description: "Go to Mali," they said. "The music is amazing," they said. "And you get ten hours of sunshine every day." So I did, and this is the story of my three years in a poor yet incredibly rich West African country; a story of hope, warmth and positivity in the face of adversity.As a Toubab (Westerner) in Mali, I acquired many new skills: how to deal with persistent street sellers, how to use a 'long drop' toilet, surviving malaria and dysentery, enduring a climate constantly hotter than my own body, breaking down hours from anywhere, and making a 17-hour river journey on the roof of an oversized canoe. And all in the aid of ethnomusicology: the science of music in culture. My story closes amidst machine-gun fire, curfews and sudden farewells as the country spirals into chaos following a military coup; not the best weeks my life, but certainly among the most interesting.
title: Toubab Tales: The Joys and Trials of Expat Life in Africa