What's happening...

Visitors, outside the front gate.  The wall behind them surrounds the clinic to our right.

A woman sells fruit directly across from us...

Another woman sometimes comes towards nightfall with large containers full of cooked beans, rice and acheke. 










The bright sunny courtyard, the laundry...freshly washed with Saba detergent powder AND the same bar soap we use for dishes (oh yes, and to get the red dust out of white shirts = soak in bleach)

We are doing well. Better every day.  Even when a nail punctures the moto tire...

A boy brought pliers, but Aziz wasn't home.  I could actually understand what he was saying, and tell him Aziz wasn't home, but might be back in an hour.

I don't understand every word, of course, and it's difficult to form my own sentences, but I love being able to get the general idea.  Rather than always translating when we're on familiar subjects, Adama asks me first if I know what was said.

I laugh when I think about how I must sound to native French-speakers.  I suppose my sentences, translated back to English, would sound something like "You not have...."  "I am think..."  ha, ha, he, he... most people don't correct me, but Aicha (Adama's sister) is very helpful.  I am happy that she is visiting from Fada for a few days. In the picture below, she is opening "la porte" for her friend.

I watch carefully how these babies are tied on their mothers' backs.... sometimes the wrapper is just tucked in, not even tied around them.  .....eeek.  But the babies know what to do!