Watching out my window is one of my favorite things to do here. Life is so interesting and colorful and full of such variety. Come join me.
Fresh fish for sale:
Waiting for an orange buyer:
It’s Moussa melon season!
These are shoe stores, with all their shoes spread out on tarps where you can see them.
Avocados for sale:
Local produce!
A gas station:
Our next job today was to visit the water project in Tabakoro. This project was installed last November when Mike Clayton’s group was here. Tabakoro is near Farako, where the chicken farm is. The children at the farm go to this school.
The road from Diatoula to Farako is rough. We had to hire some boys on a motorcycle to guide us on the right paths between the villages.
Here we had to ford the river.
Here is the water tower (chateau) that was built, with a well, a pump, solar panels and a water filter. The school proprietor build the structure around the filter to protect it.
These school children and villagers now have access to clean water.
These are the water filters that purify the water pumped from the ground. Sadly, one of the 3 filters isn’t working right now. It will need to be fixed.
The tap provides water for the school garden that has been created here.
Near the water project, these kids were selling Moussa melons and peanuts.
Onions and potatoes:
This group of handsome boys passed by on their way home from working in their family fields.
The rejuvenating rains this month have brought life to Mali. They ruin the dirt roads, but they bring life to the fields, a trade off all can live with. Today we drove on donkey cart paths through the farm country and it was wonderful to see the new crops growing. Here is what I saw:
Corn is already being harvested from many of the fields. The people roast it and eat it, they also store or shell the dry cobs for later use. The corn is ground and used in porridges.
These are sweet potatoes:
This is okra:
These are peanuts:
Taking a lunch break by the side of the road:
The skies and the green around us today were so beautiful. Ahh, the blessing of “the rains down in Africa.” Water is a gift from God.
I love visiting Diatoula and playing with my friends there. These are such fun kids. They are so happy and full of life. They are always doing interesting things and today was no exception. I had a great time with them under these beautiful cloudy skies.
These kids have wheels and home made balls and old bikes and they do cartwheels and they play tag. They really enjoy playing together.
They also helped bring chairs to our meeting today.
This is the broken pump well we are going to fix.
These girls came along with an interesting thing in their cart. When I asked them what it was, they told me it was a peanut roaster.
They fill the barrel with shelled peanuts, then make a fire in the outer barrel and turn the handle so the peanuts don’t burn. After they are roasted, they’re taken to the village grinding machine where the peanuts are turned to paste used in soups and sauces. Yum.
As we were leaving, these boys passed by on their way home from the fields. They spent the morning weeding. They were pretty tired, ready for lunch.
This morning we traveled 1.5 hours to Diatoula. The roads are bad, but the countryside is beautiful and green. The rains have changed this world into a farming paradise. People are in the fields working hard to plant and weed so they will have a good harvest.
Today was the day to officially start our project at the Diatoula School. We are working with LDS Charities to make improvements here. The project will include refurbishing a well and pump that no longer function, adding a water tower and tank with taps so the children have access to water for drinking and washing, and building 6 new latrines (4 for students and 2 for teachers). There will also be some improvements made to the classrooms that are leaking and cracking. This will be a great project.
T0day we met under a mango tree with the village leaders–the chief and his assistant, the school director, and members of different school committees. They are so happy and grateful for the help. These children brought chairs from neighboring compounds for us to sit on.
When it started to rain, we moved under cover near the classrooms.
The village chief and his assistant:
This is Konate, our contractor:
Pres Sekou is representing VIMASO, a local non-profit group that will be monitoring this project every day. We hope to have things finished before school starts again on October 18th.
This is exciting work. This is good work. We’ve been preparing to start this project for many weeks. Today was the day!
We’ve been watching the renovations on the home across the street from us for months. Slowly it’s taking shape. The last couple of weeks they’ve been adding some rooms on in the back that can be rented out to vendors. A sewing machine shop with tailors has already moved in on the ground floor and they let me take some of their fabric scraps.
Today we watched as they prepared to cement the roof. In this video you can see how the sand is moved from one place to the next. Yesterday the pile of sand was out front. Then, the men moved it with shovels and wheelbarrows to the back. This afternoon we watched them throw the sand up, shovelful by shovelful, first to the first floor, then to the second floor.
Everything here is Hard Work.
My newly washed fabric scraps!
Today after church we had a special meeting for all the women and our 2 young women. With Valerie teaching, we introduced them to Days for Girls and the beautiful kits that will help them manage their feminine hygiene. It was fun and exciting for them to receive their own kits.
After that, I brought some of the clothing I’ll be leaving behind when we go to share with my friends here. We had so much fun together. I will really miss these friends.
On our way home at the end of a great Sunday:
Here are our beautiful Primary children:
Elder Kouassi was our teacher today.
Singing “The Wise Man and the Foolish Man.”
Here is our youth class:
And here is the adult class, Relief Society and Elders Quorum combined to learn more about the ministering program and how to actually implement it here in our branch.
It was a great Sabbath. A really great Sabbath, here in Bamako.
After church we gave out some of the extra church materials from the library. We’re so happy to get these magazines and old supplies into the homes of our friends here.
I love it when we go to the church and our member children are there, just because they want to be in a safe happy place! None of these children live very close, so it’s an effort to walk to the church, but they often come. This morning when we arrived a group of our young women and primary children were already there, enjoying being together.
Today John and I went to work upstairs in the library/storage room. We’ve worked for months to get the permissions needed to buy a cabinet to store our church materials in. Today we moved into that cabinet.
The library is in the room that would be a kitchen if this were a home. There is a counter and a sink. There are no outlets for electricity. There are windows that leak a bit. And there were stacks and piles of church materials everywhere.
We spent the rest of the day cleaning and organizing these materials. There were boxes of both French and English magazines from the last several years. There were some damaged by water under the windows. Many of the materials are now outdated and no longer in use. We made piles to give away (to an English school) and to give to the members here.
By the end of the day, the cabinet was filled with good useful books and manuals and sacrament supplies. Extras and overflow materials were labeled and organized so we can find homes for them.
It was a hot, humid, dirty day. We were drenched with sweat, but feeling great to finish this big job.
Today I also took church photos and artwork to decorate the primary room and all of the 6 bulletin boards in the classrooms and offices here. Everything is looking better. It was a great day.
Friday is the day of worship in the Islamic world. We hear the prayer calls broadcast every day, 5 times from the muezzin across the street. On Fridays, there is a special call to prayer at noon and a 12:30 p.m. a lecture begins. Everyone gathers to the mosque for this discourse from the Imam. Men and women worship separately in their designated areas. You can see the overflow tent for the men in the street.
Our street is lined in every direction with men who put down their prayer rugs or mats, facing Mecca (east), and praying. They repeat parts of the prayers, they stand, kneel and reverently bow. The prayers are broadcast in Bambara or Arabic. We don’t seem to ever hear them in French.
Before praying, the men wash their hands, feet, and faces, including their eyes, ears and mouths. They approach Allah respectfully.
After the sermon and prayers finish, everyone goes back to their jobs or to their families. Some take the rest of the day off. Fridays are happy festive days. We enjoy watching the devotion of these good neighbors.
Here is our beautiful view at the end of the day as the sun is setting. I never tire of looking out over our neighborhood.
This is our view to the south from our back deck. The moon is rising. It’s calm and beautiful here. I will miss this place more than I can say.
Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission 