Pictures!!

Hello Aunt Laury! Thank you for the lucky Gnome!

Michele and our baby (we're renting, not buying) along with a few of the neighborhood children. Michele is sure to remind our family everyday that she won't have kids for ten years. They respond by asking what is wrong with Tim.


This was a festival to celebrate Canadian development organizations. The xylophones are a wonderful traditional Malian musical instrument.

The backyard/countryside of our country.

This is the toilet/bathroom people! Aren't you jealous? It is called a nyegen. The toilet paper is the luxury - most of the Malian people use something else. I'll leave it to your imagination.


This is our host father Chef Mamadou Traore and his 9 year old son Isu (one of most likely 12 children and Michele's favorite). Our family is absolutely wonderful to us and the Chef is a big shot in the community.



This picture is of Michele and some of the rest of the Sanankoroba bunch on one of the Soutrama green vans - our mode of public transportation in and out of the village. They don't quite work the way public transit does in America - you jump on one heading your direction and go along for the ride. They will stop anywhere along the way to pick up as many people as they can possibly fit to join. Taxis are the same way - don't expect to be the only fare along the way, especially in the cities.