last but not least

Today was my last day in Senegal and it was a really full day. I'm getting ready to go to the airport late tonight, my flight is after midnight, so technically Saturday morning. I really hope that I will be able to sleep some on the plane! It will be about 19 hours of travel, which is long but shorter than if I fly from Bamako because I'll go straight across the ocean from Dakar and not through Paris or Casablanca like from Bamako. I am also pretty close to the airport here, and when I am in Mali the trip would start with a 7 hour bus ride just to get to Bamako. Its weird to think that I'll be in the states at this time tomorrow!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from my day:I went about an hour and a half out of the city and visited "Perspective Senegal", a center for boys that are ex-garibouts. (Garibouts are boys given away to Muslim teachers by their parents when they are little and then they grow up in a horrible system where they are sent out on the street to beg for money and food every day and they are treated as less than human and they must memorize the entire Koran) The center houses and schools and feeds 32 boys from ages 10-22 right now. It is a Christian center but nothing is forced on them; they have been truly liberated. The older boys learn trades such as carpentry (above picture), mechanics, or shoe making. It was really impressive.

I also visited the nearby base. With the base is a small medical clinic. In the above picture you see some white people entering the clinic - there was a youth group from Switzerland spending their spring break on a mission trip to the boys' center that came to see the base and medical clinic with me. There was a class going on at the base when we visited. The clinic is smaller than the one in Dakar, but they said they see 30-60 patients on an average day.

And a final picture: some boys giving a little too much love to this poor donkey.

its hard to decide

This is a basket of bracelets that I saw for sale here in Senegal in the market. They caught my eye and I wanted to buy a few. But there are so many colors and designs, it was hard to choose just 2 or 3. Red, or blue, or yellow... ok, I guess its not that important of a choice.

But in the last few days I have had to make some bigger decisions and it hasn't been so easy. First it was leaving Mali. The other non-African folks from my group were already gone or on their way out, and I was urged to go as well, so knowing that I needed to go was pretty clear. But would I go to Burkina, or try to fly out of Bamako, or go to Senegal and wait and see? And now I am in Senegal waiting and no one knows when it will be safe to go back to Mali. So what to do now? When you are an adult it means making your own decisions, there isn't someone to tell you what to do or make the choices for you like when you were a kid. When I discussed the options with my husband he just encouraged me to do what I thought was best and the only guidance he gave was "well, what would do in Senegal if you stay there?" So I've decided to fly to the states. I'm taking a plane on Saturday to Minnesota. And it will be great to see family and friends there! But I am also asking myself "what will I do in MN, and how long will I be there?"

missing

I've only been away from home for a week now, that isn't really so long. But I think that not knowing when I will return makes me miss everything more than if I were just on a trip for a week knowing I would be home again soon. Mostly I miss my husband. Its good that I can talk with him pretty much everyday on the phone or skype. Modern communication technology is great! I miss my friends and I miss my normal life. And I miss my puppy Teddy.

at the market

I spent some time wandering through the market and taking a few pictures while I was at it. Usually you have to ask before taking pictures even of things, and most people I encountered here didn't want their picture taken - some people are very superstitious and think that getting their picture taken could capture their soul or something weird like that. So I asked and was allowed to take pictures of the baskets (I would have liked to buy a few but they don't pack so well into a suitcase!) and the peppers and the fabric. There is certainly no lack of color in an African market! When I asked one man if I could take a picture of his table covered in chickens (they were alive with feet attached, about 20 of them laying on a table) he asked me for 5000 francs. When I just stared at him he said "ok, make it 2000 francs." So I said nevermind and moved along.

at the sea

Hello ocean! Today I got to dip my toes in the Atlantic. We visited an artisans market (with very pushy vendors) and then walked over to this fish market/boat beach. I love that they don't just have boring wood boats, but each one is super colorful and covered in decorative paintings. In the top picture you can see how they get the boats in and out of the water - with a lot of teamwork and rolling them on logs. Behind the men moving the boat is "Magicland" which is a little amusement park (you can see the ferris wheel in the middle).

the clinic in dakar

I spent the whole day today at the medical clinic in Dakar, Senegal. First I got a tour and then they put me to work! It is called "Keru Yakaar" which means Hope House, I think in Wolof cause it sure doesn't sound like anything to me. It doesn't open until 8am, but when I arrived at 7:30 there were dozens of people lined up waiting already. At 7:45 there was a meeting and prayer time for the staff - around 15 people gathered in the classroom for that. Then they started seeing patients. There are no appointments, its first come first served. For the medical part there were around 120 people seen today. There was just 1 doctor and the rest were nurses. They also have a dental section. Each day they can see 55 people in the dental section, and today they had to turn away another 50. I had a hard time walking through dental because I know that many of the people are there just to get teeth pulled out and the thought of that makes me feel lightheaded.

This is the laboratory at the clinic.

And this is the pharmacy room. They had just gotten in a big lot of pills. I spent an hour or so helping to sort them out. Mostly I was taking little prepacked plastic bags of 30 pills, taking 10 out, and putting 14 into empty plastic bags because they wanted bags of 14 and of 20 of that pill. I also spent a few hours today auditing the books for another project that my host lady runs. It was also tedious, but it was fun to find mistakes! I had to compare 3 binders full of receipts with the printed out financial records for all of 2011 for the ministry that I will go to visit on Friday. It is a home or center for street children, I think mostly its ex-garibout boys, but I will learn more about it on Friday.

big holiday

I went to church on Easter Sunday with the family I'm staying with in Dakar. It was a big A/G church, and extra packed for Easter, with more than 400 people. I didn't have my camera, and this was the only picture they took from in the church. The little kids sand a song, the older kids did a choreography and a skit, and the teens did a song. The service was longer than 3 hours, but thats kind of what I'm used to now. It was in French and someone translated the sermon into English. To be honest I understood the French better than the accented English translation!
During every church service I've ever been to in Africa, there is a time when first time visitors are asked to stand up and introduce themselves. (not the best way to make new people feel comfortable in my opinion!) There were around 25 of us visitors at the church, a few besides me were also people evacuted from Mali. The pastor had everyone stand up and pray for Mali after that and I thought that was very cool.
After the service the visitors were asked to go in a room to meet briefly with the welcome committee. They invited us to various church activities and programs, and we were offered snacks. I was excited to take an orange orange. The oranges we have are always green and not very juicy. In the afternoon I thought about the Easter candy that my mom sent in the mail that I left behind in Mali and that JP is probably eating right now (if he hasn't already finished it all.)

weighing babies in Senegal

I was able to observe the baby program that is held at the clinic on Tuesday afternoons. It is kind of like what we do at our Centre. The baby I am holding (not the same one as in the top photo) was a little girl, a twin, age 2 1/2 weeks old. She weighed just over 5 pounds.

things to eat in Dakar

Today at lunchtime I wanted to see what was for sale in the neighborhood shop that I might be able to eat. I bought 2 snacks and water. The water cost 5 cents, the snacks were 20 cents each. Senegal borders on the ocean, so imported stuff is way cheaper and more available than in Mali. The snacks were from Turkey, and if they were sold in Koutiala (which they aren’t) they would certainly be a lot more expensive. So I gave them a try. The “Kraker” snack with a picture of cheese was pretty decent. Crispy sticks that while not being cheese flavored at all, were tasty enough that I’d buy them again. The other snack, the “fresh gofy” looked to be some coconut cookie/candybar type thing. I ate one little corner of it and then put it in my purse so I can hand it to the next little boy I see begging in thestreet. Not so good, but the boy I give it to will be happy.
Oh, I also had a sandwich and an orange at lunchtime, just so you don’t think I wasn’t taking care of myself. :)

a step in the right direction

We heard great news last night - the coup leader Sanogo announced that he was stepping down and handing over power to the man who would normally have it in case of a president not able to carry out his term- the head of the assembly. So sanctions will be lifted and things can start to move forward. Presidental elections will be organized. This is a big step in the right direction. We still have to see if this will all go smoothly and there are still the problems in the north to deal with. But this announcement is a relief and I really hope and pray that it will continue to progress positively.
The US embassy sent an email again urging Americans to leave and stay out of Mali. So it is wait and see for when I can go back.

I'm in Dakar

I have arrived safely in Dakar, Senegal. It was a LONG car trip, and we took three days to do the more than 27 hours of driving. This wasn't like a road trip in the USA though. Some of the roads were amazingly good, they seemed quite newly paved and there was even a little shoulder on the side if someone needed to pull over. Other stretches of road were awful, so broken-up that we had to slow to almost a stop and weave around the potholes. There are no "rest stops" here, no public bathrooms, if you need to go you bring some tp with you and either find a bush to squat behind or ask someone if there might be a place to use. I was permitted to go at one hole-in-the-floor toilet where they provided me with a little kettle of hand washing water, but they asked for payment of 50 francs. (10 cents) At one town we stopped in I asked at a shop and the friendly shopkeeper allowed me to go in the back through their office and into a surprisingly nice bathroom - there was a western style toilet and a sink with soap. Soap!
It was so much nicer traveling in a car with friends than going on a bus, but I am exhausted nonetheless.
Once we crossed into Senegal from Mali I did notice some differences right away. A lot of things are the same, but other things remind me that I'm not home in Mali. There are a lot of horses here, we saw herds in fields and in towns there are lots of horse-drawn carts. Where we live in Mali its pretty much all donkeys. I noticed that a lot of people in villages have thatched roof houses, in Mali its usually just the round grain storage huts that have thatched roofs. There are way more mosques, and some of them are huge and ornate. The main people group and language here is Wolof. The cost of living is higher here, gas in Mali is 600 francs a liter, in Senegal its 800. Some imported things are cheaper here though because they don't have to be transported as far. Coming into Dakar was a bit overwhelming - the roads and traffic were crazy, much worse than Bamako. I really like my town where the reason you'd get stopped in traffic would be because some cows are crossing the street.
My first trip to Africa was to Senegal, I spent 6 weeks here in 2005 for my outreach. It is easier for me now because I can speak French.
I'm staying for now at the home of a very kind lady from Switzerland. I'll go out with her tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to visiting the medical clinic that she works at here. I may get a chance to visit the base that is out of the city later next week.

on the way out

I am now in Bamako, still in Mali. I left home late this morning with 2 Dutch friends in their Land Rover. This is the first trip I've ever made to Bamako in air conditioned comfort, much nicer than a trip on the bus! We are staying the night at a mission guest house and we will leave tomorrow morning at 6 to head west toward the border to Senegal.
When I looked out in the street in front of my house this morning I was struck by how normal everything seems. It was just another Thursday morning. Kids with backpacks walking to school. Ladies with huge bowls of something balanced on their heads and babies strapped to thier backs. Goats roaming around eating trash. It looked like any other day. And then when we arrived in Bamako we were able to fill the car with gas no problem, and I saw fruit seller stands with plenty of apples. Gas and apples are both shipped in over the borders, so the sanctions aren't hurting us here too much yet I guess. Everything seems normal.
We know that its not normal though and things could become dangerous. Some people are saying that maybe the problems here will just blow over. I hope they're right. But I won't be here to find out if they're wrong.

evacuating Mali

Dear friends,
The situation in Mali is not good. We’ve had a coup d’etat, rebels taking towns in the north, and sanctions imposed. Most of my foreign missionary friends have already evacuated and in just a few hours I will leave Koutiala in a car with a couple of Dutch friends. We will try to cross into Senegal and head to Dakar.
Because of sanctions the borders are closed, but we have heard that most borders are letting people leave, they just won’t let shipments of gas or food come into Mali.
This is very hard for me, but I am very encouraged by your prayers and messages. Thank you!
Jean-Patrick is staying in Mali for now.
I plan to spend a few days in Dakar and then possibly fly to the
states.
I will update when I am safely in Dakar.
Blessings, Erin

difficult days, difficult decisions

I am getting ready to leave Mali. Just two days ago I thought I was staying. But things can change so fast.
Since the coup d’etat less than 2 weeks ago, the rebels in the north have taken the 3 big towns up there, (Kidal, Gao, and Timbuktu) and now the news is that they are pushing south. Not good. It has gone from bad to worse, and instead of waiting for it to get even worse than that (worser? more worse? ha, ha.) I am going to try to get out while I still can.
I was on the phone with a travel agent tonight, but now the office is closed and I have to try to finalize a plane ticket out of Bamako in the morning. I could go with the rest of the non-africans from my group who will be leaving by land to Burkina Faso, but I would rather just go straight to the states. I don’t think that whats happening here is going to be over in the next week or two.
So if it all works out, I should be going with 2 friends on a bus to Bamako on Friday – that is if there is gas and the buses are still going to Bamako. Then I’m looking to fly on Sunday or Monday night – that is if I can get a ticket tomorrow when I talk to the travel agent.
My husband Jean-Patrick is going to be staying in Mali. I think that I am in the middle of the shock of all of this right now, and too busy trying to arrange my house and pack and leave for an unknown amount of time, that it hasn’t really hit me that I am going without him. He can’t just get on a plane with me, he’d need a visa. (and that’s a whole process) If this goes on for too long he will try to get a visa, but for now he is going to stay in Mali at our house with our puppy and our kitty and our 3 chickens.
So I am putting things away, cleaning up the house and wondering when I’ll get to come back home to Mali again, and when I come back will my things still be there. I’m trying not to imagine desperate people ransacking our home. There is already the threat of famine here and now the borders are closed so no food shipments can come in. And I know, I know, things are just things. But that’s a lot easier to say when its not your things, not your life that could be compelety rearranged.
I think its some kind of psychological relief mechanism to start to worry about trivial stuff when there are huge things looming: hmm, the country is falling apart and I’m going to be seperated from my husband, but should I pack the green or the blue barettes for my hair, or maybe both? I should probably organize the bookshelf before I go. And too bad about this cheese in my freezer that I haven't used yet. Ridiculous.
I will keep this updated as I can; we’ve only had power at night the last few days.

Coup d'Etat: Democracy chucked aside

It has been a week and a half now since we had a coup d’etat here. Mali had been a shining example of democracy and stability in Africa for the past 20 years, and now this. We had been having problems for 2 months already in the north with Toureg rebels attacking towns and many people fleeing the violence to other parts of Mali or to neighboring countries. The rebels want a piece of land for themselves up there.
A lot of people, not least of all members of the military, were having issues with the way the president was dealing with (or not dealing with) these problems. Many of the Toureg rebels were in Libya fighting for Gadhaffi, and when they returned they brought some serious
weaponry with them. Why did the president allow them to bring arms across the border into the country like that? And then he sent the military up to fight off the rebels but with a lack of sufficient weapons and supplies. So I can understand why people were upset with the president’s actions and/or inactions. But there were presidental elections coming up so soon, only 5 weeks after when the coup happened. And the current president couldn’t have been reelected. So we were going to have some new president in place soon to hopefully fix things up.
But certain military guys decided that they should just chuck democracy aside and invade the presidental palace, capture the president, and take over the country. Super. In Bamako it was a bit scary for a few days, and I still wouldn’t want to be there right now.
But where we live things seem pretty normal.
Except for yesterday when I went to try to get some money from the bank. It was announced that there were 72 hours for the people who took over to give up, or else there will be sanctions. So that is going to be starting now. All of our neighboring countries will close their borders with Mali. So no shipments coming in. No gas (for my stove or motorcycle). No banking, no way to get
money. The power will probably soon be cut and not come back on. (for now it often cuts for up to 12 hours at a time, but then comes back) So I went to try to get money yesterday because it seemed like a good idea to have some of that on hand. There are 4 banks now with ATM’s in town. One of them was closed already. The others were packed very full in their lobbies, and there were longs line for the ATM’s. I’ve never seen a line for an ATM here before. I did manage to get some money.
A lot of other foreign missionaries decided to leave the country. Some of my friends left this morning, the last day to leave across land borders before the sanctions start. But I am still here. And I am safe. Don’t worry.
I need to go stock up on non-perishable food items, especially things that come across borders. My fridge will probably not have power soon, so we’ll try to eat everything in the fridge and freezer as best we can. Basically it could turn into “camping at home” pretty quickly.
We are hoping and praying that things will be resolved soon. As long as we are not in physical danger I am ok about staying here. I can deal with no electricity. Even if the water gets cut, we can draw water from a well. And if we have to eat only local food like millet and maize and cook it over wood or charcoal we’ll manage with that too. It’s hard to just not know what is going to happen and how long all of this will go on for. If things get dangerous as far as our personal safety, I will get out (either by the airport which is so far still open, or by a non-official backroads border crossing).
Thank you for praying with us for the situation in Mali.