Meetings

O.k. people. Let’s get back to Peace Corps goal #3 for a moment here. This is when we tell the folks back on the home front something about life here in Mali and how it differs from life in the states. Todays topic: meetings.

Unlike meetings in the U.S., most meetings here are not held to schedule another meeting. They are usually held to discuss who to invite to another meeting. This is an important point because before one speaks at a meeting one must formally recognize all the big wig types present. It goes something like this: “Bonjour monsieur le ministre, monsieur le prefere, monsieur le mayor, monsieur le president de conseiler du cercle, monsieur le guy in the absurdly large boubou, monsieur le buddy of the guy in the absurdly large boubou, etc…” You get the picture.

After the important people in their expensive boubous have been introduced and properly thanked and recognized, they get up and leave. Not sure if they do this because they know that the television cameras only film this opening ceremony or if the television cameras only film this opening ceremony because they know the ministers et al will be leaving right after. A real chicken or the egg mystery which we do not have the time in our service to solve. Sometimes their lackeys stay behind but usually not.

The television crews then typically swing through the room taking long, uncomfortable head shots of those involved. They often focus a quite a bit on the toubabs, a fact which has led to Mark and Sam having been on national T.V. here more times then they are in their family photo albums back home. In fact, Mark was on national t.v. just last monday. This would be impressive save for the fact that Mickey Mouse probably would not allow his name on the credits of this broadcast, it is that amateur. They are using media equipment that hasn’t been seen in the U.S. since the early eighties, in northern New England. Then they also leave.

There is typically a presentation of some sort, often a powerpoint presentation that is read word for word to the onlookers. This is frequently followed by a question and answer/observation period. In smaller villages this is not as effective as one might expect because speakers like to show their education level by presenting in French. Unfortunately, the villagers rarely have an equal level of schooling.

In the bigger cities the French thing is rarely a problem but the need to use a microphone as a flashy display. Alas, the audio quality often negates any understanding one might have gained by knowing the language. If it is a meeting in the countryside the poor audio quality matters little, since you can’t hear the speaker on the microphone over the noise of the generator needed to power said microphone. What is quite amusing at a meeting is the speakers' unfamiliarity with microphones in general, leading to a speaker talking to the group with a purely ornamental microphone infront of their face.

There are a couple of things that occur in a Malian meeting that would appall many of you, namely cell phones. We swear there must be a “Be sure your cell phone is ON AND LOUD” sign at the door. Neither of us have located it yet but it must be there!

While nodding off during an event that is not in a darkened theatre is the height of rudeness to most Americans, here it is just par for the course. “No!” you say, “it cannot be common to see a person sleeping in a high level meeting.” O.k., you are correct. It is common to see many people sleeping. Participants doze off until they are awoken by their cell phone playing a Celine Dion song loud enough to wake the dead, which they answer even louder. No problem there, you are in a Malian.

Oh, and this one is hard to get used to: the way to get someone’s attention (even if that person is a high Minister) is to snap your fingers at them. Use this move in a restaurant in the states and you get your food spit in. It is the only way to get called on here. And don’t forget to use the joking cousin trick, even in the most formal of settings, once called on. If a Traore speaks after a Diarra it is perfectly acceptable to preface the comments with, “thank you little Diarra , you may sit down now, my child” even if that Diarra is the presiding over the meeting.

"O.k. I can do that," you are thinking. Sounds easy, especially when one considers that the point of all the meetings we attend is the betterment of the community. You would think people would be eager to attend such events and you would be right. What you would not realize is that without the per diem handed out for attending these things would likely be empty. “You have to pay people to come and talk about improving their community?” you ask. Let’s just put it this way: we have been to meetings where someone made the mistake of handing out the money at lunch and its been us, the lady sweeping and the crickets for the afternoon session. We, on the other hand, are amused to death by this stuff and do it for fun. Oh, and we are Peace Corps volunteers who are always out saving the world for free anyway, right?