The truck is loaded and off they go to school!.  The first day of school was greeted with great anticipation here at the Healing 2 the Nations base in YIrimadio, tho it started much later than we are used to in the US.  First reports were that it would start in mid September, but there was one delay and then another and the actual starting date was October 3rd.

Hawa had purchased supplies and prepared bags for each student before she left for her trip to the states in early September; textbooks according to their grade, composition notebooks, little blackboards, chalk and sponge eraser, pens, pencils and a sharpener. Some of the students also got a ruler or set of mathmatical instuments. 

Beaming smiles lit up faces and eager fingers reached for each bag, quickly opening them and exploring the contents.  No fancy, hi tech I phone or MP3 player was ever greeted with more excitement. Shouts of joy accompanied the discovery of such trophies as this set of simple mathematical instruments-- a compass, pencil, small ruler, and triangle--all in a little metal box with a hinged lid.  A few items were missing-- and it seemed each scholar knew just what they were supposed to have received.  Paul made a list and purchased the missing items on Tuesday.

Meanwhile other things continue as nomal.  The widows who receive a monthly bad of rice arrive to pick up this welcome addition to their meager budget.  50 K of rice costs as much here as it would in the states. The problem is that their income is a small fraction of what you are making-- and I do mean SMALL fraction.  The average person in Mali survives on less pay in a week as you likely make in an hour!  No Starbucks or Pizza Hut takeouts.
Paul sits and chats with each lady who comes.  Relationship is such an important part of life here.  No grab and go!  There are extended greetings at each meeting.  Good afternoon!...  How is the family?...Are your children well?  ...And your husband?.... I have only begun to scratch the suface of the combinations that may be asked.  ("Tooro te" --"No problem"-- is usually a safe bet if I am not sure of the appropriate answer.)

Agriculture in Yirimadio-from Bucket Kits to Sweet Corn

Fruit Trees, Sho, Saba, Su-sun and Sweet Corn—and BUCKET IRRIGATION KITS!

The day started out hot and dry again, with even our white painted door putting off heat by 8 am. We have not had rain for 4 days now. I know that may not seem like a lot in a temperate climate, but here, that means DRY and dusty as soon as the wind stirs. The plants really needed watered, and Adama has that job first thing in the morning. I am trying to get him to see the needs of the garden with his own eyes and not wait for me to tell him what to do. He also is responsible to empty the “dumuni kolo”(food wastes) bucket into the compost area and sprinkle a shovelful of dirt over it. Both the Malian 'kaba' and the American sweet corn that we planted earlier are finished now, and he has removed those stalks and put them to rest as humus in the soil where we will be planting more bananas. We have replanted both kinds of corn and some sweet-grass in an area near the water tower, knowing that it will need regular watering-- maybe even 2ce a day-- after the rains stop in October. We are hopeful that Ray will be able to rig a gray water tank to make use of the significant amount of hand, dish, and clothes washing water that currently just goes into the septic tank. The good news is that at least that water is perc'ing down thru the soil and staying in the area, rather than rushing down the hill in a ditch, eroding as it goes.

TREES: We have purchased and planted 2 tangelo trees, another orange, a lemon, 2 banana plants(you know they are herbs, and not trees, don't you?), a 'su-sun' (guava),and a second medium sized mango. They needed some better ground to get started well, so we also got some manure from a local cattle holding yard to enrich our sandy soil. Thanks to Mt Rock's Discipleland children for sponsoring this fruit tree project. Our boys should be eating from those trees for many years to come.

The bouganvilla is growing wonderfully, and I have been warned that we will need to chop it back regularly, but for now it is green and provides evaporative cooling and shade for our wall.  It will also provide beauty when it flowers- I know that I have magenta, white and red blooming types.

We already have planted 3 'saba' (a vine that produces a citrusy flavored tropical fruit in early summer), a tall skinny orange (without much root, I discovered), and about 2 dozen mangoes that we started from seed. Amadou (a big 11 year old) is the one with the green thumb, coming to me on several occasions with seedlings that he had found. They are doing well where they are planted together in a 'plant nursery', and we will tend and water them thruout this next 6 dry months, before transplanting them to more permanent locations next spring.

Adama, our 18-year old gardener-in-training, picked the eggplant from our garden and delivered it to Fanta to incorporate into the noon meal. (4 plants grew + we'll probably get 15 or 20 nice eggplants). A few sho (green beans) should still be coming on the few remaining plants that cutworms or lizards didn't kill, and the Malian beans (pigeon peas) yielded a decent crop in the upper plot. They were a interesting late addition, and got planted as a result of 7-year-old Bakary coming to me with a gleaned handful of spilled seed that he had carefully picked up in the cooking area. They are a much more robust plant for this climate and did well in the small plot we alloted to them. There were also a few sweet potato plants started from sprouts cut off of dinner, 2 volunteer watermelon plants and several maize stalks in that area. We probably won't plant there again because of the distance from water, but it will get watered til the melon produces—or quits!. It is also adjacent to the compost pile, which should yield some good soil for our dry season garden.

Which brings us to the subject of dry season gardens, and how to make them work. Here is some news that got me excited today! I was just given a web link for an organization that makes drip irrigation 'Bucket Kits' Check them out!! Chapin Living Waters in Watertown NY. http://www.chapinlivingwaters.org/ . They created these in direct respnse to the need for families in drought troubled areas to raise food to sustain their family. They are a God send! Thanks to Ewein and Anco (again) for this link. I can hardly wait to hear back about starting a pilot project here in Yirimadio. In the name of Jesus, 'Living Waters' make the kits available around the world for a very modest cost, and I would bet that most of you could take the money you would spend on one dinner out, or on this month's dessert budget, and sponsor several kits to go to folks, like our neighbors here in Yirimadio, who may not have more than rice to eat for many days in Jan and February. I would be delighted to hear that some of you checked them out and found them a worthy place to support with your donations.

Well, gotta run. School is starting this week, and that is another story.

Have a great week and, remembering how blessed you are, find some new ways to be a blessing!

MiminMali