Teach a Man to Fish

Our encounter with Noma disease last month brought us to a specialized clinic outside Bamako where they care for patients and perform surgeries.  Impressed with the work they did, Kyle and I wanted to spread the word about both the disease and the treatment center.  So last week we rounded up a group of 10 malians who work in health clinics in and around Cinzana, and we brought them down to Bamako.  We were met by the clinic's head doctor, who had organized a tour of the facility and a presentation explaining what Noma is, how you get it, how you prevent it, and how you treat it.  Now these health workers can spread this knowledge through the rest of the region, limiting the impact of this terrible disease.

Pig Roast

Festival of Masks

In the meantime

As we wait with bated breath for the school construction to commence, the temperature gets hotter and hotter.  It got up to 120 degrees today - hard to believe for those of you still laden with snow!

In the meantime, we've been keeping busy with smaller projects.  This week we repaired a pump in the school garden in Cinzana that had been broken for nearly 10 years!  The garden is tended by schoolchildren who sell what they grow to buy pens and books for class.  Now that the pump is working, we'll fix the fence around the garden, and help finance seeds to begin planting.

Then of course these are those very small projects, like teaching kids to burn ants with a magnifying glass, to keep us busy: