We have a four day week, a five day week and a three day week left. Yes. I am counting the days carefully now. It is not that I am in a hurry for them to pass. I need to plan my material left to the time left. Monday is Africa Day here and Memorial day in the States. At least we matched up on the holiday date this time.
The picture has an unfinished hotel on the North shore of the Niger. I have been living here almost six months now and that big crane on to has not been used in that length of time. I put the picture in to emphasize another difference I have observed in Mali. All over Bamako I have seen unfinished buildings. Usually part or all of the ground floor has been finished at least enough that it can be used. If someone is working on the building ; it will be one man or a small crew. Bricks or sand may be available even if no one is working.
This is how the reasoning goes I am told. If you have money and a relative has a need they will come to you to borrow the money you have. Of course it is never returned unless the situation is reversed. So if I buy bricks then I do not have money to loan. I have deposited the money in a bank that my relatives can not borrow from. They do not need bricks or buildings. They need cash. You have no cash so you do not have to loan them anything. So now you know the story of the unfinished buildings. This is sort of like Jesus chewing out some people for declaring their possessions "corban" dedicated to the Lord so they did not have to take care of their parents with those possessions.
The rains are still holding off. We have had one good rain this year. They tell me that the rains will cool down the temperatures. The rain we got gave us four days of cooler temperatures.
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