Bougouni

Bougouni is about 2hr and 45 min South of Bamako. This is where Mom and Dad Walker go every other week.

The pictures are of some of the wives and children of Dad's Bible school students. Mom and I got to "help" in the "kitchen" last week.

I have to say that I felt completely inadequate in a Malian "kitchen". I'm not sure how much help I was! This lady is at her stove/oven. Each family has one in front of their home-which is usually a 2 room cinder block structure with few or no windows.

The lady in yellow is stirring her "toe soup". It is basically a paste made out of millet. Mom got to help sift kilos of millet flour. I got to cut lots of green onions without a cutting board and crush onions with a mortar and pestle. (That means I crushed them in a wooden bowl, using a large, wide stick).

Everyday these women get wood for their fires. Most of their day consists of gathering and making food.












This is Rebekah and her little girl in their house.

Christmas Vacation

Well, I survived the holidays without being with either of our families. And, I'm still here! Even though it was a different Chritsmas, some good things happened over break.

Briant's parents sent us some goods from the U.S. I never knew that I would consider freezer bags such a luxury!!! Can you see all the blue boxes on the ground?


On New Year's Eve, we went to "The Rocks". We climbed one up on these huge bolders and had a camp fire that night.












This is Jake, the FO from Texas.




































While setting off some fireworks on New Year's Eve, our group started some brush fires. They got really big but went our fairly quickly. Everything is very dry here.

Getting away

Last week-end we went on a picnic with my parents. It was a beautiful, windy day. You can see that it's starting to look less and less green. It was so nice to leave the city and get away where there was no one to ask me for anything.
I think the hardest part about living here is people asking me for money, for an advance, for work, or just about anything else. (That includes kids asking if they can come in my yard or swim in my pool.)

Timbuctu

Briant has been to Timbuctu several times but I finally had a chance to ride along on a flight on Nov. 19th.




This is a view from the airplane. Timbuctu is right on the edge of the Sahara.











The building says "Welcome to Timbuctu". A small heard of sheep decided to walk by as I was taking the picture.








This is one of three mosques that we saw. It is made out of mud. When it rains, everyone is expected to go to the mosque to help patch up any holes forming in the walls. (I have no idea how often it rains here!)
























We are at the restaurant with our tour guide. The pink curtain is the door to the restaurant. Surprisingly, the floor of the restaurant was concrete. This is unique because the floors inside of the people's homes were sand. All but one of the roads were sand.




An oven.



















I don't have a comment for this one...

A trip with Briant

About a week ago, I (Harmony) got to ride along on a flight to Dakar, Senegal.

This is the BE 1900 at the Bamako airport waiting for it's passengers.

Briant and Jake, the other FO. The plane just got back to Bamako with Jake and is leaving for Senegal with Briant.

The cockpit.

We made a stop on the way at the Sadiola gold mine. This is what part of the mine looks like from the runway.

Briant, flying the approach into Dakar, Senegal. We are over the Atlantic.

Senegal’s beach.

This is where we spent a few hours sleeping and eating before our 2:30 a.m. departure back to Bamako.

Two young beggars

These little boys were walking by our house. When they saw my camera, they wanted their picture taken. They are showing off a still live lizard that they caught. The lizard will likely be their lunch!

The waterfall near Sibi

At the end of this post is the waterfall that we went to see about 4 weeks ago. Here are pictures from the trip.















We saw some interesting rock formations and lots of mud hut villages.













In this village, we picked up a "tour guide" to show us the way through the woods to the waterfall. He was 15 and spoke just enough French to get us there.



















Finally, about two hours later, we made it to our destination. We would not have make it without an SUV. About half of the drive was on a rocky path and over several small creeks.

What Briant has been up to...

10/3/06

On monday, I got to fly to Timbuktu. To be honest, it wasn’t that interesting but it is fun to say I’ve been there now. Next time I go I am going to get a stamp in my passport. We flew the South African ambassador and some executives from a sugar company up there so they could do some sightseeing. I got to talk with the ambassador for a little bit but I didn’t realize who he was. I felt like an idiot when I asked if he was Malian! Oh well! He was very nice. His three kids all go to the American school and Harmony will have them soon in her art classes.

I have been flying quite a bit lately. The company that bought SAS about a year ago is short on pilots and they asked me if we would do some flying for them. I am happy to do so because it means I will get more hours. I am scheduled to fly everyday this week and will probably spend Thursday night in Conakry, Guinea. It has been a good learning experience to fly with some different captains because each one flies a little differently.

I have enjoyed getting to know the Malians who work for SAS at the airport. They clean the planes, refuel, and help out with all kinds of stuff. There are probably about eight to ten guys. A couple of them speak a little English and some speak French but they all speak Bambara. They are very happy if you show an interest in learning Bambara. I asked a couple of them to teach me some and now I know how to say a few things. I know I will never be fluent but it is fun to know a little bit. One guy wants to work on his English so I told him I would help him if he helps me with French and Bambara. Sounds like a good deal for me, two for one! I’m sure it is funny to watch us interact because I speak very broken French to them and they speak very broken English back and then I have to ask them to repeat the Bambara words a million times. (I’ve started carrying a folded up piece of paper in my shirt pocket so I can write stuff down, if I don’t I would never remember how to say stuff). Hanging out with the workers is one of my favorite things to do here. They are all very friendly. I think they like being friends with an American.

Harmony's thoughts

Below are some observations, thoughts, and happenings. If you get bored reading, scroll down to the next entry and just look at the pictures :)

KIDS
The kids here are absolutely adorable! If you say hi to them they start giggling and jumping up and down. If you stop and shake their hand, they are ecstatic. If you go running or hiking, they will often follow you. They love getting their picture taken and think it is the coolest thing to be able to see themselves on a digital camera’s LCD screen. They never fail to make me smile.

HOMESICK
I had my first real touch of homesickness today. I watched the rain all morning, wore jeans, and sipped hot chocolate; pretending it was fall. The hot chocolate tasted funny because I had to make it with powdered milk. I had to wear flip-flops and a t-shirt with my jeans because it wasn’t really that cold out. I absolutely love summer but am realizing that I do actually miss “jean weather”.

WORK
Everything takes time here. The market where we buy produce and meat, the grocery store where we buy yogurt and cheese, and the bread “store” (it’s more like a shed on the side of the road) are in three different places. Then, we have to bleach the produce and pass the bread over an open flame before we can eat it. Everything is made from scratch. I didn't know that being able to buy frozen vegatables was a luxury!
Then, there’s the dust that makes for lots of laundry, dirty floors, and filthy feet. My nightly routine includes washing my feet right before I go to bed. I used to wonder why missionaries in Africa needed househelp. Now I know! And, yes, I hired a part-time worker. He is very happy for the work and is a great cook.

MOSQUES
We can hear the call to prayer five times a day from our house. I’ve always wanted to go in a mosque but I don’t think that will ever happen. The other day, we walked by the outer gate of a mosque without even realizing it. First, we were asked where we were going. Then, as we got closer, someone frantically started closing the gate saying “mosque, mosque, mosque”. I guess we got to close for comfort!

THE WEATHER
I don’t know if Malians like cool weather. A few weeks ago, Briant and I came home in the dark around 9:00 p.m. We were wearing t-shirts and flip-flops. As we pulled up to the house, we didn’t recognize our night guard because he was wearing a pretty big jacket and a hood! I wonder if the high-70s will ever start to feel cold to me…

On a walk to the "Two Mosque Rd"

Briant and I went on a walk a couple days ago and this little boy followed us. This wheel and stick were his toys. He was so excited to have his picture taken that he called a bunch of other kids over so that they could get their picture taken too!

Our destination was the "Two Mosque Rd" but we had to walk through this neighborhood and part of the market to get there. This woman is doing her dishes here.

The open area is a soccer field on the way to the Two Mosque Rd. (We make up names for all the roads here since they don't have any.) You can see the two minarets from the mosques in the background.
This is the actual Two Mosque Rd. We made it. We see lots of people pushing these little carts.

There are mopeds everywhere and, in this case, mopeds that don't work. Notice the baby strapped on the woman's back. This is how women carry their kids here.

This sign says "Welcome to the Badalabougou market". It sure stands out in the middle of our market!

One last market scene.

Scene from Bamako

This is usualy what we see as we leave our house. I don't know where the goats are today.

This one was born just outside the school. Isn't he cute?

Crossing the Niger River. Two people fit on a bike but you can fit 3 or 4 on a moped if some of them are kids.

I think she's carrying peanuts... Someday I'll get a picture of a woman carrying something heavier.
Mom and Dad's "garbage truck". (Ours is much smaller!)

Our house and surroundings

The front of our house, from just inside our gate.

View from just outside our front gate. Behind the wall, which is behind the boy's head, is the American International School where Harmony works. Double click on the picture to enlarge.

The road that leads to the market.

Some of the boys who play soccer on our road. We think that it's the only strip of somewhat flat, smooth road in the neighborhood. That would be why they play right by our house.