We are going into harvest time in Mali. People were hard at work in the fields during the months of rainy season, and now the rain is done and I am finding some great vegetables in the market. The most important crops here are cotton, millet, corn, and peanuts. But I am pretty excited for carrots, squash, and green beans.
Jean-Patrick takes his turn shoveling dirt out of the pit. When they were finished it was about 8 feet deep.
One really tough job that the men put their muscles to was digging through layers of dirt, clay, and rock to make a pit latrine.
This is working hard with his pick tool, it is a “daba”. A cement floor will go over the pit and walls will go up to surround a hole in the floor for people to go to the bathroom.
At Centre Things are starting to get busier at Centre with the change in season. I was concerned in August when we got back from the states that there weren’t as many ladies coming to have their babies weighed, but I learned that it was because so many people were out in the fields to work on the crops. I was also hoping to start scheduling some village visits right away, but when we called to arrange things with our contacts in nearby villages they all said we need to wait until after the harvest is finished. So we will be very busy visiting villages (sharing, doing nutritional and health education programs, and cleaning and bandaging wounds) in December and January. I’m looking forward to it!
The big chubby boy is Daouda (Bambara for David) and the too skinny little baby is Pierre (French for Peter). This woman has had 11 children, but only 5 survived childhood. Can you imagine having 6 small children die?! Too many babies die in Mali for preventable reasons! Pray with us that Pierre will gain some weight and live.
Other:
* JP has just gotten his Malian drivers license (to drive cars and trucks, a license isn’t needed for a motorbike here!) Someone gave him the money to go through the month-long school and then he passed the difficult test!
* I am getting ready to go to Bamako with some friends for a women’s conference for English speaking ladies. I am really excited for this and I hope it will be a nice break for me. Thanks for reading our news. Love, Erin and Jean-Patrick
* JP has just gotten his Malian drivers license (to drive cars and trucks, a license isn’t needed for a motorbike here!) Someone gave him the money to go through the month-long school and then he passed the difficult test!
* I am getting ready to go to Bamako with some friends for a women’s conference for English speaking ladies. I am really excited for this and I hope it will be a nice break for me. Thanks for reading our news. Love, Erin and Jean-Patrick
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