her...bla bla bla" and then 20ish year old went after the 8year old, grabbed the stick out of her hand (the 4 year old was far away by now) and grabbed her arm and whapped her across the back/ass at least 3 times until she shrieked a lot and was holding her back and the 20year old was yelling at her.
So, I always learned (in my nice upper-middle class white, suburban, new-England house) that punishing someone with the same punishment as what they are doing, doesn't make sense. is this true? it makes sense to me, but not so much here. BUT, can I apply those judgments and values and issues here? where does the line between right and wrong and good and bad get drawn? is there good and bad--after our (HEATED) class discussion on female genital mutilation(FGM)/excision (Mali has one of the highest rates) and the history, ethics and reasons behind it the question came: there are so many facts and info that support that FGM is outrageous, horrible and incredibly detrimental. but these stats are all created in western surroundings/settings and the people here have been taught to learn, approach, and honor different ways of teaching/learning/living/life. what is right in this case? yes, women die from blood loss (and the Malian government has made FGM illegal) but that doesn't stop it. their (Malian's) reasons for FGM make sense, although I don't agree with them at all (the clitoris will keep growing if not cut, women shouldn't enjoy sex...I could go on for house) and the history behind FGM (started in Egypt-area ages ago because women were too strong and powerful) is very legitimate. BUT, I don't agree with it. Does this make any sense?
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