August 2021 – Page 4 – Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission

Sounsounkoro Refugee Camp Closing Ceremonies!

Today was a big day. We traveled to the Ouelessebougou area for the closing ceremonies of our water project in Sounsounkoro with our friends in the refugee camps there. The Ouelessebougou Alliance and LDS Charities partnered to drill 3 wells with hand pumps for these good people who have left their homes in the north to find safety here.

Biggo, Francois and Nourou from our Bamako Branch joined us as representatives from the Church. We also celebrated with our Ouelessebougou Alliance friends. Today was Anounou’s last official day as the Project Director before he retires. Djiba will be taking his place there. It was great to be with these dear friends.

Nourou, Anounou, Biggo, John, Bouba, Djiba, Teningnini, Francois

Sis Lewis and Teningnini, the Program Coordinator for the Ouelessebougou Alliance

The women danced their thanks after we arrived in the village.

This village elder was the keeper of the chickens that were presented to us at the end of the ceremony.

I love these women–their dignity, their poise, their colors, their love.

This elderly man (on the left) was the first of the Dogon people to come to this place 31 years ago. When the terrorists in the north started harming the villagers there, he told his friends to come to Ouelessebougou to find peace and safety here.

The Mayor of Ouelessebougou greets Anounou

Nourou, the Mayor of Ouelessebougou, Anounou

This ceremony was held in a tent near the first of the 3 pump wells. We heard remarks from village officials, including the Mayor of Ouelessebougou, the assistant chief of the village (the chief was sick), Anounou, the Imam, Nourou representing the LDS Church, the first refugee who came here 31 years ago, and women from the women’s organization.

Anounou, Ouelessebougou Mayor, Elder Lewis, the first refugee to arrive here, a village elder

Women from the Women’s Association with Teningnini from the Ouelessebougou Alliance (far right)

After the celebrations and the speeches, we all walked together from the tent to the first well about 10 minutes away. The recent rains have watered the land and everything is green.

Once at the well, we had a few more speeches and expressions of gratitude from the village leaders. They pumped some water and drank from their cupped hands and gave thanks for this life-changing gift.

The women sang and danced again, telling the story of the well in their song.

What a happy celebration!

Then we started walking back to the central village where the next pump well was installed by the women’s garden.

This is the hope of this refugee camp–beautiful strong healthy children. Their eyes penetrate my heart. Our Father in Heaven knows them and He loves them. How can we not?

This Week in Bamako

Here are a few fun things from this week. We’ve been getting together with Eric Rands every weekend to have dinner together, then we watch the French version of The Count of Monte Cristo. It’s free on YouTube, staring Gerard Depardieu. It’s divided into 4 episodes. You will want to watch it. There are English subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnAWw7MAN3U

This week I celebrated 300 days of solid French study! I spend up to an hour every day studying French and it’s sure paying off.

Here’s an interesting billboard about Covid. The update here: our numbers are still low. There have been 535 reported Covid deaths in Mali. We are still careful every day and try hard to keep our masks on. The general feeling here is that Malians are immune to Covid. Cote d’Ivoire is even lower with 363 reported deaths so far. The curious thing is that numbers in Senegal, to the west of us, have been rising, with 1,625 deaths reported to date. South Africa is just under 78,000. And the USA has now surpassed 600,000 deaths.

As we’ve moved into the rainy season, crops are growing and the early corn is starting to show up on the streets for sale. This field corn is grilled over a fire and eaten off the cob.

A furniture delivery!

A load of fire wood.

We stopped here to put air in our tires.

This is the restaurant in the bottom of our apartment building. I don’t want to forget the happy memories we’ve had there with friends.

This week our backyard neighbors put a new roof on part of their home.

My neighbor friends by the church, taking a break from their hopscotch to say hello.

Here’s another good memory I want to capture. This is in our apartment. We have a foot faucet, for washing feet and for filling buckets. I use this every day when we come in to wash my feet and shoes.

Malian and Ivorian Money–the West African CFA franc

Here’s what Malian and Ivorian money looks like. We call the money here CFA, which is pronounced “see- fa” or “say-fa.” The bills are often tattered and worn. The exchange rate in both countries has fluctuated at levels between of 550.0 and 590.0 per US dollars. Don’t let the large numbers on the bills fool you. At 550 per US dollar, a 10,000 note is worth $18.18.

The coins are small and made from stainless steel or brass. They are hardly worth anything. The largest 100 franc coin is only worth 18 cents. The smallest coin is worth less that 1/10 of a penny. We seldom even use the coins. Most shops or markets don’t give change if it’s in coins.

Here are the countries that use the West African CFA franc (the green on the map).

In the Neighborhood

Here are a few interesting things we saw today. I love these drive by clothing stores!

I’ve got my eye out for mattresses (remembering the blind school dorms).

Bread for sale at the bakery.

A shoe store.

This lady is bagging sugar to sell. Most commodities are sold in small portions for daily use. It’s hard to afford a big bag of anything, so most live day to day, getting by with small amounts.

A boy and his wheel!

These girls are going through our trash. Every day, several times a day, children and adults in the street rummage through our trash, hoping for something they can use or eat.

Sunday in Bamako

Sundays are the best days ever! Here are the beautiful faces of some of our friends.

Our adult class, combined Relief Society and Elders Quorum, discussing a conference talk.

Here are our beautiful Primary children.

Here is our youth class.

Today at the Church

This morning the contract for the Diatoula school project was signed by our friend, Konate. We are trying hard to get everything in place and started before we go home in a few weeks. We Really want to get this project off the ground!

We helped to clean the church before and after that contract was signed. After that the Elders were doing some exercising!

Fr Mbaya’s home is still drying out from the flood. He’s moved his things into this storage room at the church to keep everything dry.

I love seeing traveling menders in our neighborhoods here. This is a job I would like to do if I lived here!

And our neighbor next to the church was busy bagging his charcoal to sell. Every little bit is part of a grander whole. All these things made me happy today!

Grocery Shopping in Bamako

Shopping here in Bamako is always an adventure. We live within walking distance of 2 grocery stores, Shopreate and Marche Ar-Rahma. Shopreate is the larger by far and has the biggest selection. Lot of ex-pats shop there. Here are a few of the aisles of food to give you an idea of what we can find.

My shopping list usually has things on it like rice, potatoes or pasta, canned beans (kidney, white or dry lentils), stewed tomatoes or tomato sauce, canned corn, mushrooms, baguettes, eggs, European yogurt, butter and cheese, and sometimes a box of cookies or chips. John adds his chocolate bars to the list!

These are a few of my favorite finds. These packaged baguettes are wheat and they freeze really well. We like them for sandwiches.

I love the pesto sauce–it comes from Italy and it’s great on cheese sandwiches, in salad dressings and in pasta dishes. I use it a lot.

When we’re in Abidjan, we always bring back a few bottles of salted local cashews and peanuts. They’re our go-to snack foods.

I just discovered these orange and raisin wheat cookies. They’re my new favorite! My other favorite is Digestives like the ones in England.

We can also get good 100% fruit juices here. We’ve recently discovered this brand, now our favorite.

And this is local pepper paste. It’s really hot and good. These 2 jars will be going home with me! A very little goes a long ways!!

Those are just a few random things I want to remember about shopping here and a few particular items we really like that we’ll miss when we go.

Here are a few pics from the store right across the street by the Al-Rahma Mosque. We don’t go here as often, but it’s close by if we need something. We buy our water here.

Prepping Produce

Here is how I clean and prepare our fruits and vegetables before we eat them. First I wash everything well with soap and water to get the dirt off. Always start with the cleanest pieces and the produce that will be eaten raw, not cooked.

Once everything is washed clean, then I soak the produce in a bleach bath. Javel is the word for bleach here. I add a few good chugs of bleach to the water bath, then let them sit for 10 min or so.

Once things are clean and sanitized, they go into the fridge, ready to eat!

Visiting the Ophthalmology Clinic and Optical Shop at the Blind School

There is an ophthalmology clinic and a eye glass shop here at the Bamako Blind School. We visited them next. The government helps to pay for the workers here who do a great service for the students.

This is the clinic.

Dr Kamara apologized that his equipment is from 2009, but he says he makes do.

In his register, Dr. Kamara showed us how he usually sees 25 to 30 students every day. I could tell he is proud of his office and the work he does here.

Next door is the shop for eye glasses. The optician had training in France and Germany and has been making glasses since 1983. As part of a non-profit, his prices are low.

Here is where they work on the glasses and grind lenses.

These are the glasses ready for pick up.

How Mop Towels are Made at the Blind School of Bamako

Here is another of the enterprises the blind students help with at the Bamako Blind School. They weave mop towels used for cleaning. Sadly, today no one was working today–partly because they were away and we’re at the end of the school year right now, and partly because there is not enough money to pay them.

The students spin the cotton into thread, then use it to weave the towels. This is the spinning room.

There are 4 rooms for the spinning and weaving, but 2 are closed now because of the funding problems.

Educate the blind to live independently.

Here are some of the weaving machines. There were several in each room.

There is one more enterprise they didn’t show us today. They also have students making bench desks for classrooms. Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful if every student had a job and could earn their keep. I love the things we saw and learned here today. These are good people helping good people. My heart goes out to them. I hope we will be able to help in some way in the future.