One School, One Volunteer, One Mural

One School, One Volunteer, One Mural...one by one Education Volunteers will take Mali by storm.

This was the joke that myself, my fellow trainers, and the education trainees have been saying the last few days as we worked on a map mural in a local school near Bamako. We had a ton of fun, got a bit wheezy from all the fumes, had to wash our hands with kerosene, and listened to alot of Akon. It was a blast. Here is our mural from start to finish.

Jared studying the world map intently before diggin' in.

We made a huge grid on the wall, each square was 70 in by 70 inches.

Then we transfered the countries from the grid on the paper map onto the grid on the wall.

Labeling countries for names and color coding.

(Dao, Veronique, and Amanda)

Getting ready to mix the paints. These are paints used for vehicles, it is all they sell here.

(Veronique, Hunter, Me and Ali)

Us trainers are quite pleased with the progress.

(Katie, Hunter, and ME)

Coming along...

Slowly but surely...



Almost there...



Action pic of Jeremy and I, throughly enjoying ourselves.

Can't forget to label the countries, all in French...hmmm....where's is google when you need it.

The trainees

The Trainers

A lot has been going on...

Joe and I have had a lot going on lately or so it seems like we have had a a lot going on....

We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on July 26th, it was celebrated with a wonderful dinner of Velvetta Shells and Cheese (homemade right out of the box), paired with Crystal Light Lemonade....what a night!!!!

I also turned 28 on August 10th. I was in Bamako helping out with training and Joe came down to suprise me and we stayed in a hotel for 2 nights. It was so nice, we were out of touch with Mali for a few days enjoying air-conditioning, a swimming pool, a hot shower, a flat screen TV, and wine paired with pizza. What a luxury.

Rainy season has recently started so all of our villagers go out into their fields from sun-up to sun-down everyday, we have been helping out too. We usually tag along with Oumar's family, to their fields, which are 5K away from our village. It is so interesting to see farming done without the convenience of machines. Here in Mali it is all done by hand, from plowing, to planting to harvesting. These people are amazing, working the fields by hand in the heat. Although, it is tough work we have been enjoying it.

Joe dropping millet into the hole and then covering it up with his bare feet. Yep, that's how it is done here.

Look at the rows of planted millet behind me, all nice and straight and done by hand, AMAZING!

Ramatu, taking a break from work, what a beautiful woman!

All of us planting millet, a family affair!

Joe has recently been studying for the GMAT, which takes up alot of his time here, he will take the test in October in Dakar, Sengal. They do not offer the test here in Mali. So we are bummed that we have to travel to the coast and hang out on the beach, inorder for him to take his test. :)

Joe's "study buddy", Smalls, our new cat!!!

I have been plugging away in Bamako helping out with the new group of volunteers. They have been here for about a month now. It has been fun to teach some classes, but also to see and meet new faces.

And as always, we are constantly hanging out with children in our village.

Saly, she will just stand in our doorway and wait for us to come and hang out.

And this cutie is Gellie, she comes over and just repeats everything Joe says, it is absolutely adorable.

6 Years

Ashley and I celebrated our sixth year wedding anniversary last week. It has been a WONDERFUL adventure and I am more in love today than I was six years ago.