The Niger River

We begin our trip on the Niger about a block from my apartment. The group includes missionaries from the USA ,England, Netherlands, and Germany. We started around 3:30 and finished around 7:00 . The boat was a little larger than the fishermen's piroughs and had a top and cushions for us so we were fairly comfortable.
























































We landed on an island. I have pictures of trees including a Baobab tree. There are also a group of Baobab trees on an island that I took from the boat. You can recognize them because it looks like there roots are on the top of the tree.That is a termite hill that I am standing beside. The houses in the village are made with mud bricks. The garden (left and down 2) is set up in squares so they can irrigate by pouring river water in each square.












































The bottom picture on the left is bamboo. On the right are some kind of fruit palm. I tried to show how they use the river. There are pictures of them using it to do laundry, irrigate their crops, and fishing. I am sure that it is also used to move goods but I did not see any shipping on this boat trip.

While you inaugurated a new president , we celebrated Army Day here in Mali when the French army was replaced by the Malian Army. Since there was no school I walked to the Palais De La Culture and took some pictures. They have sprinkler systems working there so the grounds are green even in the dry season. There are also several stages for various performances.
I had a very pleasant walk through the grounds.

As I left the Culture Palace I just had to take a picture of this Malian "Starbucks". It is located on a corner and everything. I was to slow to get the donkey cart but I will get one of those later.

I have no idea what kind of fruit is growing at the top of this tree and I am not going to climb up and find out for you.

I assume that these goats get their water from the river and maybe they get most of their food from the river bank where it stays green. What I really wonder about is where their home is and who they belong to. They just wander in the streets and only once have I seen someone herding them.

In the dry season everything is dry and brown but there are also spots of beauty such as these beautiful azaleas. I am told that the flamboyant trees bloom here in April and I will look forward to seeing them in bloom.

This is my first week in the classroom and I am pretty rusty but I think things are going fairly well. The kids are at least tolerating me. I am teaching two General Science classes , a Geometry class , a Trigonometry class , and a Business Mathematics class.

Preparation week at BCA

I have been getting a schedule and working on my lesson plans this week. I will be teaching general science to 5-6 grade and 7-8 grade. I also have geometry , trigonometry , and business math. I will start teaching on Monday Jan. 19.

I am sorry but I left the camera at home so I did not get a picture of two goats on a bicycle that I saw on the way to school. ( Well they were riding on a padded bed in back but it was unusual for me.)

This is the Niger river from the River road. It is a short block from my apartment. We walked about 3.5 miles along the river last Saturday. Some Malian boys said that there were some hippos there but we did not see them.

This is some type of street dance in the street below my apartment. They started about 5:00 PM. I don't know when it ended. I did not attend. I did enjoy watching the young ladies dance though. The music had a beat to it. People using the street had a very narrow space between the dance and the gutter. Those gutters are about two feet deep and you really would not want to step in them.

The Power pole in the foreground was interesting to me. It is formed of conrete with ladder steps up the side for the lineman to climb. You can see them if you look close.

I was awakened from sleep on the morning following my arrival by the Muslim call to prayer. It probably was not the first one of the day as I was pretty tired. A good thing about the loudspeakers blaring the call to prayer is that it is a reminder that we are always to be faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12).

The picture to the left is taken from my roof. It contains two mosques. The one on the left has three shorter towers and the one on the right has two taller towers. There is a mosque that is closer to myapartment but it is older and not very fancy. Mali is about 80% Muslim.

My flights to Mali were all pretty close to schedule. They did change my departure gate at Atlanta and again in Paris but the exercise was good for me. The first two flights encountered turbulence which delayed meal service. This is a picture of the Paris airport. I included it because the architecture was so different. It was prety but it was so cold that I put my coat back on and zipped it up.

They told me that the Bamako airport was small but friendly. It was When that many people are packed in that small a space you have to be friendly. Wonder of wonders my baggage showed up with me. I was met by two of the young ladies from the school and transferred to the SIL apartment building which is just across the street from the SIL office. You can see the SIL in the foreground with the Niger river in the background. The picture was taken from my front door.

I began orientation which will continue until next Wednesday. Thursday and Friday I hope to spend at the school as an observer. I have been on my first shopping trip for groceries. Didn't get any salt so I have to borrow some.

Get ready ; Get set

Saturday , 3 Jan 2009 .

The bags are packed except for the few items that I don't have in my possession yet or am still using. My passport and visa along with my tickets are ready to go. I still need to make copies of my passport to put in my bags and one copy to leave with my daughter. I will bid farewell to my church tomorrow and I plan to do the same at the elementary school where I have been volunteering on the next day. Tuesday morning my son-in-law will take me to the airport in Oklahoma City to start my journey.

If all goes according to plan I will fly to Atlanta and then on to Paris. I will have about an eight hour layover in Paris and then on to Bamako , Mali. Total flight time will be about 17 hours and airport layovers about 10 hours. In my next post I will tell you if anything went according to plan,