January 2020 – Page 3 – Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission

Le Mille et Une Merveilles Super Marche

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Anounou took us to one of his favorite shopping destinations this afternoon– The One Thousand and One Wonders Supermarket. When we got there at about 1:00 it was closed (prayer time), so we waited about 20 minutes for the doors to open again.

It was fun to wander through a new store. This was sort of a variety warehouse store with household things, a bit of food, appliances and I think they had furniture upstairs. It was a large place. We got a few things–cleaning supplies, hand soap, toilet paper and napkins.

John found Turkish chocolate that was only 900 cfa for 3 bars and he was happy. It seemed that most of the imported goods were from Turkey and the middle east instead of Europe, so it was cheaper. Lots of Arabic on the packaging.

In was interesting to see a whole row of prayer rugs.

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There was a whole section of men’s shoes and sandals.

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There were lots of cleaning supplies and bug sprays. We are on a quest to find a mosquito spray that works at night so we can get some sleep.

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This is the next spray we will try. It was recommended to us by a neighbor.

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It was just fun and interesting to be in a new place and to see what they had. I enjoy looking at the kitchen wares–the pots and pans and cooking utensils. It gives me a good idea of how they do things. Plastics are very cheap. Probably from China. I found a dishpan sized plastic bowl for soaking my vegetables for 33 cents and 2 dipping cups for our water buckets, here and in Abidjan, all very cheap. There are lots of plastic containers and buckets for water and hand washing stations with the pot on top.

Women here use very standard cooking pots that stack on top of each other in graduated sizes. Most of these are used on cooking fires. There were communal platters for eating and some kitchen appliances and utensils. All very interesting to see.

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I love a good store outing. It helps me learn more about the culture here and what happens in every day life.

Visiting Anounou’s Home Place

Anounou is our Malian brother. We’ve worked together for a long time. He’s been to our Utah home, but today we got to visit his Malian home place and meet some of his family. Anounou’s father had 4 wives and 22 children. They are a close-knit family and they love and help each other.

Today Anounou took us to see where he grew up as a boy, here in the old part of Bamako. We met 2 of his brothers and 2 of his brother’s wives. They also felt like family to us. There was a peaceful feeling here in their 2 compounds. Friendships deepen when you get to visit the home places of those you love.

Anounou’s neighbor came out to meet us. Look at her beautiful henna hands!

A Visit to our Nativity Woodcarvers

This morning our friend, Anounou took us to visit Pascal, the woodcarver in his shop here in the old part of Bamako. It was amazing to see where these good men work on the Nativities and carvings they are making for us and for so many of our friends. In the picture above, the shop is where the break in the roof is, open on the top and on two sides. That’s were the chunks of wood turn into works of art.

As we approached, we found Pascal and 4 other men carving things we ordered a few weeks ago. They were seated on low chairs or slabs of wood on the dirt floor, with their work on their laps. There were no power tools, no lights, no fans, no floor, no inventory. They only work when they get orders and they have no shop to display their work so they can get more orders.

The families in our mission have already ordered more than 50 Nativities! That’s more work than these men have had in several years! They were ecstatic when I came today with more orders. Between them, these fathers have 22 children. What a blessing this will be to their families. They are so grateful to all who have placed orders. They love their work and they work hard, as you will see.

This is Pascal, who manages this shop. I’ve known him for many years now. Every year when we’ve come to Mali, we’ve ordered carvings from him for our annual Ouelessebougou Dinner Auction. Each year we’ve ordered 2 or 3 Nativities, a Noah’s Ark with animals, and some things like bowls, trays, or serving spoons. He also does very beautiful carvings of African women working or of animals.

Today he was working on an animal for one of the Nativity sets. He told me every carver knows how to make every piece for every Nativity set. They didn’t have samples sitting in front of them to copy, they just know how to work the wood and turn it into something beautiful.

Pascal carries his inventory in this leather sack and in his back pack. He pulled out the little bit of inventory they had on hand.

This man is making the Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus in the African hut. He copied one I found in the markets near Abidjan. Pascal said it takes one carver 4 days to make this piece. This Nativity sells for $25. That’s about $6 a day divided by 8 hours = about $.75 an hour.

This next carver is making the marionette Nativity. The arms on these pieces move.

This man is making the arm pieces.

The wood they use is Teak. One of the older men here today had brought this wood to them. He was resting now.

Here is the tool box. Every single bit is done by hand.

Even things like bowls are carved by hand, not turned.

Here is Pascal’s price list for each piece they make:

What an interesting visit! I love watching how things are made and I love the feeling of my appreciation increasing because of that. The work these men do will be treasured by me and by many others.

Our Sabbath Day

We love our Sunday meetings here. They are simple and good. Yesterday the missionaries and members here cleaned the church and this morning we set up the chairs and John prepared for the sacrament. We use bottled water and a baguette. Symbols of such an incredible gift to us–the opportunity to change and repent and renew our covenants with Heavenly Father.

We had about 20 attending today. Elder Gbedevi, one of our new Elders shared his testimony and we heard talks from Valerie and Biggo.

Here is our Sunday School Class taught by Elder Ikpeti:

After church today John taught a special Temple Seminar Class for our members who are learning about and preparing to attend the temple one day. It was a wonderful discussion about why we have temples and how we can be preparing to go there. Abram Cosby was able to share his experience of receiving his own endowment last month when he was home on leave. We talked about important things. I love these good members who are learning more about the covenant path.

Elder Brown and Elder Kouakou attended church in N’Gomi this morning.

My sister, Rose:

Our local produce stands

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This is where I go to do my shopping every week. I regularly buy pineapples, bananas, papayas (popos), apples, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, onions and red, green and yellow peppers. The last couple of weeks the green beans have been excellent too. This fruit stand is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment and this is the greater part of our diet here. I am grateful for fresh produce and kind vendors close by.

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This cute gal is right across the street from us by the mosque. She has the best tangerines and a winning smile.

Farewell to Elder Sulu and Elder Usoh

Today we had to say goodbye to Elder Usoh and Elder Sulu who have been serving with us here in Bamako the last 4 months. It’s transfer time! We will really miss their happy optimistic presence here. They’re returning to Cote d’Ivoire to finish their missions there.

Yesterday their replacements arrived here in Bamako: Elder Gbedevi from Togo and Elder Brown from Ghana. We’re so excited they’re joining us.

The send off committee:

Farewell mes amis!!

Elder Ipeti will now be serving with Elder Gbedevi and Elder Kouakou will serve with Elder Brown. They’re going to love it here!

And then it was time for their lunch!

Today was also a good day for Frere Mbaya and his wife, Laurence, who completed some self-reliance/business training today. Laurence is starting her own business and she has her business plan ready!

A Neighborhood Walk

This afternoon we had a few errands to run in our Badalabougou neighborhood. Here are some of the interesting things we saw as we wandered.

This stop sign is at the busiest intersection near our home. There are practically no traffic rules, instructions or signs here. Cars and motorcycles just come and go anywhere, first come, first served. Oftentimes the busy intersections become a gridlock of cars and trucks and traffic comes to a dead stop until someone is willing to back out, which can be close to impossible. Usually there is an eager bystander, who will jump in and help direct the traffic, by knocking on car windows and shouting at who needs to back out first to untangle the jam. Sometimes that takes a long time because impatient drivers refuse to be the first to give way. It’s an amazing thing to watch or to be stuck in. This is one of very few stop signs I’ve seen since we’ve been here.

Local market shops–clothing for sale. Much of the clothing sold here comes from the USA, shipped over in bales or bundles. Often it’s gently used or overstock from the garment districts.

These ladies were making something like scones.

These are dusters. We have DUST here. It’s EVERYWHERE! The vendors use these to dust off their wares.

Wood for sale for cooking fires.

More clothing piles:

This lady was cooking something like Poffertjes or Ebelskivers in her cast iron pan. Smelled good!

Dates from the date palms:

Brooms for sale:

The fruit here is fantastic!

A coconut vendor:

I bought some beautiful potatoes here–4 big ones for 500 cfa = 80 cents.

These potatoes were fresh from the ground (pommes de terre). I bought 5 for 80 cents.

We see car washes like this everywhere. They usually have a cement floor and a hose and you pull up and can hose off your car or motorcycle. Some of the car washes are self serve, others have boys to do the work for you with rags and buckets of soapy water.

Everywhere we go, there are such interesting things to look at. This is a colorful busy place full of industrious people. I wish their lives were easier. Everyone is just trying to get through the day and come out ahead.

Elder Sanvee Kodjovi, Bamako Missionary

Sister Binene sent the photo above to me today. Our Elder Sanvee from Bamako has arrived in Abidjan from the MTC in Accra today. He’s on his way to the Ivory Coast Yamoussoukro Mission.

Brother Brent Belnap in Accra was at the airport there when this group, including Elder Sanvee left. He posted this photo of this wonderful group of new missionaries going out in to the world. Elder Sanvee is on the far left.

O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings!

Every time I see a worn pair of missionary shoes I think of the many times in the scriptures missionary feet are mentioned. Here is one:

3 Nephi 20:40
And then shall they say: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings unto them, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings unto them of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!

Elder Sulu ironing:

Many missionaries keep what they call transfer journals–a place where their missionary friends and companions can write a note when they are moved from an area. Elder Usoh asked us to write in his journal this week so he could take our words with him back to the Ivory Coast and his next area.

A Cooking Lesson with the Elders

Today after our District Meeting then French conversation lessons with the Elders, John spent a few hours working on the branch membership records with Bro Mbaya. I smelled something good coming from the Elders’ apartment up the stairs from the church and I went to investigate.

For the next hour or more I had a fine lesson in West African cuisine! These Elders are really good cooks! They taught me step-by-step how to make 2 different dishes–what they call spaghetti with egg served with plantain, and fish and sauce to serve over rice.

I told them I was a journalist and these pictures were for a cooking article I’d write about them! So here we go–let’s make some delicious African food!!

I first asked where these dishes originated. These Elders come from The DR Congo, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria. They laughed and said, “it is all the same! We all use the same ingredients to cook our food!” There are variations from place to place, but not big ones.

We’ll begin with the fish stew, which they were preparing for tonight’s dinner. The Elders buy frozen fish at the market. They bring it home, cut the fish in half, and then freeze it in bags with 4 pieces–enough for one meal. A kilo of fish costs 1,200 cfa or about $2. The fish is fried first in hot oil (that’s what I was smelling). Then chopped tomatoes, onions and red peppers are added until the vegetables are also cooked.

Tomatoes cost 1000 cfa / kilo (1.60). Onion cost 600 cfa / kilo ($1.00).

Next they added a bowl full of cut vegetables I could not identify. Aubergine, they called it. I had to look it up. Eggplant. 600 cfa / kilo ($1.00).

Water was added to cover the ingredients while they cooked.

Next Elder Kouakou showed me a bag of paste he called arrachide. Ground peanuts. Many of the sauces we’ve had here have a peanut sauce base. I small bag of peanut paste (about 1 cup) costs 500 cfa ($.80). They used about half of the bag, and stirred it into some water.

The peanut sauce was added to the pot, and the lid was put on for it to simmer.

I should mention here that there is a propane gas strike going on right now in Bamako. The Elders’ gas tank ran out, so they had to go buy traditional stoves called Brazeno. I could tell they were comfortable cooking on these stoves, they are used everywhere. Electric stoves are the exception. A Brazeno costs 1,500 cfa ($2.50). They had two. They also had to purchase a large bag of coal to burn in their stoves. The large bag was 4,500 cfa ($7.50)

After the eggplant was cooked and soft, Elder Kouakou took it and the vegetables out with a slotted spoon and put them a smaller pot where he mashed them up.

Then he returned the mashed vegetables to the big pot with the fish and sauce.

Elder Kouakou and Elder Usoh said it was their turn to cook today, so they are the main chefs in the kitchen. They Elders take turns preparing the food, and they always eat together.

While the fish stew cooked, they put a pot of water on to boil for spaghetti noodles. They cooked an entire 500 g. package costing 400 cfa ($.65) with some salt.

After the noodles were cooked, Elder Usoh fried some onions in oil then he added tomatoes,red peppers and some salt.

To this he added some seasoning– a large Maggi cube (bullion), a packet of chili peppers, and one small bag of curry.

That cooked and simmered, then he mashed it all up into a smooth sauce.

The kitchen:

Next, a few plantain were peeled and cut, and these were fried in about 1/2″ of oil.

It all smells so good!!

Next Elder Usoh beat 5 eggs in a cup and poured them into the hot skillet with the vegetables, stirring until the eggs were cooked. He added a bit of water to this, maybe 1/2 cup. It made a runny sauce.

Then the spaghetti noodles were added to the egg and curried vegetable sauce and it was all mixed together. He added another cup or so of water, then put the lid on to let it steam and re-heat the noodles that had been waiting on the side.

Voila! Lunch is ready! Oh, it smelled so good. And it was really delicious! The Elders told me this is a dish they make often for lunch. They tend to have a big breakfast, a smaller lunch, and a big dinner. There was enough here for 2 meals.

The fish stew will be served until dinner tonight and served over rice, and the leftovers will be eaten for breakfast. These Elders were impressive and efficient cooks. And when I told them I was going to wash the dishes, all four of them jumped up to stop me. “Oh no, Soeur Lewis, that would be an insult! We will do the dishes!”

I just love these Elders. They were fun to watch and learn from this afternoon. I’m grateful to them for embracing the work and the challenges and for their happy spirits and today, for their delicious food!