Monthly Archives: July 2012

Plague or blessing?

Posted on July 23, 2012 by

‘There are some large green insects on the mosquito net. You know, the ones that jump and eat the crops’, I explain to Ibrahim, being too tired to even remember the French word for grasshoppers. Even though I do not … Continue reading →

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Timbuktu – the other side of the picture

Posted on July 22, 2012 by

‘They do not tell you everything that is going on. It is not only bad’, a friend tells me. He had left his hometown Timbuktu about two weeks earlier. After having visited us in Segou in February, he had spent … Continue reading →

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Quiet Segou

Posted on July 21, 2012 by

Segou, by many a tourist, known as the laid-back city at the Niger riverbank has been hit hard by the crisis. About 80% of all souvenir shops in the city center have closed down and the usually bustling Monday market … Continue reading →

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Little Mohammed

Posted on July 20, 2012 by

‘Monique! Monique!’ A little boy is running as fast as his short legs can go, while calling my name again and again. His big brown eyes express a mixture of pure surprise, happiness and disbelieve. Even though I am on … Continue reading →

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(Getting out of) Bamako

Posted on July 19, 2012 by

I am not a fan of Mali’s capital, neither is Ibrahim and usually we limit our time there to the utmost necessary minimum. This time however we had lots of things on our to-do-list. Our days were packed visiting friends, … Continue reading →

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Bustling Bamako

Posted on July 18, 2012 by

Mali is suffering. Last year’s drought, the rebellion in the North and the coup d’etat, all of them have contributed to the freefall of the Malian economy. Tourists as well as foreign NGO-workers have become a rarity and prices for … Continue reading →

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