The little engine pulled the train over the mountain!!

Next week I will have returned home to Norman OK. We finished school on Thursday and my flight home is scheduled for next Thursday. I am surprised that I have been able to keep this blog going. Some weeks were pretty thin but we did it!! Please keep me in prayer next Thur and Fri as I travel.

I was walking with Dan who is one of the Bible translators here in Bamako. I saw a young lady ahead of us with a baby tied to her back and another under her arm. I made a comment to Dan about it and said that I wondered how twins were handled here in Mali. Dan came back with an unexpected answer. He said, “ Jack. You have to remember that you are in Mali now. I Mali a man can have more than one wife. Therefore babies of about the same age in a home may not be twins. If there are two wives, then one might do the cooking one day while the other cares for the children. The next day they might reverse roles.” Dan was right. I have not adjusted my thinking to this culture. One time it could be “buyer beware” or they will try to get as much from you as they can and give as little as possible. Another time they would go hungry to make sure that you are fed properly. If you know the culture it all makes sense but to me …??? Well I like the people and they have all gone out of their way to be good hosts to this old man who does not even learn their language.

The picture showing the big hotel in Bamako is there to try one more time to show you the presidential white house. It is centered in the picture. It is located on a high bluff on the north side of Bamako. The picture of the traffic is at the six way intersection that I have mentioned before. You can see only a couple of the roads from the camera angle and traffic was light when I took it. The third picture is close to that intersection. I see no reason why OSHA would complain about the scaffolding. After all I don't know how many years it has been since the scaffolding was last used. It reminds me of pictures of buildings in Hong Kong except they used bamboo scaffolding.

I Went Walking

My thanks (or maybe SORRY!) to Bill Martin Jr. since I kind of copied his "I Went Walking" book.

(My daughter said it sounded more like "Brown Bear Brown Bear" to her .) I read his books to pre-k through first grade and they are easy reading because he puts a lot of rhythm in them. Anyway please don’t sue me for plagiarism or defamation of character Bill.

I went walking. What did I see?

I saw the gate guard waiting for me.

The night had cooled down to the low 70's so it had been good sleeping for me. The guard is sitting in a chair with a ski mask over his head. An extra shirt on and his brazier lit to keep his hands warm. He got up to unlatch the gate for me.

I went walking. What did I see?

I saw an old man walking unsteadily with his cane down the street toward me. His son was by his side to take care of him. I think they walk every morning. He is friendly and always waves his cane at us when we drive past on the way to school. When he waved this morning, I crossed the street to shake his hand and to say "bon jour" and "savah" (maybe ce vous?). We would have had a longer conversation but that's all the French I know and he speaks French and Bambara or maybe Bozo.

I went walking. What did I see?

I saw a lady sweeping the trash out of the sand in front of her dwelling and smoothing out the sand. She uses a small whisk broom so she has to be bent over to do this. If she were washing dishes, washing clothes, or cutting up fish to fry for supper she would use the same posture. Just think of your kitchen counter being located on the floor.

I went walking. What did I see?

I saw a lady picking through the trash pile in front of a tailor shop. She was looking for remnants of cloth that she could use. Recycling is serious business in Mali. I haven't heard the city government in Bamako having to find a place for a city dump. Back to the lady. She was bent over in the normal position but one thing was a notable difference. Her right hand was laid on her back. Evidently the task that she was involved in was not clean so she was doing it with her left hand while keeping her right hand clean.

I went walking. What did I see?

The donkey drawn trash cart coming toward me. Actually I saw two of them. One was toward the end of my walk. They do have a big tractor drawn trash cart to pick up the big stuff, but the donkeys are more fun.

I went walking. What did I see?

I saw a man with crutches try to move a couple of benches so I stopped to help him. Of course it took twice as long as for him to do it himself because I don't speak French but we finally got them where he wanted them. I think he was putting them in the shade so he could sit and talk to his friends.

I went walking. What did I see?

Lots of other stuff like the river and flowers and other people but I can't remember all of it. Oh. Well.

May 29

We have completed school for the month of May. We have school all of the first week of June and then have finals on tuesday and Wednesday of the following week. I did not realize that I would have to give my kids finals so I will start putting those tests together this weekend and finish them up next week. I have about finished the curriculums for the classes I was teaching. I hope they are reasonably close to what is needed.

Some of the people that are at the school or in missions here in Bamako have put together the musical "Joseph and His Coat of Many Colors" and will be presenting it Saturday (May 30). It should be pretty good. We have a lot of musical talent around. I volunteered to man the refreshment booth at intermission. I hope everyone has the correct change.

We have had some clouds this week and some wind but not much moisture. A good rain would cool us down some. They say that the Sahara continues to spread so I don't know whether I will see any wet season or not.

May 22

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.

16 May

The tree in the center of the picture is a flamboyant tree. I was quite disappointed with them here in Mali. In Zambia, you would see a solid red top with no green from the leaves showing. They look really flamboyant. These look pretty but hardly something that you would go out of your way to see. The other flowers I have seen in Mali have been about the same. They are pretty but not anywhere near as lush as the ones in Zambia. I don't know if they are just not as nice this year because of the lack of rain or if this is normal.

We had teacher appreciation this week and the parents of the students really spoiled us with snacks each morning and a full meal on Friday noon. We have also been invited to a meal today (Saturday) and next Saturday the school board sponsors us to a nice meal with small gifts or mementos. Our God even favored us with rain and four days of cooler weather this week. The nights have been perfect for sleeping and I have gotten in some nice walks.

With four weeks left of school the students have already started their summer vacations and that is becoming a challenge for teaching. We will try our best to meet that challenge.

9 May

I went out for my walk early this morning. It was already getting uncomfortable. I am not carrying my camera with me so no pictures. We did take an all school picture and if I get a copy I will include it next week.

I have mentioned before that the people of Mali are friendly and happy. They like to joke with each other. There are disparaging jokes (all in fun) about each of the family groups in Mali. If you are not from Mali they will give you a Malian name. They did give me one but I never was sure what they said. This all leads into the one thing that they can get very combative about.
Politics and weddings may get noisy but if there is a soccor game you need to stay out of the streets. They really go wild with their soccor games. There was evidently one on tv this past week and when it was over we had an hour of screaming, hollering, horn honking, and firecrackers. I talked about that with one of the long term missionaries and he said that it was probably not even a Malian soccor match. He said that there was one game between Bamako and another town in Mali. The other town won. The man who owns the restaurant on the corner by my apartment was from the other town. He had to run to keep from being beat up and they trashed his restaurant. I don't understand how they could do that. If you look at past blogs you can see it in some of the pictures. It consists of a roof and part of a south wall of corrugated metal and a table. They bring their pots, pans, and dishes in each morning to set up for the day.

May 1 May Day

In Mali the first of May is Labor Day and of course no one can labor on Labor Day so we have no school today. We started to get back to normal at school this week. I felt much better about classes. Most of my classes will have more material than I can cover so I will need to do some picking and choosing. One class may not have enough to last out the year. That one really worries me.

We had a pretty good rain for about half an hour on Wednesday. It was enough to let some water run off. The Malian kids were having a good time in the rain. They peeled and were streaking down the street in the rain. Well I noticed that one still had his sandals on. Then they started damming up the water streams so they would have puddles to play in. They were not very successful though. A half hour after the rain the dirt was dry. The air was a lot more humid. Other than that you could not tell that it had rained.

Another traffic story. They are easy to come up with. Kim Nelson and I stopped for some groceries. Then we made a left turn across a lane of cars to head home. The cars let us through but then we had to stop in the street for a herd of cattle on our side of the road. After they had gone by we went on home. Last night coming from school I saw another amazing sight. A car signaled for a left turn. Then he turned left!