We packed up our vehicles and headed out of Bamako. This was my first trip outside of Bamako since I flew in the first week of January. In the first picture we have the Africa Tower which is in a traffic circle near the airport. It has an outline of Africa at it's top. They tell me it has a pictoral tour of Africa that you can see as you climb up the interior of the tower. The next picture is from the village of Mana. The houses are built of mud bricks with thatched roofs.

I took two pictures of a mud wall that was put up around 300 years ago as a protection from slaver raiding parties. You can see that it has stood up well through the years. I have another picture of the village of Mana with some bushy trees in the foreground. These are Mango trees and they are covered with fruit. The big tree with the kids scattered in front of it? Well I don't know what kind it is so we will just call it Big Tree! The roots cover the ground all around it.

We stayed at a missionary compound at Mana where they teach pastors and their wives Bible stories and how to use them in witnessing. There is also a medical clinc at Mana which is sponsored by the church there.

Our retreat was sort of an extended field trip where the kids got to review their Mathematics, Biology and Earth Science materials and a spiritual retreat as we also had some Bible study. I came back pretty well tired out but I think that it was time well spent.