We flew into Bamako, Mali's capital, late last Monday night. We stayed overnight at the CMA guesthouse there and set off the next morning for the 6.5 hour drive to Koutiala. That was certainly an extreme road trip. ;) Along the way there is a stretch of about 70 kilometers of newly-paved "highway". The rest is the old, rutted road or just plain red dirt, making for a very bouncy ride. Each village along the way also contains several speed bumps - not to mention that cars and trucks share the road with bicycles, motorcycles, donkey carts, rickshaws, pedestrians, and everything in between! We took a little off-road "safari" around some road construction for probably 5 to 7 kilometers, sharing the worn-down dust track with huge, overloaded trucks and buses.
I had whiplash the entire time, trying to take in everything I could as we trekked through the gorgeous red countryside. 
People here still live much the same as they have for hundreds - perhaps thousands - of years (with a few notable exceptions, such as the fact that nearly everyone has a cell phone). They store grain in little thatched pointy-roofed granaries and raise goats, chickens, cows, and cotton. Each village holds market day once per week, offering everything from eyeglasses to bowls made from hollowed-out gourds called calabashes. And while every house in any given village may be broken-down, leaking, and dirty, the mosque is always clean, well-kept, and erect.
When we first arrived in Koutiala we stayed for a few days at the home of Dr. Dan Nesselroade, one of the Hospital's missionary-doctora. His family is out of town for a few weeks and the Koutiala guesthouse was being rewired, so he generously lent Uncle Erv, Aunt Barb, Rosanna, and me a few rooms for our first three nights in the city.
Our first morning we started working at the Hospital for Women and Children! Rosanna used to be nurse with the CMA in Gabon. Since retiring from there she has founded a research organization called Research for Health. Every year she comes to Mali to gather data for the various studies she's conducting. This year Aunt Barb and I are helping her complete the database she's started on all the women who have given birth at the Hospital. She's researching the causes behind complicated births in this country, so our job consists in pulling birth records from the hospital chart room and completing her births database. All the records are written in French, which makes things a little tricky. ;) But I'm learning a lot - both about French and about labor, delivery, and complicated births. Rosanna's so excited about each study she conducts, which makes her a real pleasure to work for - not to mention that she's extremely patient and kindly bears with me when I still can't remember what "ligature tromps" means in English. :)
Between sitting before Microsoft Excel with Aunt Barb and pulling and refiling records from the chart room I've been able to walk around the hospital with Aunt Barb to visit the patients and their families. Just today I taught this little man how to blow bubbles. His eyes got huge when I first started blowing them - and he was ecstatic when I told him he could keep the jar and wand!
We also stop by the delivery room a few times each day on the chance that we might be able to help with any impending births. ;) So far we haven't had any luck, though we did come in to see one sweet little baby boy just moments after he was born. We'll just have to keep trying. ;)
I've also been able to spend some time with the missionaries here. They were in a seminar this weekend so I met most of them at dinner Friday night and at church/brunch Sunday morning. I helped watch their children during the meetings, which was a blast. :)
There is so much more I could tell you, but that will have to wait for another post. For now, I would ask that y'all please remember these things as you pray for me:
-Pray that I would be able to pick up on French and Bambara easily. If I could learn one language or the other, things might be easier, but as it is, I think I'm going to keep saying "I ni sogoma! Comment allez-vous?" until doomsday!
-Pray that I would continue to stay healthy. So far I'm feeling great - which means I've been healthier here longer than I was in Spain!! Hallelujah!
-Pray that I would be obedient to the Holy Spirit, following His leading in ministering to these lovely people instead of allowing myself to get distracted or discouraged by externals like poverty or disease.
Your prayers got me here, and they will keep me going. I'm eternally grateful for each one of you for reasons I may never know. Until next time, Ala ka duba i ye! God bless you!
