After the village I went to the capital, where stayed for four weeks. In the second halve of those four weeks I went to children's diseases. They got a lot of belly problems around here, besides malaria and malnutrition. Though the most interesting case was a grey bearded man who visited the clinic with a woman and her two children. He told us he had been living in France for forty years and and has nineteen children. Seventeen from his wife in France and two from his 21-year old wife who was here in Africa.
"But I'm not finished at all!", he admitted. "I'm searching for a third wife now! I'm my parents only child, so I have to ensure succesion"
"That", the doctor answered:"is the most important thing in life. To make sure your family survives."
Though even for Malian standards he was a bit exaggerating. After he closed the door behind him and his fellowship the doctor and his stagiairs laughed at him.
At the eye-department (two rooms) I helped with a treatment. A two year old boy had a thread in his eyelid which had to be removed. There was no place in the consultationroom, so we put him on the only empty seat in the waitingroom where I held his trembling legs tightly while the nurse cut the thread litterally before his eyes. He screamed all the room together (there were a lot of people waiting in there), betrayed by his mum who held his arms. An hour later, when the waiting where gone, the doctor scratched an old man's eye, lying on the waiting room's tabel to let him have sight again. When it was finished, after ten minutes, and he sat right up again the washed the blood from his backhead and the table. I'm glad I didn't have to work there the other day.
Later on I went to the east. Well, it's a big country, so in fact after 600 kilometers I was just some more to the middle, in Sevare, near Mopti. Quite touristic. When I went to Mopti to find some white men to join to visit the Dogon country, I had a guide five seconds after I left the shared taxi. Not that I wanted him, he just walked besides me. I told him he was allowed to walk with me, as we were in communical space, but that I didn't have a lot of money, what, of course, is their final purpose of walking beside white men. But as always they reject the fact they're doing this for money. Friendship is way more important, isn't it? Hakuna matata, inshallah!
So he walked with me for four hours, while I tried to find other tourists. He didn't understand my route as I was crossing the city several times without going anywhere and thought I was doing this to get rid of him. This was not the case, as, like he told me too, from the moment he would not walk with me I would have ten other guides swarming around me in one minute. Another good reason to be happy with his company is that he kept the beggars, craftsmen and traders away, who are very annoying at touristic places. After two hours we went to a boat with blue curtains. Some men where smoking marihuana in there and this person joined them. I'm from Holland, so I don't mind people smoking weed, as long as I don't have to be part of it, but doing this in Mali isn't very sensible, as long as you don't want to see a prison from the inside. When we were walking again I called after two hours another guide who could show me Dogon country and met him while my annoying guide went out of sight for a while. We made a good deal and I gave him all my money, so he could buy some necesarities in advance. Hereafter the first guide came to me and asked me to pay some money, what I didn't have anymore. He didn't believe me till I showed him my empty wallet, whereafter he wished me dead (something about 'mourir') and went away. Later my Dogon guide told me this guy had been in prison for a while because he had robbed a British tourist.
Dogon is beautiful; go there before it's wasted.
Djenne is nice too, especially after some hours of heavy rains, as the sewage system doesn't really exist and all the dirt can be found on the street.
Email to friends, August 2008
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