First stop - Djenne

The first stop in my tour about Mali was Djenne. We left Bamako by bus around 7 am and arrived in Mopti around 6 pm, just to spend the night. The bus makes a number of stops along the way, and at each stop women and men flood into the aisle selling food - fruit, little cakes, packaged "biscuits" - i.e. cookies - water in sachets that you bite the corner off of and sip right out of the bag, and more. Young boys stand just outside singing verses of the Koran and hoping for a few coins. Wouldn't it be something if our kids went around chanting Torah verses learned by heart!

The next morning we are off by very crowded car to Djenne, a city built entirely out of mud. Just before Djenne we must cross the river Bani by ferry. On the trip over young girls besiege us, selling necklaces, toys made out of recyled soda cans, beaded bracelets, and more. They do NOT take "non, mercy" for an answer! "Oh mommi! I make very low price for you! Very low price!" The only escape is when the car is once again on dry land and we set out again.

We arrive in Djenne on Saturday night, to be there in time for the big Monday market. Sellers come from as far away as Bamako and beyond to sell in this famous market. Djenne was where ancient trade routes converged and contines the market tradition today. We are offered rooftop accomodations at the first "campement" we stop at, but after grabbing a shower we head out for another campement with a plain but clean room with "real" beds. A Malian bed is a slatted frame with a thin foam mattress, even at the Djembe Hotel. You can feel every slat. I long for my nice soft bed back home!

We tour the city - really a big village - on Sunday. There is a large mud mosque, as well as several smaller ones. All the mosques in Mali are made from mud, with a very distinct look. Djenne is a mud city. Every year after the rainy season, repairs are made to the buildings and houses, all getting a fresh coating of mud. Some places were currently receiving a "facial" while we were there. I make a friend named Mangalah. He is from Mopti but works in Djenne making and selling cowry shell jewelry. I make several purchases - his work is very good. He promises we will see each other again in Bamako, as he will come to do some business there after I return from my tour.

There are animals everywhere. Goats, sheep, chickens, dogs. The goats are all very small compared to U.S. animals, as are the sheep. The chickens are very small and very skinny. The dogs mostly avoid human contact, as often as not they are met with a kick and a shout, even by the children. Animals are not treated very kindly in Mali. It has been one of the hardest things for me, watching the tiniest of kittens getting whacked on the head with a hard stick for absolutely no reason, or simply kicked in passing. Sometimes I yell at children to stop their cruelty, sometimes I yell at the adults too. The car we rode to Djenne had much cargo atop it - luggage, sacks of rice and grain, a bicycle, and four goats bound at the legs. While we drove along the "highway" we heard a thump behind us. One of the goats had fallen from the roof of the car at full speed. They stopped, determined that none of the legs were broken, and loaded it back on top and continued. Oy!

I was allowed to visit the big mosque while in Djenne. It was quite an involved process, requiring a local to enter and seek out the "priests" and petition on my behalf. Muslim women are allowed to pray in the mosque in a small section at the back. A woman may not enter the mosque if she is not "clean," meaning during her menses. I was questioned closely about whether I was clean - finally I convinced them that that had not been a problem for many years, and was allowed to enter. It was between prayers and mostly empty, save a few clusters of men studying Koran. I took a few pictures - there is mainly row upon row of spaces to spread a prayer mat and pray. On Fridays, when one is required to come to the mosque to make one's afternoon and evening prayers it can be full to capacity.

On Monday the town was crammed with buyers and sellers. Street after street is cheek and jowl with temporary stalls and blankets spread out with everything imaginable for sale. All sorts of grains, peanuts (much smaller than ours), yams, potatoes, little hot red peppers, onions, jewery, sunglasses, decorative masks, carvings, cell phones, and on, and on, and on... I made a few more purchases and mainly just took it all in.

Every day I see a number of people in "wheelchairs." A wheelchair here is powered in one of two ways. Many have a tall steering column topped by pedals like on a bicycle. The pedals are turned by hand, and a long chain and sprocket set-up powers the wheels. Others have a tall steering column topped by a steering wheel. The steering wheel is pushed forward and pulled back to "pump" the wheelchair into motion. Even very old, frail people power themselves around in this way.

After a morning of shopping, we leave Djenne and travel back across the river (accosted by the same girls selling their goods) and head back to Mopti. There we ac quire a small 125 cc motorcycle, spend the night, and prepare for the next day's journey to Songo, the first of the Dogon villages we will visit.

Day Three in Mali

I am taking Taewas advice, taking things calm and slowly, taking a relaxed pace. Taewa is the mother of the Djembe Hotel household, and she says this is the way things are in Mali. It sounds good to me!

This morning hotel guest Kisha, from NYC, had a dance lesson. My friend and guide to Bamako, Benge, played with drummers Isa and Banu, to provide music for the lesson. Benge invited me to join the drumming. First I kept the beat with a heavy stick on a bass drum. Then I tried my hand at djembe and kept up pretty well! Much fun to play with real musicians. The dance lesson was incredible, Kisha is a very quick learner, and the steps were difficult. She looks like the real thing to me!

After a little nap and lunch I spent time with Taewa and Jeremys children. We are celebrating Hanukkah early, since the boys will be on a camping trip starting on the 20th. So we are playing with little toys I brought as gifts.The big hit though is dreidl! Last night I taught the boys and we played on the family room floor. Soon Mai, the hired live-in girl, joined us. When Taewa heard our laughing and shouting she came in. When she saw we were playing for bon-bons - Skittles - she insisted on joining the game. It was a wild and hotly contested competition - really big fun. The house LOVES dreidl! I explained the story to the boys and they explained it to the others. Even baby Alex walks around shouting gimmel! gimmel!gimmel! It's a serious hit. We played again tonight and Im sure well play again tomorrow night. Much family fun!

This afternoon my friend Benge took me to the Museum de Nationale Mali where a free outdoor concert was held. Benge knows all the drummers and dancers in Bamako, and these performers were all friends of his. The concert was incredible, great drumming, and four male and four female dancers - they were unbelievable. There were maybe 200-250 people in attendance - and half were children of all ages. While the dancers took a break before the last dance, the drummers kept playing and bringing people out of the audience to dance. One of Benges drummer friends put me in his sights and pulled me up to dance in front of the drummers. I have been telling everyone I DO NOT dance! But in Mali EVERYONE dances - they do not believe if you tell them you can't. So I just decided it will be what it will be and solo-ed with the drummers for a minute or two. No one here will accept any more excuses from me from now on - oy!

So I am enjoying seeing a bit more of Bamako from the back of Benges scooter everyday - he is a great companion for me -very funny and very nice. We see the sights, enjoy some Castel beer - very good and very cheap, and always make it back in time for supper. I continue to figure out how to post some pictures from my camera. If I were using my own computer it would be easy. Ah well, hope springs eternal!

I found myself with tears in my eyes at the concert this afternoon. God was surely present - such joy from all the performers and the audience, joyous music, joyful dancers, everyone clapping along, children dancing on the grass. This music and celebration are everywhere in Mali, I think. The whole country moves to these truly ancient tribal rhythms from the time they begin life on their dancing mothers backs. Would that we all could grow up in time with the rhythm of life. Truly transcendent moments. Selah!

Days One and Two

Slowly settling in at the Djembe Hotel. I spent much of day one sleeping, but got up this morning to the sounds of a drum lesson out in the yard. Guest Gordon was taking a lesson with Drissa Kone, a fabulous drummer from the villlage of Kuruba. I wasnt ready to drum yet so just listened. Gordon is very good, he has studied in several African countries. Benge, the fellow who picked me up from the airport was playing the dundun part, sort of like a steady, repeating bass part played on two drums at a time. Benge is going to be Mali for me, I think. While I am here at the hotel, Benge will take me anywhere I want to go on the back of his scooter! Good thing Im already experienced on the bike!


After the morning lesson Benge rode me downtown to the big bank to change my Euros to CFA francs. We stopped at the Palaise de la Culture for a coke for me and a beer for Benge. This is a place where drumming and dancing takes place in an outdoor theatre of sorts. There was also a small workshop there where I watched men and women dying bogolon, mudclothe, all the colors come from different muds, used as dyes. The patterns are made using stencils and special brushes. I definitely will be bringing some bogolon home with me!

Riding through Bamako, the capitol, is quite an experience. Traffic is very heavy with public transport. sotromas, which are like vans with no windows and packed full with as many people as possible.Then there are private cars, taxis, buses, and hundreds of scooters like Benges. I could tell Benge was driving very carefully and slower than he would by himself. On the scooter you can weave through the traffic and get places much faster than in a car. Benge drove us along the Niger, which is the only place you see green here in the dry season. Very beautiful to me.

Visually I am totally overwhelmed. This is like no place I have ever seen before. There are little - shops - all chockablok everywhere, crammed together side by side. Its hard to tell which is selling what. There shops are made out of sheet metal, sticks, old tires, junk, row upon row upon row. Everyone is trying to sell a little something. The air is full of dust everywhere, there are fires burning, and LoTs of smog. City life!


Tonight Benge is taking me out again. This is his job at the hotel, schlepping people like me around! I asked him where we would go, he grinned and said We-ll see! So I guess Ill have to wait to find out.

Please pardon the lack of punctuation. My computer still isnt hooking up to the interenet here. I am using a house computer and the keyboard is French and very different and difficult. Still, I will try to keep posting. A biento!

Just a few more days...

In just a few more days I will be in Mali - finally! Follow this blog and share some of the sights and experiences I'll enjoy while there. Next post from Mali!