Au revoir (ohr vwahr)

Until we meet again, goodbye...

The time has come for us to say goodbye to all of our Mali friends and come home. Last night was filled with packing, phone calls, and sad goodbyes. We had a wonderful time in Africa, but miss our family and friends at home dearly. Tonight we will board the aircraft... this doesn't mean the end of our postings, but rather a delay in them showing up until we get home. We still have so much to tell everyone about Mali!

Our 5 1/2 months here in West Africa went by fast and I recall the day we stepped off the Air France flight. Many things have changed since then and it is now "winter" here (if you call 90F and dust storms...winter). Here is a list of things we will miss and a few things we won't ever forget.

1. Our dog Walter :(
2. Watching the African sunset from our porch
3. Joking with our drivers
4. Getting stuck in traffic
5. African red dust and dirt
6. Banana ladies
7. To-Baboo (word for white man)
8. Watching the kids from our porch chase the baby goats
9. Our guards sleeping!
10. The neighborhood kids playing

The gates we have passed through countless times on our way to the airport. Tonight will be the final time.

Second Visit Part II

We are preparing to depart on sunday for the USA! Here are some more pictures of our trip on thursday. The boy really liked his t-shirt. He had to put it on right away! Enjoy the smiles.


Two more gifts for us...

Second Visit

We made it to all the sponsor children once again. World Vision was kind enough to dedicate another day to us. This time we were allowed to do something special. We requested to stop at the school (before it let out for lunch) to visit the kids in the classroom. The headmaster was kind enough to allow us to interupt his class and pass out stuffed animals. Each child attending the elementary school got a gift, and Mrs. Gander's 2nd grade letters will be translated and read to the Malian 2nd grade later this week! (Most of these children are registered with World Vision or have a sibling who is). We had a blast and will never forget it. The kids were great. Lots of mixed reactions as always. But in the end they had smiles from ear to ear and were laughing so hard they could be heard villages away.

Thanks again to all those at home who sent gifts and helped get the animals here. We have been blessed beyond measure by this experience and can't thank you enough!

Here are a few pictures from today! The first two are from the school. The third is Jody and I being surrounded by the village kids...you think they are expecting something!?! The last photo speaks for itself. More to follow...

Our Visit Part III

We are back with some more information about our trip and a new development to report! When we made our village visit we only had part of the shipment. The remaining boxes made it to Bamako and cleared customs TODAY! That means that we will be going back to visit more sponsored villages as well as meeting with our kids to drop off pictures, cards, and more stuffed animals. We can not thank World Vision enough for allowing not just one, but two visits. It's truly a blessing that the packages made it here. The airport is closed for maintenance and we didn't think we would see them while we were still here. How they made it here is a miracle! We depart Thursday for our second mission at 0700.

Back to information from our first visit... In between two villages there is a school. The school was built with donations to World Vision in 2005. It replaces the outdoor school that was plagued with snakes and insects. We were honored to tour it and meet with the Head Master. The children were on lunch break when we went. A typical school day goes from 8-12pm and then 3-6pm, but it varies from area to area. This way they avoid the heat of the day. This school teaches all of it's classes in French.

P.S. It was brought to our attention that Mrs. Gander's second grade class also participated in the donation program! Thank you for sending such wonderful letters and pictures. We can't wait to share them with the children. Hope you enjoy the photos of the Malian 2nd grade class room!

Our Visit Part II

After writing the last post we realized that God has given us a huge task, but no matter how many posts, emails, or hours it takes…we are going to do the best we can. We came up with this list of questions and answers to explain what we saw, what we learned, and what we will never forget. We tried to put them in order of how the day went…and have included some more pictures.

How were the roads to the villages?
The trip to the World Vision site office was quite nice, but after we left the pavement it was a rough, narrow dirt road that winded through the Sahel. We had a 4x4, but good thing it hadn’t rained lately.

Who from World Vision accompanied you on the trip?
We were accompanied by the manager, the sponsorship supervisor (who over sees the needs of each child, makes frequent visits to them, and is responsible for their enrollment. She has the biggest responsibility!), and the development facilitator. These people were great! They spoke English and were able to translate for us where needed. They knew just what to say and when!

How many villages did you see and how many kids?
When we first asked to do this we thought we would only get to see Soh and Seba. We did not expect WV to dedicate an entire day for us! We saw 6 villages. If your child is on the MLC master list we saw him/her along with several hundreds of other kids who gathered around. Our visit was planned and good news travels fast right?!

What was the first thing you did when you got to each location?
At each site we were greeted by the village elder/chief and shook multiple hands. Then we were seated in the center of the village and the child’s name was called. We visited with each one, asked questions, and shook their hand. Each site also has a World Vision volunteer. This person reports to the Sponsorship Supervisor and is essentially her eyes and ears! The volunteers and families were more than excited to see us and communication mostly consisted of smiles and laughs. These elders asked for their photo to be taken. This is a rare occurrence in Africa!


How did it feel entering this place for the first time?
Jody and I felt at ease in the village. Having been in Africa for so long and having visited other villages for work…we knew what to expect. The only thing I didn’t expect was how I would feel when I saw my families child. Thousands of miles apart, decades of difference, but one thing was the same- her smile on the fridge at home and the one I saw.

What were the living conditions like and what type of health were the kids in?
The children were all in good health, besides the common runny nose that every 3-5 year gets. By our standards, the living conditions are very poor. They live in mud huts and sleep on the dirt floor. They don’t have many clothes or toys. Some don’t have any toys. Two toys were spotted on our trip – one was a rolling toy made out of gourds and the other was a Barbie phone! Anyone send there child this lately?


What was the funniest thing that happened on the trip?
While I went back to the car to get candy, some how Erin was given a chicken! A live chicken! It seems like a strange gift, but to them it is an important gesture. It was an honor to receive the chicken! When we get home we’ll tell you whose family gave it to us. Were just glad they didn’t try and give us the goat which came before the chicken… Jody and Talla (our driver) unloading the chicken. Talla was our photographer for the afternoon.


How did the children react to you and what did they do when they were given a toy?
Some were excited and bravely approached us with out caution. Some were scared…a few cried. Almost all of them had never seen a white person before. This made a lot of them unsure. But like parents at home…they told their children not to be afraid and encouraged them to shake our hands or give us high fives. When they received the toys they were mostly curious. They stared at the toys to see what it was. After a while they were excited and holding their toys tightly. This little boy just wasn't quite sure how to react. One of our favorite pictures from the day.