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After visiting the chicken farm, Dramane guided us through the back roads to the Keita family compound, about a 10 minute drive away, through bush and unpaved roads.  When we arrived Mama Aminata was at the market and someone sent for papa Philemon. The boys were out working–watering a garden somewhere.

We sat and waited while the family members eventually arrived.  I enjoyed this peaceful home place filled with the sights and sounds of Mali at its best.  Take a look around with me and you will see real life as it happens here.  The Keitas have (I think) 7 children, from older down to a baby born last October.

We were greeted by these healthy cows and the donkey as we arrived.  Their feed–cut corn stalks–is up on top.

 

Dramane is the group leader here in Mountougoula.  He looks after these families.

Elder Gbedevi, the Binenes and Elder Ikpeti waiting for family members to arrive.

Here we are inside the compound.

Water is hauled in the green and yellow containers.

The clotheslines.

A pigeon coop.

A charcoal pit where they make their own charcoal for their cooking fires.

Two bags of seed corn hanging in the mango tree where the cobs are safe from rodents and insects.

Waiting for the family to come on bamboo recliners.

I am always amazed at the ingenuity of resourceful people who figure out how to make do in places where you don’t just run to a store for the things you need.

A child’s toy made with bottle caps:

It’s so peaceful here.  You can tell that a happy prospering family lives here.

As the family members and some of the children arrived, we had a good visit.

John and Dramane helped gather some membership record information from the family to update our records.

They brought out ID cards and birth certificates.

Aminata came from the market with a bucket full of vegetables–a cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and eggplant, to be put into their next meal.

Elder Ikpeti and Elder Gbedevi:

Here’s a photo of 3 of the boys when they were younger.  The two older boys in this photo are twins–Lassine and Fousseiny. The 3rd boy is Konimba. Today we also met an older brother named Shaka.   These 3 boys have been baptized and now they work at the chicken farm collecting the eggs every day.

Here are the family members here today: Shaka, Philemon, Aminata and the younger children.

Here’s our happy group today (the man on the left is our driver).

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.

We had our weekly District Meeting today with our 4 Elders.  We’ve learned that Elder Usoh and Elder Sulu will be transferred back to Abidjan next transfer.  We’re sad to see them go.  The work here is hard, but rewarding.  We’ll miss them.

John and Bro Mbaya are always cleaning up the church records.

Tonight we had dinner downstairs in the restaurant in our building with Dick Loomis and his son, Eddie, who have been with the expedition in Ouelessebougou.  We had a great evening and heard lots of exciting news about a German doctor they visited here in Bamako who is the leading expert in the WORLD on Malaria.  Good things are happening!

We had a great evening visiting with Mike Maughan and Sekou.  Mike’s been with the expedition in Ouelessebougou this last week and he flies out late tonight.  We loved hearing more of the details of Sekou’s life and conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He’s a remarkable man and a stalwart here.  We’re grateful for him and for good people like Mike who come over to learn about this country.  Mike’s grandfather, Marion D. Hanks, was the founder of the Ouelessebougou Alliance in Utah.  Their family carries on the tradition of helping and serving here.

After our outings today and a trip this afternoon to the Women’s Garden here in Ouelessebougou we headed back home to Bamako.  This Ouelessebougou Alliance from Utah will stay for a full 2 weeks, visiting more villages and doing more good.  We’ll meet up with them again at the end.  Our thanks to Judy Hut, Director and Friend.

Home Sweet Home!

In most villages in Mali, during most times of the year, you will hear the steady pounding of women who stand with mortar and pestle in hand, pounding shea nuts.  It’s a soothing sound that is steady and constant and sounds like a carpenter pounding with a soft, heavy mallet.  It’s soothing.  If you follow the sound, you will usually find several women in a compound, pounding and some bent over large tubs of hot emulsifying shea, mixing it like human Bosch machines.  They working together.  They help each other.  They are making shea butter, one of the finest products made in West Africa.  This is women’s work.  It’s hard work.  It’s hot work.  It’s soothing work.

The shea nuts are collected off the ground when they fall from the trees during harvest time.  They are dried or roasted and stored during the rest of the year.  Today in Bassa this group of women was making the shea butter from the roasted and ground nuts.

In the villages you see many of these roasting ovens.  The nuts are roasted over slow-burning fires.  They have a peculiar smell.  Sometimes the nuts are spread on the ground to dry in the hot sun.

Here are some photos I’ve taken in other villages.  These women are using stones to crack and shell the nuts.  The nut is taken from the shell and pounded or ground in a machine to make a paste.  Many villages have a grinding machine that the villagers share.

After the nuts are ground, the paste looks like this:

This is washed and mixed with water over and over until the oils separate and emulsify.  That’s what the women were doing today.   Here’s a little video clip:

Eventually the impurities are washed out and the shea butter is clean.

This woman has made her finished product into a large heavy ball she’ll wrap in leaves and bind to take to the market to sell.

Shea butter is an ingredient in many beauty products, creams and lotions.  It’s used here on the skin, in the hair, for wounds or burns, for bites or sunburns, and for general aches and pains.  It’s also used as their main cooking oil.  The shea nut is a gift to the women of West Africa.  It’s a perfect ingredient and a perfect remedy for most things that ail you.

You can learn more about the process of making shea butter here:

https://www.smallstarter.com/get-inspired/shea-butter-in-mali-business-opportunity/