Poverty persists in MALI

Riding a taxi the  other day here in Bamako, MALI,  I  observed a number of young people working at odd jobs along the street.   But as  I reflected on the quality of the job or workplace, it  struck  me as examples of the deep poverty and underdevelopment persisting here.

A girl making french fries, waffles, or beans under the hot sun:

A man selling toothpaste and toothbrushes that he carries all day:

A girl selling bags of bissap drink, nice and cool, but a long day for her:

Just before we left Mali last  year I had visited the Moor village of Duduya with a friend to say goodbye for a time.   My friend wanted to see his cousin Souffi, so we stopped by their huts.  Like normal a young girl approached us with water to drink and we were offered seats and started chatting.  I noticed the girl, about four years old with a big smile, limped. As she went back to the water jar to place the big cup I saw that her legs were bowed and that she didn't let one leg touch ground.  Asking I learned that she had been run over by a moto or donkey cart at two years old, and they said the legs had "healed" like that.  

This village is only 10  miles from the local hospital.  Souffi  himself has suffered for years with a foot fungus or infection they call "gale" that causes deep cracks in the skin and hurts when he walks.  He's a farmer obliged to often be in his fields. A few times  I have  given him special creams, but with out good long term treatment,  maybe even closed shoes and socks, they will not heal in the extremely dry climate that cracks all our feet at  some point during the year.

I felt powerless.   In just two days I would be leaving MALI for a long term away.  To help her requires a visit of the  hospital for x-rays, probably a re-breaking of the legs to set them properly, and fixing the dislocated hip, a set of procedures taking months in the hospital and much money (tho not near the money it would cost in the western nations). I know how to follow-up such needs, but time was ended for me, and I was powerless.

There was even a new small mud-walled clinic being  built by the village folk, I even met the new nurse setting up shop. I asked  if  she was doing a health census and  if she had noticed  the little girl.   Yes, she replied.  Has something  been done?    I have no idea, and I have little contact with them from way off overseas.  I felt, feel, powerless, in the face of such poverty.  Ten miles to a village person is as far as Tombuctoo to us. They fear and hate going to the local hospitals as most they send there die.

What can be done?  Do  we care?  Often when confronted by a community problem such as bad roads, leaky bathrooms, muddy markets, etc, a Malian friend might say to me, "That's not my problem."   Well it is, in fact.  We live in community, whether we are in the streets of Baltimore, suburban Philly, or in a village of Mali.  Community defines and helps us.  We are all living together, for decades even, and we are responsible to each other, and each other's family.  Did my friend go to help, he had the means to do so, it's his cousin's family, but ... somehow I doubt it.

Now that I'm back in Mali, once I go visit Kayes, I will go see my little girl friend and see how she is.  She is in my community.  Can we help?  Of course.

What can be done?   Preaching of the gospel includes social dimensions of fighting for justice, helping the prisoners and widows, defending the babe in the womb, etc. as well as proclaiming the Shalom offer of Jesus the Christ to all peoples.  Our love must be seen in order to be heard.  We live in community, we are indeed responsible, it is our problem.

Friendly boys begging for food or coins to take back to their Muslim marabout teacher:

What can be  done?

What we did in 2010: by the numbers

1: woman of the Soninké tribe discipled through weekly Bible studies and baptism preparation. (Jennifer)
1: Christian FM-radio station launched by a Malian Christian NGO with help from UWM (we have provided facilities and electricity, and helped them to find equipment); they currently broadcast about 18 hrs/day.
1: semester served on board of Dakar Academy. (Jennifer)
1: graduate class for education degree. (Jennifer)
1: son graduated from Dakar Academy, with honors.
2: new missionaries recruited for MALI, in a seconding agreement with WEC.
2: evangelism and medical teams to the Moors (about 15 participants all told, to 8 villages altogether).
5: meetings of the Malian Assoc. of Evangelicals attended by Jim, where he is serving on the Committee of Reconciliation to head off a split in the organization.

6: men taught in Bambara language Bible school (in partnership with Norwegian Lutheran Mission).

10: meetings with the local Christian school committee (see pix).
10: ESL teachers whom Jennifer observed and trained in Bamako during 2 weeks in January.
15: meetings in churches last summer, and we were featured at the Missions Night of the Annual Conference of the Church of Christ (Holiness), an African-American denomination, in St. Louis.
22: visits to disciple new Fulani believer in Kayes (who came to Christ through the controversial "Common Ground" method of evangelism). (Jim)
27: women trained in leadership seminars (in partnership with Marcie Harris). (Jennifer)
28: years celebrated married to same spouse!
35: Christian Fulani leaders hosted in MICCAO annual conference in Kayes for one week
30: visits to Fulani villages for outreach and supervision of the well project in Duduya. (Jim)
40: meetings with the Kayes Pastors' Cooperative for prayer and planning of joint evangelistic events. (Jim)
49: shows of original Star Trek watched!
52: beggars helped on our front porch by prayer, food, Bible reading, cash, work, clothing, loans, empathy, medicine, counsel, etc.

75: visits drinking tea to do friendship evangelism among mostly Fulani friends, often playing Bible story cassettes or mp3 players like the Megavoice. (Jim)

150: radio broadcasts managed in the Fulani & Moor languages (on 2 different stations).

12,000: miles traveled June-August in the USA & Canada to facilitate partnerships, raise funds, promote ministry, and keep in touch with supporters including many visits with churches and dear friends.

Medical Ministry to the Moors

Adela removing splinter from foot

The two teams of ministry in February to the Moors went well.  The medical team from Canada was here for seven days and we were able to provide services in four Moor villages and also give the Chinese church a good view of life in Africa and missions.  We trust the Lord will use their reports and enthusiasm to enable missions in their Toronto and Hong Kong churches. 

Andrew helping Marianne in 'clinic'

croc pond and flooded wadi

I had a nice short trip with Idi Thiam to visit some Moor villages.  Claudio Elian went along, and it was his first time in most of the places and among the Moors.  Idi’s grandson, 10, was along and was a lot of fun.  Also along were three men who live in Kayes but come from some villages: Ould Baba of Hamo, Dade of El Gelita, and Salek of Taskaye.  
We left Sat morning, had lunch in Daba 1, spent one night in Daba 2, left early, had lunch in el Gelita, spent one night (with rain) in Taskaye, left early again, got held up for 3 hours by the flooded wadi at Nyakalel, finally ate at Hamo, broke down at Medina, and made it home to Kayes about 9 pm Monday.  They wanted to give condolences to an old man whose wife, an aunt of Salek, had died recently.  They also wanted to discuss a lot of village problems and politics with everyone and held some informal meetings in the Dabas and Gelita for that.   Claudio, Mamadou and I, and a guide, visited the croc pond of Gelita, but found only one dead croc above the dry falls.  Great pix tho ;-)    I was able to read or play quite a bit of Fulani scripture to Idi in the car and in the villages since he wasn’t really involved in the village discussions.  As several of the men also speak Fulani they heard the Psalms being sung on the car cassette player, too.  

( see more photos on Picasa at: http://picasaweb.google.com/malibowers )

Jim's Journal from June 22nd - Staying with the 'Devil'

I feel I’m sitting in the house of the devil! Idi’s Moor friend whom we are visiting is a renowned marabou healer, Mohammad Siby, in Yelimané where his son, Bassirou, has been staying for several months: he’s transformed and sane and calm! Idi says he was terribly violent last year, insulting, angry, suicidal, depressive, and for the first months here he was attached by chain to a log! You wouldn’t believe it for seeing and chatting with him now. There’s several here like this, near thirty, mostly healed or in process (none in view are chained). A man’s daughter wouldn’t talk for over a year and hardly ate: OK now! Another young man, a truck driver, violent and out of control now calm and friendly. Idi says the marabou, our host, gives each a ‘special secret only they know’ and this heals them. I’m sure it’s a combo of traditional medicine that affects them physiologically, as well as psychologically, and there are Islamic incantations of evil nature and compacts that affect them spiritually. It’s a success story! And people send cases from miles around, even from BKO, DKR, and France! May God give us wisdom in the face of such magic, and may he have mercy on these folk for believing such lies.

chatting n drinking tea

We arrived after a three hour trip, 175 kms from my house, after short stops in Medine for meat, a commission in Keresignané, and greetings to Brehima Konté in Djoni. BK had heads the transformed eye clinic now that Andrew and Cilla have retired and left back to England. Emma ‘Guindo’ also works there as an aide and evangelist. They said they can do most treatment that Andrew did except cataract operations. For that they save up a list of candidates and have the Kayes eye surgeon come every so months; just last week they did around forty. J Tito S, Salomon, A, Idi T, Benjie, and Idi’s youngest son, Brehima, are in the car which got us here smoothly with no tire or mechanical problems yet. I pulled out a MegaVoice Hassaniya mp3 player (recently supplied by LeRoy), and our host and two others are still listening to it two hours later. May the Gospel of Truth bring bright Light to this home! I was able to show them an SBC Bible Storying scarf and explain in Bambara the stories of Adam, Cain, Noah, and Jesus for about half an hour, PTL. We brought Fulani literature, as usual, but this is a Soninké and Moor home so Salomon and Tito can barely communicate here! We also have some DVDs and tiny players (sent by Gordy last year), in Bambara, French, Fulani, and Hassaniya, so we’ll see how they work this evening. [We showed the Hassaniya Jesus film to a small audience; the battery kept going until the Upper Room story. Perhaps if on battery some parts can be skipped so the cross and resurrection can be shown in full. [The Hassaniya DVD also has a Wolof soundtrack, one on each channel of stereo, but since this player can’t control balance we had a mixed voice, but no one complained.]

pix says 'house of Mamadou Sibi: demon master':

Early on Sunday morning we drove back down the highway to near Keresignane and then turned north to Davou, it turned out to be 45 kms off the highway right on the north country border. We think we even stopped in a north country village to ask directions. Our host was a cousin of Idi’s wife and his mother had recently passed away, so Idi was up there to express condolences. He has lived and worked in France for years, and on this six month break he’s rebuilding his home in concrete. He was very gracious, and after a fine meal he showed us all over the small village. I think his brother is the chief, but he was away. They have a brush arbor school house and a pump well, but not much else yet. We were able to show the new “Gidli Baba O” (love of the father) movie in Pulaar of the Prodigal Son. Again we used one of the small DVD players, and this time we got thru the whole movie. A few Fulanis bought some of our literature. I forgot to get out the mp3 player, so I’ll send one up via Idi soon. We left around 5:00 pm and made Kayes by 8:00 pm after driving thru a driving rain storm.