• About
  • Our Work
  • Join
  • Partner
  • Media
EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER

Sign-up for monthly updates on Winrock's work around the world.

Volunteer Blog

VOLUNTEER BLOG

Returning to Mali

  • SHARE:
  • Copy

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Jen Snow

Dan Miller wrote a great blog entry about his last volunteer trip to Mali. We’re so glad he will be returning for a second trip, to work with a different group of farmers, later this month!


“Thirty some years ago I spent two years in Mali, West Africa, doing the research for my Master’s. At the time Mali was a poor country with little infrastructure like roads, telephones, and electricity. The people belonged to a number of different ethnic groups that through the centuries had developed a “social ecology” where each group fit a niche in society so they all worked in reasonable harmony. One group fished, others herded, some farmed, others were merchants. Little of this has changed.

To give you an idea of how decent Malians are, a friend of mine who was renting a house that belonged to the dictator told me about her experience when the mobs came through during the overthrow. They burned the house down, but first helped her move everything she owned into the yard where it was protected. She didn’t lose anything.

Poverty is common and is widespread, especially in the cities, but there are informal familial networks that take the brunt off the worst of it. Clothing is traditional using “wax” cloth in amazing colors and designs. The standard diet is based primarily on rice and millet with vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, egg plants, okra, peanuts, beans, manioc, corn and leaves from a variety of bushes and trees. Fruits are common and availability depends on the season – oranges, mangoes, watermelons, papaya, guava, pineapple, bananas. Meat is commonly chicken or fish, with mutton or beef for special occasions.

A market street in Mali

A market street in Mali

The northern half of Mali is Sahara Desert bounded on the south by the Sahel, a region of seasonal rains used for grazing. An interesting feature is the Delta of the Niger River. The Niger starts in the southwest, runs northeast to the Sahel where it bends southeast in the process spreading out in many channels forming the inland Delta. Because of the abundance of water for irrigation, rice is a major crop in the area with sugar cane also present.

Historically, the herders moved out of the Delta to their grazing lands in the Sahel at the time of year seasonal flooding of the Niger occurred. Then when there was no more drinking water in the Sahel, the herds moved back to the Delta once the water level had fallen leaving pasture. This system is now being threatened by irrigation projects and plans for a dam that will disrupt the flow of the Niger. As you continue south from the Sahel, you find increasing rainfall so the southernmost part is practically rain forest, but before you get that far, farming is the main economic activity.

The city, Sikasso, where I worked this time is in the south. My job was to update the faculty of an agriculture school in the area of small ruminant nutrition. For a week and a half we talked about ruminant digestive physiology, diet components, growth, reproduction, management, and everything in sheep and goat raising that is somehow related to nutrition, which is just about everything. It was one of my more successful projects, probably because of several hands on projects.

 

Post-mortem sheep inspection

Post-mortem sheep inspection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dan-miller-3

Conducting a training

 

In general, I saw a lot of material changes from thirty years ago – paved streets and roads, lots of restaurants, stores, car dealerships, gas stations, schools, pharmacies, schools, and businesses, cell phones everywhere, construction everywhere, two more bridges across the Niger. Instead of everyone riding Peugeot mobylettes, they rode Chinese Power K motorcycles. Everything was so built up that I didn’t know how to even begin looking for my old house. But on the other hand, much was still the same – clothes, marketplaces, food, attitudes, and life in general.

Sharing a meal

Sharing a meal

Mali is still very poor and its population growth is much greater than it can support. It still needs help to develop its infrastructure and its political organization and its industry. It has lots of potential and the people in general are workers. They don’t have an attitude of feeling that other people need to support them. It is a good location for someone to do some good on a volunteer level. I encourage anyone who has time on their hands and a skill that is useful to involve themselves in development work.”

–Dan Miller

Posted in Africa, Mali, Volunteer Feedback | Tagged agriculture, cultural experiences, international travel, international volunteer, Mali, service |
ABOUT FARMER-TO-FARMER WINROCK VOLUNTEER ASSISTANCE

SUBSCRIBE TO POSTS

Loading

ARCHIVE

  • December 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011

CATEGORIES

  • AET
  • Africa
    • Ghana
    • Senegal
  • Asia
  • Bangladesh
  • Cuba
  • El Salvador
  • Ethiopia
  • Field Staff
  • Guinea
  • Kenya
  • Latin America
  • Mali
  • Myanmar
  • Nepal
  • Nigeria
  • Postharvest
  • Rural Livelihoods
  • Senegal
  • Spotlights
  • Volunteer Feedback
  • Volunteer of the Month
  • Winrock Staff
WinrockIntl
Tweets by @WinrockIntl
Follow @WinrockIntl

204 E 4th Street | North Little Rock, Arkansas 72114

ph +1 501 280 3000 | fx +1 501 280 3090

2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 700 | Arlington, Virginia 22202

ph +1 703 302 6500 | fx +1 703 302 6512

  • Contact
  • E-News Signup
  • Low Bandwidth
  • Code of Conduct
  • Winrock Privacy Statement
  • Site Map
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © 2015- Winrock International
DEV ENVIRONMENT