MALARIA

I already got malaria! And it was awful!
I had a temperature up near 104 for 2 days. I barely got out of bed for almost 4 days. Thankfully the medicine I got at the hospital worked, and I am getting stronger now every day. I am starting to take a preventative medication now, too. (I wasn't taking it before because I don't like the side effects and I thought I didn't want to take it long-term, but the side effects are nothing compared to what I just went through!)

Eating together, really together.

Here are a couple photos from a gathering we had this week to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the school. The food was cooked outside over open fire by a group of women. At lunch time they brought us 2 buckets of water, one soapy and one clean to rinse hands, and then we got into groups of 5 around the food. It was important to wash hands because there were no forks or spoons for this meal! The food you can see in the photos is a yummy flavored rice on bottom with meat, potatoes, onions, eggplant, and cabbage on top. It was a nice lunch sitting together under the shade of mango trees.

Chicken anyone?

The first couple days of school have been, well... interesting. I guess it will take awhile to get used to things and figure out just what I am supposed to be doing. A big challenge is that I am not fluent in French, and even if I were it would be difficult because many of the kids in the kindergarden don't yet speak much French (and I don't know any Bambara.)

So today when I asked some of them to draw mangoes on their papers they just stared at me blankly. Some of them seem to still be trying to figure the white lady out, and some of them want so sit on my lap and hold my hand already.

This picture is of my friend Etienne holding the chickens that were given today as a welcome gift to me and Sophie, another Western girl who is here to help in the school this year.

So blessed!

I arrived in Bamako, the capital of Mali, on Tuesday night after about 29 hours of travel. My 3 flights to get there couldn’t have gone better, and going through customs and immigration was a breeze. I was delighted to have my 3 big pieces of luggage show up on the carousel at the airport, and then it was so good to see the familiar faces of the people who picked me up. I feel so blessed and I know that God had his hand on all of my preparations and travels. I was really pretty tired, but I couldn’t sleep well at night for the first few days. I am used to the 5 hour time difference now, though, and I am sleeping ok but still getting used to the climate change I think! I heard that it has already snowed in Minnesota now, the temperature is hovering near freezing there, and here in Mali it is in the 80's for the most part. It is also humid here, which I didn't expect, but it will be dry season soon.
I left Bamako on Thursday with a lovely girl from New Zealand - I met her last Feburary during my time in Mali then. We took a bus for 5 hours or so to the town that I will call “home” for at least the next 9 months. It has been nice to see again some of the people I met when I was here before and I've had time to get settled in my room. I am so happy and excited to be here and most of all I feel so blessed!