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Wednesday, 25 June 2008

This is my required entry to keep my blog active.

Wednesday, 09 August 2006

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By Maryse Conde
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Our time in Mali is drawing to a close.

The last few days have been spent seeing a Malian jam band, saying bye to the Bosches, visiting the National Museum and the Arboretum, dining in a "French" restaurant, and bartering for cowrie shells and Fulani earrings.

I also had the chance to hear the president of World Vision in Mali speak on his organization's work in physical and spiritual delelopment.

One of Paul's and my favorite activities to do together here has turned out to be laundry: when washing clothes in a tupperware tub, Paul is a splendid agitator, and I'm great at squeegeeing the water down the drain in the floor. Part of the thrill might also be clothes that don't smell like Mali, even if only for an hour or two.

Our plans for the next few days include going to a Peace Corps training village, getting henna-ed, and packing and saying goodbyes. From here we're headed to Casablanca, Paris, and Taize, so if you don't hear from us for several days, worry not. We might not have internet access until we're back in the States, although Paul my die of withdrawal before that point.

Please pray for smooth travel!

Sunday, 06 August 2006

In the last few weeks I've gotten to know some other missionaries here in Bamako who are not only amazing people in their own right, but are also doing amazing projects that I had a chance to plug in to a bit.

Winston and Berber Bosch are Canadians, which gives them automatic points. They say "cheers" and "eh" and let their kids run around the house naked. Also, they didn't have a TV for the first few years of their marraige. Winston works in agricultural development throught CRWRC (Christian Reformed World Relief Committee), and Berber recently headed up painting murals in an orphanage. I got to spend a morning helping with the murals. Just this last Thursday and Friday I also got to make the 40 minute journey into the bush to see some of the ag development projects that CRWRC has been working on: a market garden, large-diameter wells, compost pits, and stone walls to prevent erosion in the fields.

Carina Saarloos is a Dutch lady who ministers to prostitues. I got to accompany her to the Rahab Center, which is a storefront that provides a place for prostitues and widows to come to for prayer, watching the Jesus movie in Bambara, and various books and materials specific to their situations. A workshop of sorts is also being offerred to women who want to learn skills (like soapmaking) that will allow them to support themselves in a way other than prostitution. We also visited a lady who accepted Christ, left prostitution, and started a Nigerian restaurant. Carina is helping her with bible literacy. I really appreciated her empathy, inclusion, and honesty. Later in the evening we went to a bar that rents out small rooms to prostitutes. Carina and I sat and talked with a few of the girls, listened to them, spoke the truth into their specific situations, and prayed for them. Of course, they don't want to be in the situation they are, but they're afraid of trusting God to provide income. They're ashamed of going back to their families and telling them how they earned their money. The soapmaking workshops are so key to this ministry, but they need capital to get started. If you're interested, I'm sure I could get the funds to the appropriate place. One last interesting note on this topic: the owner of the bar who rents these rooms out is Catholic. He's glad someone is ministering to these girls. He figures if he doesn't provide rooms, the girls will just have to streetwalk, which is much more dangerous. He's respectful of the girls. And he knows that if some do leave because of Carina, the rooms won't stay vacant for very long.

Thursday, 27 July 2006

Greetings, my faithful and patient blog-checkers!

I have fallen hopelessly behind, so I'm going to have to summarize and/or cut back. Blogging is time-consuming. I need to take advantage of my time while I'm here. I'd be glad to fill in details and tell additional stories when I get home. In the mean time...

Wed 19.07.06:
Drove to Niena (aka the Bush) to visit another missionary family. (Ask me later about Gendarmes Couches.) They use solar panels to charge batteries--this is the source of all their electricity, and they live very comfortably.
I finally got a name that I can remember!!! I am a Diallo, which means that I am/would be/could be the daughter of a Fulani village chief. Fulanis are herdsmen and notoriously difficult to minister to, as they're usually nomadic and pretty staunch Muslims. I figure it suits me, as Diallos are rural sorts. Besides, I really like the karite trees from which Fulani women derive much of their income--they use the nuts to make shea butter. I also like cows. (Incidentally, the Fulani cows are the ones I would have been vaccinating had I come to Mali at the right time of year.)
Niena was an exciting place to be--some of the recent projects completed there include a new church, a deep well, and a community radio station that was broadcasting Christian music, English lessons, health classes for women, and whatever announcements people wanted to make, i.e. "I'm coming in from the airport--could one of my family please come get me?" Both the station and the receivers (which are permanently tuned to this one station) are also solar powered. This means the station can only broadcast for 8 hours a day during the rainy season--too many clouds.

I'm getting too verbose. Gotta cut back.

Thur 20.07.06: Niena/the Bush
Went further into the bush to visit a Malian missionary family. Ate a la Malienne: everybody from one pot--with your right hand. Also got to walk the cotton fields.
Some concerns of Christians in Mali: fear of family's reaction; death. Lots of Christians in the area we were visiting apparently had/have a tendency to die. It is more clear to me in Mali than it is in the States how the spiritual realm interacts with the physical.

(Side note: check out www.acts-29.us. Anyone want to help me organize a trip to Hamtramck when I get back?)

Here's a thought: I become ignorant of my dependance on God because I restrict myself to situations that I think I can handle in my own strength.

Things I'd like to incorporate more into my life:
-Voluntary Simplicity (check out http://www.simpleliving.net/)
-Yoga & Meditation
-Social Justice
-Community Prayer and Singing in the Home
If you're into these things too, talk to me! We can encourage each other.

Strange Cultural Note: White people are assumed (justifiably) to be rich. (Something like 70% of Malians make less than a dollar a day.) Malians distrust rich people who do not live in a visibly rich manner. Translation: a missionary who practiced voluntary simplicity in order to give more to the Malians would be distrusted by the people they were aiming to help.

Fri 21.07.06
Back from Niena.

Sat 22.07.06
Artisan Market. Traditional medicine booths = smelly dried animal parts for sale. iPod shuffle pickpocketed. I feel stupid for having forgotten I even had the thing with me, but I've made my peace; consider it retribution for gross income disparity.
Paul and I were said to have bartered like Malians. Good thing; Tuaregs drive a hard bargain.

Sun 23.07.06
Malian church. Could only understand about three words: Matigi (Lord), baara (work), and tanu (praise), but the Spirit was evident.
Said bye to Paul--he's headed for Dogon country this week.

Enough for now. I love you all and look forward to hearing from you!

(What is truth? Christ is truth. The power to live in truth comes from Him alone. Live in his power!)

Sunday, 23 July 2006

Updating Soon

The delinquent blogger returns. I just spent Wed-Fri in the bush and the weekend with Paul. More to come! And all of you who are reading this and not leaving any feedback, please, humor me and provide me with something resembling an audience. It's hard to write to a formless void. (There's a "comments" link immediately below this text.)