On their way to cheer on the Malian national soccer team

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Week #12 Birthday Party for Gus and a Trip to Segou

We celebrated Gus' 4th birthday last weekend with several of his buddies from AISB. Festivities began with a donkey cart ride around the neighborhood. When the donkey got tired the kids rode their bikes at the PreK playground for a while, and then sat down a much-anticipated "DISH-OF-DIRT" (Gus' favorite ice cream dish at Montpelier's Dairy Cream ice cream stand, which includes ice cream and chocolate sauce on a bed of ground up Oreo cookies with a gummy worm sticking out the side.) We have been safe-guarding the gummy worms since we arrived in Mali! To end the day, Gus got a traditional Malian chair and a new Djembe drum!


After the big party we left Bamako and traveled down river about 150km to the port town of Segou. We had a nice boat trip along the river and then spent some time in Segou's huge market.


A continuous stream of large "Pinasse" boats ferry people, fish, sand, firewood, goats etc. in and out of the Segou port.

Washing cloths and washing dishes on the river..... and boats offloading firewood.

When you think Segou think fish! Monday is market day in Segou, and there are piles of fish at every turn!

Segou also has some amazing Bogolan cloth cooperatives where you can get instruction in the craft of making Bogolan cloth and see some exceptionally high quality work. Here are some beautiful examples!
Some bogolan masters at work!


The end to a quiet day on the river.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Week #11 - United Nations Day at AISB


A real highlight to our AISB year thus far was the celebration on October 16th of United Nations Day. All of the kids classes, pre-K through 12th grade, talked about the U.N. - its history and the present challenges - before the celebration. It is a common celebration apparently to International Schools and this year the theme was Poverty Alleviation Through Environmental Sustainability. Lots of excitement as the kids marched up from the early education campus to the school...






















At the school, the kids were queueing up to perform the Parade of Nations that begins the ceremony.







































Every child made a flag, or several flags, that represent their home country and their heritage. To mark the beginning of the celebration the kids marched around the seated audience twice carrying their flags. Many kids were dressed in national costume, colors or patriotic wear.




















After two laps around the audience the kids found their seats and the Calling of the Nations began. One nation at a time, students were called up to the front to put their flags in flag holders/clay pots. It was truly amazing how many countries are represented among the student body with many having parents from different countries or having lived in a different country for so long that they feel a sense of belonging to that nation. Lots of national pride evident under that tent!






















The full program was about an hour and included several skits focused on the amazing Moringa tree (said to grow 4 m. each year with leaves very full of vitamins and nutrients, and native to Mali), an address by a UNICEF rep who is also the father of several students, and a great rendition of We Are The World. After the program, there was a truly delicious potluck which offered great eats and opportunity to get pics of some of Jenna's friends...




















Thursday, October 23, 2008

Week # 10 - The Experience of Watching the Mali National Soccer Team play

Randy decided that the most fun way that he could think of to celebrate turning 41 was to go see the Mali National Soccer team play the country of Tchad/Chad in the qualifiers for World Cup 2010. He had a contact within the Malian sporting community that clued us in to the how and where of obtaining tickets (harder than it sounds as the game date changed several times in the weeks before the game and even the game time was hard to figure out two days in advance) and he organized a group of 35 people to see the game. The excitement in Bamako on game day was palpable. National colors of red, yellow and green were everywhere. We got into the spirit, and Jenna and Gus went to the game looking quite patriotic.




















As we were driven to the game on the outskirts of Bamako in a school van, people seemed to be pouring on to the road to the stadium from everywhere. So many people. Mali doesn't have a lot of different sports teams to support and there is an intense energy, and patriotism, that is directed toward the soccer team. We did notice there weren't too many other kids there - tickets are a luxury for many and too expensive to waste on kids that soon ask "When are we going home?" (Gus) but also the air is full a tense excitement and the sense that if the game doesn't go well the crowds may get a little too rowdy for the little people.
Here's some pics of the team playing. Notice the prominent red, yellow and green in the stands.

















And the fans around us...















We decided to leave just before half-time and heard a roar as Mali made their first goal when we were exiting the stadium. Tchad came back with another goal in the second half, but Mali clinched the win with a second goal before the end of the second half. Way to go Mali!!
On the way home in the car, we could see the glow of televisions on many street corners with groups of people gathered to watch. All the guardians down the street had their radios on as well. Soccer/football is big news here. While we all thought it was fun to experience the real game experience, we may enjoy the next one from the serenity of someone's living room without the excited tension of very revved up fans!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Week#9 - The Tooth Fairy Visits Bamako & Jenna and Gus On Belay
After more than two months of wiggling and with the replacement tooth already moving in, Jenna lost one of her bottom front teeth on Sunday night. She had been agonizing over whether it was close enough that we should wiggle it out all weekend and got out of bed after 5 minutes to announce that it was time. All it took was a wee wiggle and she was holding a little teeny tooth and dancing exuberantly around the room : ) See the proud smile below. The tooth cup that she made in kindergarten had journeyed around the world with us, and got put to good use.




















We wondered whether the tooth fairy knew how to get inside a mosquito net so decided to set the tooth bowl next to Jenna's bed. She came! And in Mali she leaves CFA instead of dollars and cents. There wasn't a chicken pecking around the room when Jenna woke up - to Randy & Stacy's relief and Jenna's slight disappointment. In some parts of Mali we are told that when a child loses a tooth they gain a chicken. See a great book for kids called I Lost My Tooth in Africa by Penda Diakite and Baba Wague Diakite. We found the book in Montpelier before we left and it was instrumental in Jenna's mind-set that Mali would be a fun adventure. It turns out that Baba Wague Diakite visited AISB last year as a visiting author so the kids here are very familiar with the book. This year the visiting author will be poet Brod Bagert in December - not sure if he has any poems about losing teeth. We'll come back to that in December.

Jenna and Gus Rock Climbing
We returned to Siby one more time this past weekend to let the kids try out some rock climbing and visit a waterfall that people rave about. Our friend Caleb was our chauffeur as his truck is more reliable than ours (not a tough contest) and Kat joined us as well.

Jenna was first...



The climbing wall at Rumney was good practice for the real thing! After a test that the rope really would keep her in the air if she slipped, she was good to go.

Gus was next. He got started with a boost from Dad, and never looked back...



























Ready to keep climbing...















After a taste of the stone, we loaded back into the car and headed to the waterfall.... It took us almost an hour along very bumpy roads, made worse by torrential downpours of recent weeks, until we reached the waterfall. We drove past some villages and lots of people walking down the otherwise quiet single-track road. As we got closer trees started to become more frequent and the greenery more lush. Walking down to the pool under the waterfall, it looked like the paradise vision from all those Hollywood movies. We brought life jackets for the kids, just to be on the safe side altho' there was no current, and they took a dip with Dad.




































Corn Row Fashion

Stacy with a Fulani man making tea by the river

Stacy with a Fulani man making tea by the river

Making concrete blocks by hand

Making concrete blocks by hand