Another quick editorial… I simply wanted to announce the next few chapters of my blog and take this opportunity to apologize for the way I am posting in large, irregular chunks. Hopefully I will be able to be more consistent as my life takes a new shape and pace in Southern Mali, more precisely in Sikasso. I am full of energy these days and am very excited at the thought of sharing all of my adventures, frustrations and reflections with you.

I spoke with about 20 Engineers Without Borders chapter members back in Waterloo during a conference call earlier this week. I told them how I was living a trip down memory lane because I was sitting precisely where they were about a year ago during the 2005 conference call to our overseas volunteers thinking “Wow! I really want to do this”. Actually, don’t get me wrong. Going overseas with EWB had been on my list for much longer than that. For those of you not familiar with my list of things that I want to accomplish before I die, let’s just say that it’s long, strong and certainly not getting any shorter… But it is so motivating to find out that if you want something bad enough and you’re willing to work hard for it, you can check the occasional item off the list. Oops snap back to reality, I can’t wait but feel a lack of humility now for writing such a statement.

Great, so let me all welcome you into a dead end, or U-turn if you will, of the depths of my brain. Let me explain this change of mind as an example. You see, during our spare time, Engineers Without Borders folks will spend extended periods of time trying to define complex terms like international development and poverty. And the word opportunity (or lack thereof), always finds its way in the definition. So I will judge myself openly and admit that I’m a self absorbed loser for even thinking something like “if you want something bad enough and you put in some hard work, you can make anything happen”, given my particular setting. I am surrounded daily by people of unmatched will who work harder than I could ever conceive before stepping on Malian ground. And because of the conditions of extreme poverty in which they were born and raised, though certainly not by choice, lack of opportunity will likely prevent the majority of these amazing people from checking that special dream off their list. Thanks for letting me share this… I rarely get carried away with optimism, and well, I just remembered why.

So before I got on this tangent, I was in the process of telling you how well I am doing after that phone call. The French West African retreat also contributed to this uncontained motivation. It took place last weekend, in the Pays Dogon, which is the number one tourist attraction in Mali (yeah, I know, I also thought it would have been the camel races of Timbuktu). A retreat in EWB terms means taking some time off with other members to capitalize on past activities and plan for upcoming ones, with a little bit of fun (read: nonstop fun) sandwiched somewhere in there.

I therefore met with the eleven other Engineers Without Borders volunteers from Mali and Burkina Faso for three days of learning, sharing and fun. Wow, I think I just succeeded in making our weekend seem really really tacky! But seriously, I had a blast and found a lot of energy there with loads of great advice to help me stay on track for the next two months. The weekend involved a fair share of beer, guitar playing, French talking and no Canada Day celebrating what-so-ever. Are you surprised? How in the world do a bunch of Quebec separatists make their way to Africa with Engineers Without Borders Canada? They’re engineers alright, but what part of “Without Borders” and “Canada” don’t they understand? Haha just kidding. And I never got a chance to tease because it was on our list of self imposed rules of the retreat not to get on the topic of Quebec separation. Ok enough, so where was I? Right! Sévaré.