Gone-gougou beginnings

I woke up on the Sunday I was to finally leave for Doneguebougou. Still heartbroken after what happened to New Orleans, I needed the respite. I was looking forward to settling into a place without a landline, without Internet, without sparse cell phone reception, a place to unwind and just be. I went to the Broadway for a good breakfast before I had to pack and buy some last minute provisions. What was initially supposed to be a leisurely breakfast turned out to be an hour and a half affair. Once I got my food, I woofed it down, as I was already running late and had to get back. I left feeling a little sick and pissed off, but I remember saying “What the fuck, this is Mali afterall.”

I packed up and my friend Maiga showed up just as I was finishing some emails. We loaded my stuff into the back of the driver’s car and off we went. Little did I know that during my rush to pack I forgot 3 of the most important items I needed: my watch, my white coat and stethoscope. Hello McFly???? Turns out they were "running late" and I would have to wait until later that week before I could get those provisions. Anyway, we headed out to the market to pick up some provisions (water, bread, the usual suspects). After about another hour or so of driving around, we were finally off. Just as we left Bamako, past Point G, I remember feeling a release of sorts: no more pollution, no more crowded, nasty streets, no more annoying people selling you shit. I was ecstatic. Just as we were about to pull off the main road to head to Donegue, we stopped off at a bar. It was a quaint little place, with a big tiki hut type roof and corrugated tin for walls. It was called the Rio Grande. I half expected to see little conchitas running around and such, a mariachi band, and Margaritas abound, but no. they had 3 beers (Castel, Flag, and Guinness) and some liquour. They ordered me a Guinness and a Castel for the driver, and we were off.

The Donegue road is horrendous. It is full of potholes, sudden drops, boulders; it is not really a road, more like a trail that can loosely serve as a road. The bumps seemed to become less of a problem as I slowly downed the Guinness down as we drove.

We finally arrived at the site right at around sunset. There were a throng of people near the car park, I thought to greet me. The were all sitting down. I thought, Gee, that is nice. Turns out they were watching a European Cup Soccer match, and I was just another researcher from Point G who happened to arrive during the match. I remember getting many weird looks from the 40 or so villagers who were there watching the TV, kids and adults alike. After I settled in to the sleeping quarters, I joined them watching the match. I forget now who was playing, but I remember rooting for the team everyone did not want to win. What a way to win the crowd, ehh?

The village itself is nestled on a hill that has a small river that runs just near it. The road that took us to the village runs West-to-East, with the village proper to the South and the NIH compound to the North. It is sandwiched in between the school to the right and the marche (market area) to the left. It is a fenced in area about a full football field in both length and width. There are a number of buildings on it:
Personal quarters on the left
Vaccine building in the middle
Clinic on the right
Kitchen and generator in the back.

I still cannot believe this compound exists here. It seems so out of place. Here you have this modern complex with electricity next to this quaint, clean, perfect little African village, complete with the huts and everything. It is just a weird dichtomy that I think I will never get used to.

My first meal at the site was rather familiar to me: Spaghetti with meat. While there was no tomato sauce perse, there was a small amount of spice added to it, and the meat was few and far between. It was edible, and I rather enjoyed it. Dessert was homemade tapioca (milk plus rice). Very, very good. After dinner, we all chilled outside, chatting and watching the stars. I have not seen stars like that in a very, very long time. Sitting there, in the pale moonlight, stars seemingly more abundant that the people on earth, hearing a language I could not yet understand, I felt at peace. I went to bed that night full of excitement, fear, and restless. I had a thousand questions spinning through my mind, but no answers to them. I finally drifted off to sleep, completely unaware of the emotional and physical roller coaster that would be the next week of my life.