Come visit me, do a project!

Chrissy is handing out the t-shirts to the winners we picked, 18 in all. The rest of the 58 students received lollypops. 76- 4th graders. one classroom. one teacher.

Her school wanted to donate their school t-shirts, and I didn't want to just give them away, so we decided to do a little creative exercise on how to keep yourself healthy. We had them all draw pictures of things they could do. Some of the winners drew a bicycle (exercise), some drew fruits (eat healthy), and some drew watering can's for gardening (gardening- exercise and healthy eating!) It was a learning experience, but overall the kids were so happy to get their shirts and to draw!

I am helping Noeli with thoughts on what to draw here, drawing creativity is not developed here at all for the students, as they have no art classes, and no materials to do art with. Chrissy and I provided the paper and crayons for this exercise.

Here I am with the village mid-wife. Chrissy's students in the US provided sheets for the beds and cribs. They were so happy to receive these gifts, in return Chrissy got a chicken and peanuts as gifts. Chrissy also brought about 20 receiving blankets and 20 newborns outfits as gifts for the new mothers.

Brian, Chrissy, and I with a great view of a Dogon village. Dogon country is on the UNESCO world heritage site list. It was an amazing 3 day hike throughout some of the 146 villages

Brian, Chrissy, and I sitting in the Baobob tree.

This tree is a respected tree here in Mali. It's beautiful!

It's been a busy busy month and it's really not going to slow down for me until March. Both my brother and my college friend Chrissy have left, but I'm happy knowing they had an amazing time.

Chrissy is a pre-k teacher and she asked her students to bring in cloths and sheets for our maternity that doesn't have any. She got an amazing response and we were able to provide sheets for all the adult beds (6 in all), and sheets for the baby beds to accompany the adult beds. Again, the debate of just giving things away comes up in my mind. However, the whole idea of donating the sheets to the maternity came to me when my host parents were buying new plastic covers for the maternity beds. I asked where the money came from for them, and they said that every time women have babies they have to give money to the maternity. I found out there is a 'maternity commitee' and they are pretty organized! So, because they never rely on outside sources for income or support...even their own government....it was my (and chrissy's) pleasure to be able to give this small donation!

So, now both my brother and my very good friend of 10 years has seen a bit of how my life out here is. They both assured me they had an amazing time, and that one can't really understand my life out here, until you live it! I'm so happy to have been able to share this experience with them, and now I have my cousin Jodie and my best guy friend Kenny's visit to look forward to in January!