According to Anderson, 120 Peace Corps volunteers are serving in Mali. He was the third in Tene, and by coincidence the second from Minnesota. He worked in the mayor’s office. The first Peace Corps volunteer in the community had done the groundwork for a community radio station. “I jumped on that,” Eric said. “We got grant funding in three weeks, but it took two years to go on the air.” Eric said he was touched by how badly the community wanted the service. They raised more than $8,000 for the project. (The mayor’s annual budget is $30,000 and the mayor is in charge of collecting taxes.) “We threw in a library project with the radio building with help from the Canadians,” Eric said. On the air since September, the station will bring the community information on topics such as education and personal health as well as provide music and entertainment.
Eric Anderson joined the Peace Corps to do work in Malithat would be rewarding and beneficial for others and was not disappointed
Volunteer leads business initiatives
Lu Ann Hurd-Lof Park Rapids Enterprise
Published Tuesday, November 27, 2007
One of Eric Anderson’s projects was to complete work on a community radio station and library in Tene, a town of about 4,000. The station opened in September with great community support. Shown with co-workers on the project, Eric said before he left, he was teaching residents how to talk on the radio.
Eric Anderson joined the Peace Corps to do work that would be rewarding and beneficial for others and was not disappointed.
In fact, the 24-year-old will be returning Saturday to the northwest African nation of Mali for another one-year assignment.
Eric, the son of Red Bridge Inn owner Jennie Anderson, spent many summers in this area as a young boy. He spoke at last Wednesday’s Park Rapids Rotary Club meeting.
“We are like the Marines without guns,” Eric said.
Volunteers don’t choose the country but those serving in Mali could pick one of five areas to work in: health (mainly AIDS), natural resources management, water and sanitation, agriculture and small enterprise development, Anderson’s choice.
Eric lived and worked in Tene, a community of about 4,000 people in the southeast part of the odd-shaped puzzle piece of a country.
To put his work in perspective, Eric described Mali as a nation of 12 million plus with a literacy rate of 40-45 percent, a life expectancy of 49.5 years and a per capital income of $470 a year (in 2006).
Gold is a natural resource but South Africans own the mines; cotton is a cash crop but South African owners derive most of the revenue from it, too.
The United States provided $44 million in aid in 2006 and 78 percent of the national budget comes from such aid and grants from nongovernmental organizations, including Rotary International.
According to Anderson, 120 Peace Corps volunteers are serving in Mali. He was the third in Tene, and by coincidence the second from Minnesota. He worked in the mayor’s office.
The first Peace Corps volunteer in the community had done the groundwork for a community radio station. “I jumped on that,” Eric said. “We got grant funding in three weeks, but it took two years to go on the air.”
Eric said he was touched by how badly the community wanted the service. They raised more than $8,000 for the project. (The mayor’s annual budget is $30,000 and the mayor is in charge of collecting taxes.)
“We threw in a library project with the radio building with help from the Canadians,” Eric said.
On the air since September, the station will bring the community information on topics such as education and personal health as well as provide music and entertainment.
Eric also worked on adult literacy. He started with three to four women, helping them learn to work with math and numbers. Men joined and the classes grew to 14 students.
A community survey showed 60 men and women were interested in the class so they have moved into the old library - a dirty, dusty mud hut. Eric taught nationals how to teach the class and the classes for adults are continuing five days a week.
Eric also helped start a tree nursery with funding from the Peace Corps. He trained five people how to run a nursery, from planting, to growing and about the benefits of planting trees.
Besides creating jobs, Eric said, the country needs trees. As the earth is warming, the Sahara desert in Mali is creeping south, he explained. “It’s called desertization.”
Taking care of the environment is not a priority in Third World countries, where the government is engaged in healthcare, education and the economy. Mali, specifically, has great infrastructure needs as well. Volunteers in other villages had to filter their drinking water.
Eric also was involved in a week-long training to increase awareness of financial institutions and to teach the importance of saving money for emergencies. The village has a savings institution that is locally run and audited.
Microfinance is part of the economy now, Eric explained.
Success can be measured and appreciated on a small scale, Eric said, showing mud-dyed, batik-patterned cloth purses, tens of thousands of which have been purchased by Hallmark.
“They use what they can to make money and provide for their families,” he said.
Volunteers encounter some difficulties, hardships and frustrations during their two-year plus commitment to serve, but, Eric said, the work is easy and he is eager to return.
This time he will go to the capital of Bamako and work with artisans and on tourism projects.
Bamako has been chosen for some United Nations Millennium Project development initiatives, including airport expansion and building an industrial park for businesses that would add value to agricultural products.
“These are hopeful projects,” he said.
luannh@parkrapidsenterpise.com
