Happy Valentines Day

We don't have any pictures for you this week. I will try to get my camera out for pictures of some of the local color next week.

For those of you who are waiting with baited breath on the results of our 5-6th grade Solar Cooker science project. The construction was completed on Wednesday , however the Chinese president visited Mali on Thursday which resulted in some of the roads being closed so our school was closed also. On Friday we performed tests on the cooker. We warmed water up to to about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Our rock (heat sink) was almost to 180 degrees. Since school lets out by 2:30PM we had some of the hottest part of the day left to go. Those temperatures would be enough to cook with. Next week we will try to cook rice in it.

I was asked by one reader what SIL stood for. I don't speak French and those letters stand for a French name. It is the name of the organization that does the Wycliffe Bible translation work in Mali and Ivory Coast. There are now a Bible in the Bambara language and New Testaments in Bomu , Khassonke ,Dogon , Tamasheq , Fulfulde ,and Minyanka. They also work with various Christian groups in generating Bible story sequences , Audios , and Videos.

I am being taught the Bambara greeting although I doubt that I will learn it in the short time that I have left here. I will try to go through that greeting now. This has to be done before any business is transacted.

eenee sogoma (hello)
eenee sogoma (hello right back at you)
somogo kawkenee (is the family well?)
toro tay (very well thank you)
eemoso kawkenee ( is your wife well)
toro tay
demee semu kawkenee (Are your children well)
toro tay
oobay kawkenee (how is everyone)
toro tay

This is then reversed and the second person asks the questions and the first one answers.

there can also be a blessing given which will contain "Allah" in it. If you hear that the response is "ameena".

kawumbay means goodbye or be seeing you.
Congratulations. You now know Bambara better than I do.
As you can see; social amenities mean a lot to the people of Mali. They joke a lot with each other which releases a lot of tension and seems to make them a relaxed and friendly people.