Postcards from my Life

• Fight the War on Terror - for just 10 Bucks! 12 years ago Dear Friends,We are saddened and shocked by the recent events here in Mali. In case you have not heard, five Europeans were kidnapped last month (a first), and one tragically lost his life when he resisted. One incident was in Hombori, a desert town in northeastern Mali, and...
• Thank goddess for Islamic full veils! 13 years ago This is Ami. (It may not be her real name.) She arrives at our house every morning at seven. I open the door for her, she enters and empties the two laundry baskets that we have, and takes everything behind the house. There is a tiled basin, and that is where she does our laundry – shirts, pants,...
• Blog Revival 14 years ago Bamako, MaliJuly 14, 2010It has been over five years ago that I first visited Mali. I was about to turn 40, and I felt that the occasion called for something out of the ordinary. A friend of my parents had recently become director of Peace Corps in Bamako, Mali, and invited me to visit. Since I...
• How I got my Malian driver's license 15 years ago My New York State driver’s license was due to expire on my birthday in January. Renewing it by mail presented with some logistical difficulties, and I got it into my head that I would get a Malian license. True, many bureaucratic procedures here are so convoluted that they make your brain swell...
• The Customer is Queen 15 years ago The customer is queenI have a little raggedy gas stove in our kitchen, which is connected to a big gas container. Every couple of months the gas will run out, inevitably in the middle of cooking. Then we have to unhook the container and drive to a gas station to exchange the empty bottle for a full...

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