river at sunset





 

The Niger River is a 5-minute walk away from our apartment.  The river flows through the city so a lot of people live pretty close to it.  There is a cultural center with riverfront property in our neighborhood, and everyone is allowed to walk around the grounds.  Even donkeys, so you have to watch where you step!  I've gone down there a few times recently at sunset.  It is between 2 of the city's 3 bridges.  I can see cars and motorcycles crossing the bridges, but from the grassy river bank I can't hear the noise, and they are far enough away to look like toys.  The buildings downtown across the river seem shrouded in a magical mist, of course it is really only gross pollution smog, but I like to imagine.  If I wait for a bit a pirogue will pass by (that's what those long skinny boats are called.)  There is an ethnic group called the Bozo people who fish.  The guys in the pirogues are sure to be Bozo fishermen.  One throws a net, but no fish.  In the middle of a fast-paced and crowded city it is calm and open on the river.

  

walking with a camera

Here are a few pictures I took while out on the street with camera in hand.  The kids usually love getting their picture taken, but the man I took a picture of was excited to have his picture taken too. :)

 

we're awfully low

I've been looking at some information online lately.  Its like I'm doing a research project or something, only I don't need to.  It's completely self-imposed and out of my own interest - yes, I guess I'm a bit of a bookish-nerd.  This started when I asked myself, "Where does Mali rank among the poorest countries in the world?" The answer I found is that Mali is certainly among the very poorest countries in the world, but there is more than one way to measure poverty.  Anyway, I've been especially fascinated with a couple of lists and I thought you might find this stuff interesting too.  Or maybe not.  But by giving this little report its like I'm finishing with my project and now I can start studying up on other intriguing topics.  Hey, it's what I do for fun.

The first list is the United Nations' HDI list.
"The Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, standards of living, and quality of life for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare."
So this list rates each country's development and isn't a measurement of money per se, although there is of course a big connection between the monetary wealth of a country and the level of development.
Countries are measured and put into 1 of 4 lists of 46 or 47 countries each. The lists are:
1. Very High Human Development
2. High Human Development
3. Medium Human Development
4. Low Human Development. 
On the most recent bottom list (the least developed countries in the world,) of the 46 countries listed, 36 of them are in Africa.  And the 10 lowest (worst) countries on the list are all in Africa.

 The World's 10 Least Developed Countries
(#1 being the very least developed country in the world):
10. Burundi
9. Guinea
8. Central African Republic
7. Eritrea
6. Mali
5. Burkina Faso
4. Chad
3. Mozambique
2. Democratic Republic of the Congo
1. Niger

So from one perspective, we could say that Mali is the 6th poorest country in the world (or technically the 6th least developed country, but I see these as being kind of the same thing.)  I noticed that Chad (Jean-Patrick's home country) was very low on the list too.  If you want to see the whole thing for yourself you can check it out here:  LIST of countries
The other list I want to share is the World Bank's list of poorest countries in the world, this one can be seen here: 2nd LIST  On this list the countries are ranked according to GDP (gross domestic product) per capita.  The GDP is not a exactly a measure of personal income, but it is "often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living."  The GDP for America is about $50,000.  Obviously there are lots of people in America with an income less than that, and lots of people making more.  Somehow the big brainy folks average things out or whatever so that we can scientifically compare countries, and that is as much as I need to understand.  I have a degree in Sociology, but I hate math, so I don't want to think any deeper about all the calculations.  I'm happy just to look at the data once it has been calculated.
The World's Poorest countries
(based on GDP, #1 is the poorest)
1. Democratic Republic of Congo  ($422 GPD per capita)
2. Burundi
3. Eritrea
4. Liberia
5. Niger
6. Central African Republic
7. Malawi
8. Madagascar
9. Mozambique
10. Togo
11. Guinea
12. Ethiopia
13. Guinea Bissau
14. Mali  ($1214 GPD per capita)
----
22. Chad  ($1493 GPD per capita)

And FYI, USA has the 7th highest GPD in the world.  Did you think it was #1?

According to this 2nd list, Mali is the 14th poorest country in the world.  Whether it is 6th poorest or 14th poorest, it is still awfully low on the lists.  I guess that what makes both Mali and Chad look a bit better on the 2nd list is that there are natural resources that boost the economies a bit (gold in Mali and oil in Chad.)  The average citizen has not benefitted at all from the money these resources have brought in.  Mali and Chad both have some serious problems with corruption, but that is another list for another day.

English School update

Here is one of the signs pointing the way to our new and improved location.





For the past year I have been teaching English classes a couple nights a week, and I love it!   The school was started a few years ago by some people here, and it has really grown.  Today there are 10 of us involved in some way as staff, and we represent 5 different organizations.  I love that it is a cooperative effort between groups!  There are now 100 students spread out in the different classes, usually 10-15 students in each class, plus there is a conversation café night once a week that brings another 25+ students to the center.

The teachers are not paid, we do this work as volunteers.  Beyond teaching English, we hope to build friendships with the students. 
The students pay a low fee to take classes, but it is enough to cover rent and utilities for the building, and for books.
WE RECENTLY MOVED TO A NEW BUILDING!  We were in a house in which we used the living room as our classroom.  The location of that building was great, especially for me as I could walk there, but there was not enough space for any more students or classes.  It also was having some issues with a leaky roof, so it was time to find a solution to these problems.
The building that we have moved to was used before as a small elementary and high school for missionary kids up until the coup d'état happened. After the coup and up until we moved in, the building was not being used, so we were happy to move in and put it to good use.  It is possible that in a couple years the kids' school will be able to start again, but for now this is a great solution.
The new place is in a different neighborhood, so I have to take a taxi to get there, but that is the only negative and there are many positive things about it.

You can see some students in the 2 classrooms I teach classes in.  The new building has more rooms so we can hold multiple classes simultaneously.  The rooms are brighter because of more windows and they get more air circulating.  When the power cuts (as it often does), there is a generator we can start up so we can continue class with lights and fans on.  It is also at the end of a quiet street, so we don't hear noisy traffic like we did in the old place.