kids program

I was so happy to have the opportunity to go to a village to observe a friend's children's work.  She works in quite a few villages near Bamako and visits each one once a month.  When she drives into a village, kids see her vehicle and start smiling and waving and running to greet her.  The village I went to was about an hour's drive south of Bamako.  There were 200-250 kids that came for the program.  My friend said that other villages have at least that many kids that come or more, up to 500.  I thought it was fairly chaotic and loud with the 200+, I think I would feel completely overwhelmed with 500.

In the first picture you can see the village church in the background and my friend is in front of some of the kids with some of the other leaders.  My friend plays her guitar and the kids sing and dance and clap.

Here are the kids raising their hands to answer a question about the story they've just heard.

At the end the kids got in lines according to their ages.  School aged children received a notebook and a pen or pencil.  The little ones not old enough for school got a piece of candy.

fast february

I know that February is the shortest month, but this one has seemed to go by SO fast. Well, for me at least.  I think its been long for Jean-Patrick because there has been a strike at his school so he has been home most of the month.  Something about the government not distributing the scholarship money that was promised to certain students.  So the students are waiting for their money and to protest they organize and make a strike so that no classes can happen.  There are a lot of strikes here and I think its ridiculous.  Apparently its part of the heritage that the French colonists left behind.  He has gone to school several times saying "I think the strike is done, I think there will be class today" only to come home again saying "nope."  He thinks school will start again on Monday.  If it doesn't I don't know what will happen with our plans and schedule for the future.  It would be nice to know when his last day of school will be so we can make plans, but that's just not how things work here. 

So why was the month quick for ME?  I think it is because I spent most of the month either working or sleeping.  When I wasn't doing work I was at home in bed for the first 3 weeks of February with a terrible cold that made me miserable and left me with no energy.  I managed to teach all of my classes and continue with Bambara lessons even though I was sneezing or coughing through some of it, and my voice didn't sound nice but it never did completely go away, so it worked out somehow.  This week I am feeling much better, I have had the energy to stay awake and catch up on a lot of the things that needed catching up on.  And just in time too, because I'm getting ready to leave for a weekend in a village!  When I get back it will be March already.