Belebeleba

Though we did not know much of the Bambara language, we had learned various greeting phrases prior to going to Mali. Once we arrived in the village, we learned more words and phrases. One of my favorite words is belebeleba (pronounced belly-belly-bah, but said very rapidly). It's a fun word to say and means "big" or "large."

One morning Beth and I ventured into the village, accompanied a Malian young man who drove one of our vehicles to the village from Bamako. Fluent in Bambara, he was a valuable asset.

As we visited in one of the family courtyards, we were invited to eat to (pronounced toe) with them, which is a thick, pasty food made of ground millet, fried in oil, and dipped into one of several types of sauce. It's not as tasty as it might sound, and the sauces can be fairly distasteful. Nonetheless, we partook with gratitude. Their sharing with us is a gesture of kindness, especially when they have so little.

One of the men provided stools for us to sit on. He handed me a very tiny stool (notice the small square stool in the picture that I am NOT sitting on). I laughed and patted the sit-down area of my body and said "belebeleba" -- to which they all laughed heartily . . . and the man brought me a bigger stool!

The villagers are fun-loving people. Their smiles and laughter are contagious. I need to laugh more!