African Queens

It’s official. We are now African Queens. Ok, well, not exactly, but we are getting closer:

Step One: We got Malian names, though they’ve finally figured out how to pronounce our real names. One of the teachers deemed Zoe as Ami Sisoko (after his wife) and Sara as Ayshata Diarra (after his mom, and Maria, our “mom”).

Step Two: We got our hair braided. It was a bit more successful with Sara’s hair, but Zoe’s curls confused the three young coiffeurs, and she almost cried because of the pulling.

Step Three: We got our new clothes from the tailor, and they sort of fit. The tailor also introduced us to our first experience with Malian espresso tea, which is really strong, really sweet, and poured from high heights into tiny cups.

Step Four: We have new dance moves. Our students have taught us to groove African style, with a hint of Shakira. After choreographed hippo moves, we all hit the dance floor and boogied.

Note: We just had a power outage. They look at us funny when we use our flashlights here. So, perhaps we aren't quite African queens yet.

What We See and Hear Every Day

Every day we hear the Muslim call to prayer several times, but overall we don't see a lot of people who stop and actually pray at these times. There is a competing Koranic camp next door.

There are piles of rocks that we pass on our way to school. We're not sure what they are there for, but they seem to be good for drying laundry.

Maria, our wonderful host, relaxing after a long day.

We are surrounded by beautiful children all day. This is Fatumata, showing off her henna, which is common on women's feet, but not so much for kids.

Our beds and shared mosquito net, like a little tent.

Next to Zoe's bed, we have a little space where we are storing our flowers until the big show.

Every day we see piles of trash, in contrast to the beauty of Kati's lush greenery (thanks to all the rain we've been getting).

"Luxury" Weekend in Bamako

We spent the weekend with Emma in Bamako, and were lucky to be able to stay at the home of a friend of a friend, Jeff. We also got to walk his lovely dog, Maggie. Zoe would like it to be known that she even held the leash (even though she isn't known to be a dog lover).

Saturday morning began with a ride into Bamako on a soutreman crammed with 20 adults and 4 babies. We braved the artensana market, which was exhausting, but fun. We bought student gifts and other fun goodies (see photo to the right of the stand where Sara did some quality purchasing). One of the best things about this market is that the artists are working right there, stretching hides for leather or heating silver on a fire.

Next, we met the guards and maid at the house, and made arrangements to get the key. We had lunch at a touristy place, where we ate our pizza (delicious) outside until the flies got into Zoe's Jus de Pamplemouse. Very sad.

After, we went to The Azar Libre - a Western grocery store!!!! We stocked up on pringles, nuts, guava juice, and even ice cream. We returned to Jeff's to read, nap, and walk Maggie. That night we ventured to a guidebook recommended music club that turned out empty. So, we ate at Restaurant Fast Food Paradis, and came back for bed.

Today, we did more shopping at another market, and went to the fanciest hotel in Bamako, to use their pool. Despite the rain, we had a great time. Now it's back to work for Hippo Play preparations.

View of a bank in Bamako, on the Niger River

Metal Worker at the Artesania Market

Lizard -- they're everywhere!

Zoe with our friend Maggie

Teacher Training... and Fun

Some photos of our work with the student teachers of Sikasso:

A game we made to demonstrate the importance of social outcomes and teaching habits of mind

Ba Koniba -- Head Teacher

The Women of Sikasso See Balloons for the First Time

Scenes from Around Town

Photos taken from our walks to and from school, and our nightly strolls:

The Arcade

Potentially rabid dog

Kati Mission (another neighborhood nearby)


The Soccer Field

Cow herd in front of the school entrance

The Big Day!

Today was the big day - Djennaba's Wedding! This morning, it poured, and we were worried, but it cleared up. We didn't meet Djennaba until this afternoon, but we brought her balloon flowers (in Malian colors) and a wedding card in English, French, and Bambara. Right before we left, Maria told us that Sunday is actually the gift giving day, but she thought we could get away with bringing the flowers today anyway.

The rain was so strong today - here it is shooting off the slide.

Before the Fete - These are the fanciest clothes that we brought,

and our outfits at the tailor aren't ready yet!

The Bridal Party (we think)

The Bride

Our Evening Stroll

Today was so lovely---highlights included a fabulous session with the Sikasso women, washing our delicates with little Maria and Christiane, and a walk to a new quarter with Baboi.

We love the Sikasso women and had so much fun with them as we debriefed their small group work with the campers. We modeled a protocol for classroom discussions and they loved it! At the end we all sang and danced to the Hippo song. We’re planning a fete for next week after the Hippo play!

When we came home we decided it was time to wash our undies and socks. These are done by hand n a bucket. We didn’t really know what we were dong, but were instructed by Mara (age 5) and Christiane (age 7). Christiane beamed after every clean sock. Our delicates are now hanging in the trees in the courtyard.

After our laundry, we took a walk with Baboi and helped him practice his English. We learned that he was first in his 10th grade class this year. We’re very proud. We walked to a new quarter of Kati. We'll put up photos of town soon!

Wedding Guests

It is almost impossible to describe our incredible day yesterday, but we’ll try. First of all, it was gorgeous, cool during the day and in the evening the moon was out and it was almost full.

In the morning we began teaching another successful session with the women from Sikasso. We discussed group work and they responded quite well except for one woman who when asked to demonstrate what poor group work might look like was busy texting on her cell phone. At first we thought this might be part of her skit, but no, she really wanted the whole class to wait for her while she finished her message in class. We were not so impressed. After school we had incredible naps and then headed back to camp for the afternoon session. This time Sara was in sports and I made paper flowers with the campers. We have bunches of these tissue paper flowers and will tie them around the poles of our outdoor stage to decorate for our Hippo Play. During the second art group, Sara and I worked together to design leaves with the students. They used funky scissors to cut out their leaves and then wrote a message about the environment on one side. We’re gong to paste all the leaves together and create giant trees for the set for the Hippo play. It should also be noted, that on the way from sports to art, Sara was walking with Maria who slipped on cow dung and skidded down the path to the school. Pauvre Maria -- but she was indeed a good sport. After camp, we walked home with Christane and another camper who was bullying her. Christane is one of the family kids and therefore like our sister. Sara chastised the bully in French and a random woman on the corner started translating in Bambara. Oh Mali!

When we came home, we heard drums nearby and followed them. Two houses down there was a huge circle of women and children and incredible arms flapping, legs twisting booty shaking African dance. We stood on the sidelines for a second and then were offered chairs. We watched in awe as energy burst from this circle and soon we were invited to dance with the women. A little embarrassed at first, we joined their circle and danced (we decided it was like the hora). Then they wanted us to do a duet in front of the drummers, so we wriggled and shook for our neighbors, and we’re certain they will be talking about the dancing tubabu (white women) for weeks.

After the dance, we introduced ourselves to the elders, beautiful women who led the circle n song and dance and passed out bonbons. We thanked them and learned that it was a pre-weddng party for Djenneba (t’s unclear who Djenneba is). The actual wedding will begin on Thursday at 10 and we’re invited (so is the whole village, but we felt special). They seemed so happy to have us there and we met the griot or storyteller/singer who sang a beautiful song about Sara’s name (we have no idea what she was singing, but t was beautiful).

Then we walked through town, picked up lollipops and sparkling apple and grapefruit juice for snacks and watched the sunset.

After dinner we heard more music, but this time hp hop. We followed the loud speakers a few houses over and watched another dance get started. Immediately, we got chars n the VIP section with the wedding party. Our family kids soon found us and sat by our feet. With hundreds of other people, we watched the bridesmaids prance around and them groomsmen lip synch to American rap. Finally we were invited to join the wedding party in the center of the circle and danced for all of Kati. We’re not sure how many people were there, but Sara thinks close to 1,000.

We can’t wait for the wedding on Thursday. Maybe there will be another party tonight.

Love and hugs!

The wonderful wedding women!

Teacher Training

Zoe would like to announce that she is back to blogging and feeling 95% better.

We went to Camp Chiwara today and spent the morning working with the 24 student teachers. Our teacher training session went very well, especially considering that the program has been having a hard time with these women, who often flirt with the male teachers during class. We taught them a special session on project-based learning, with a focus on different modalities of learning. They were really responsive and even did some thoughtful reflecting at the end. They also did some great skits, drawings, songs, and dances to show different ways of learning. Tomorrow, we hope to talk about group work and student support.

The Sikasso women doing a skit in our open air classroom

For the afternoon sessions, Zoe went to sports and played pickle and football. Sara went to art to make paper flowers for our hippo ballet set, and then taught puzzles like Black Magic (and my French is slowly getting better).

Paper Flower Bonanza

After camp, we went to the tailor to get clothes made. For about $2, you can get an outfit made here, and $6 at the market buys enough material for 3 skirts. So, we are custom designing multiple outfits, but the tailor doesn't speak much French. He called in a random guy off the street to translate, who brought in his adorable twins: Christophe and Christine. They all stayed for a good half hour while we attempted to describe and design our clothes. They'll be ready for pick up next Monday.

We continue to be surprised by random events, such as children plucking feathers from a pigeon (which apparently they eat here). Also there was a cow outside the door to school today. We've also had a string of rain and thunder storms, which has cooled things off quite a bit. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Other Photos:

Francois and adorable baby

Mom of adorable baby

More paper flowers

Lazy Sunday.... and Balloons

Today was a lazy Sunday, with a solid nap, lots of card playing (I learned a new game called 151), and just plain hanging out. Zoe is currently recovering from whatever stomach bug you are supposed to get in Mali. She is feeling better now. I went to the Kati market this morning, which was a big accomplishment, especially given my poor French skills. I also did balloons for the first time, while it poured outside. Here are some photos:

Maria models the hippo mask that I made, to practice for our upcoming production. Does it look more like a fish? I'll need to practice more...

The kids model the mask.

Maria's sister, Rose, with a balloon corsage.

Here I am making a frog, while Christiane looks on with her Santa hat.

The family kids with their first balloons

Bamako Saturday

Today we spent our first full day in Bamako, the big city. In the guide books, they call it “the most African of African cities,” whatever that means. We rode there in a bache, which is a 15 passenger van that has all the seats taken out, so they can cram upwards of 25 people in there. We were lucky that our first one wasn’t too crowded, but then we got dropped off in the market and were thoroughly overwhelmed. It was so hot and we could barely walk with all the people. We hadn’t yet been to the bank, so we couldn’t buy anything. We did see local medicine men selling monkey heads and other dead animals, which we walked by as quickly as possible.

We set out to change money, which involved three banks, a lot of walking in circles, two taxi rides, and a handful of frustration. When we finally found the ATM, we considered staying in the air conditioned booth to hang out for a while. We were also tempted to buy some fruit across the street, but couldn’t cross (too much traffic!) so we journeyed back to the market. With money in our pocket for the first time since we arrived here, we conquered the market (sort of), managing to purchase some beautiful fabrics. We will bring them to the tailor to get clothes made soon.

After more unsuccessful meandering involving the purchase of some bananas, we finally made it to the Grand Hotel, which was very grand indeed. We had lunch on the patio, which was good, except it was expensive and we waited a long long time. However, we did get to listen to a CD of American hip hop looping over and over. Then, we went swimming in the hotel pool!

We were surprised to see our Malian family show up – though it wasn’t really a coincidence since they had recommended us to go. Debbie brought 7 of the family kids – Djenneba (Alice), Sebastian, Christiane, Sire, Catherine, Moise, and Miriam (Mami). They are watching me type and just helped me spell all the names. Anyway, we played in the pool for a long time with them, and it was fabulous! Christiane had never swam before (she is 7), so we helped her learn and gave her piggy back rides. So sweet! We had given them a big beach ball that I got from our homebase pool party, and they brought it along to play with in the pool. We played and danced and had a great time. It felt so different to see them in this setting, which is totally different than anything in Kati.

We got a ride back with the family, and we are exhausted now, from all the sun and walking. (We realized our sunscreen is not waterproof. Whoops. We managed not to get burned somehow.)

We decided not to go out dancing tonight, but perhaps we will join the others another time.

love, Sara (Zoe is already asleep)

Christiane on her first day of swimming

Playing with the Beach Ball

Mami in the pool