home / diary / Mali / 16 March 2005
Our Fisherman Friend
We have been amazed at the sincere kindness and generosity of the Mali people. Our Fisherman Friend invited us to spend the night at his village and ensured we were treated like royalty.

The courtyard was the central hub of all activity - we were given front-row seats in front of the communal black/white TV (attached to a 12V battery), served mint-tea and mangoes. Debbie was offered a huge bucket of water for a wash-down - this was hugely appreciated! We were then treated to dinner of maize porridge, cous-cous with peanut sauce ... and more mangoes :-)
 

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As the village enjoyed the delights of French-dubbed TV, we were invited to sleep on the outdoor beds for the evening. It was very tempting due to the heat factor, but the comfort of our tent/Luca's cabin proved slightly more tempting. Sleep did not come easy due to the village donkey (right next to our cars) who 'nayed' loudly the entire evening!! (Sameena does a very good impersonation :-))

The next morning 'Ne Ne' served us more porridge and invited Debbie & Sameena to join her at the river to see how she washed the maize. This was a daily social gathering of women - first they washed their clothes, then dishes, then the maize, then themselves ... all in the same river. It was lovely to experience their way of life and see how content they are with life.

Our Fisherman Friend invited us to stay for lunch - he had caught some rabbits the previous evening and wanted to cook them for us. Sadly we declined as we need to reach Bamako before the weekend. His son drove with us into town to show us the right road to Bamako - in town we decided to buy a new fishing line for our Fisherman Friend and send it back with his son. We regretted not being able to give this to him personally...


The Fisherman and his daughter



... with extended family
 


 

 


 

 

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