March 13, 1998
Dear Mom and Dad,

Just thought I'd send a weekly hello. My chickens are incredibily smart---especially Clarence, the rooster. Every morning about 10 or11 and every evening about 5 or 6, Clarence brings all of the family, (13 hens now), to the house. While they wait in a group in the yard, Clarence walks up to the screen door and taps at the metal until he has my attention. It's like he's saying, "Excuse me, we're all here now and we're ready to eat." So, of course, I feed them.

This really amazes all of my Malian friends. "How did you make him so smart?" they ask. Or, "Susan's animals are really strange---the dogs play with the cats, the cats play with the chickens and the rooster knocks at the door when he's hungry."

A man asked to buy some of my chickens today---there was an epidemic in this area and it wiped out all of the chickens. I must have looked at him with a horrified expression because Moussa laughed and told him that all my chickens were named after relatives and I couldn't possibly sell them. By then, I had recovered somewhat and I told him that I'd give him some chicks next time I had some.

I've been given 4 more children. Madou is 12, Sec is 10, Sira is 7 and Billy is almost 4. Billy was the first child that I ever kept---the one whose mother was sacrificed by her new husband to the gods of the goldfield. She left behind five children and her mother, who was very old, was trying to care for all of them. Billy came to me very ill and stayed until he went to Bamako to live with a couple there. The other brothers went to live with an uncle and the little girl stayed with her grandmother.

That was in 1994. I recently discovered that all of the children were back in Kenieba and living with the grandmother. The uncle had not allowed Billy to stay with the couple who wanted to adopt him and he had severely abused all of the children. When I visited, I found all of the children undernourished and not living in the best of conditions for young, growing children. The grandmother is almost blind and several other women, who are about her age, share the tumbled down courtyard. It made me think of growing up in a nursing home.

The children weren't in school because there was no money to send them but they all wanted to go to school. I promised to send them before I even thought. Afterward, I wondered what it was going to cost to send three children to school, (the oldest brother is in Timbuctou with a relative and Billy is too young). Fortunately, it only cost about $40.00 to sign them up and get birth certificates for them all. Then it's only four dollars per student, per month---and thats at the private school.

I decided to send them to the private school because there are less students in the class. The first grade is in one room. The teacher works with part of the children (43) and then with the other part (34)---you can imagine what the government school is like. I also decided on the private school because the teachers want the children to learn so the parents won't withdraw the children along with their money.

Because Madou and Sec are so much older, they will also have a tutor, after school and all during the summer, to help them catch up. This was a little more expensive---$5.00 per student, per month.

The children were able to start school right away. It will be difficult for them starting this late (there are only three months left) but hopefully it will give them a good start for next year. I just hope it won't be too frustrating---the teacher uses only French.

Now that the three oldest are at school each day, that just leaves Billy with his grandmother. Before, the older children watched out for him but now I worry about him---especially with the increase in traffic in the neighborhoods. I'm going to see about sending him to kindergarten. He is a little young but it'd help his grandmother and I wouldn't worry about him---besides I think he'd have fun.

The day before they went to school we went shopping for each of them a new outfit. They were really excited. We took some material to the tailor to have some book bags made and also a new outfit for Sira. Her grandmother is too old to see to braid her hair and can't afford to have it done so its just short like a boys. The tailor thought it was awful that she had such short hair and didn't even have a pair of earrings.

The tailor asked if I wanted her to have a pants outfit or a dress. I said I didn't know, he'd have to ask her what she wanted. The tailor said that children don't know what they want, parents just buys things for them. I told him that I thought Sira probably knew what she wanted if he'd just ask her. Sure enough, he asked her and she said she wanted a dress.

We did that with all our shopping, I let the children choose what they wanted---it wasn't always what I would have chosen. The boys both got jeans and t-shirts and belts. They asked if they could pick any belt and when I said they could, they chose white ones with alligators on them, outlined in red (really quite hideous but apparently the "in" thing). Sira got a pair of yellow shorts and and a pink and yellow top.

Then we went to find some earrings for her (I promised we'd get her hair braided when it got a little longer). She wanted to put the earrings in right then. She didn't have any panties either so we bought some of those---she was very excited. Several times, we had passed a man with a mat spread on the ground. His mat was filled with necklaces, bracelets, and rings. Sira looked longingly at it each time we passed. I finally told her that she could choose three bracelets. She did and got a necklace too. I also let each child pick a bracelet to give to their grandmother as well. Moussa, who had gone with us to help, gave me a you-are-such-a-wimp look about Sira and the jewerly but I told him that girls needed stuff like that and the boys were still excited about their belts. Besides, all of Sira's jewerlry was under a dollar.

Billy, who is starved for affection, wanted to be carried everywhere. He wanted to be held as tightly as I could hold him, without squishing him, his arms wrapped around my neck and his cheek pressed against mine---a little hard if you're trying to hold clothes up on other children. Billy wanted everything in sight. Shirley had found some new clothes for him at her house but he wanted everything else. I kept telling him, "No, but in just a bit I'll buy you some candy."

You have to understand where we were shopping. We were in the market---all outdoors, and we just went from booth to booth. We bought the children's clothes in the used clothes section. The quality of the clothing is better, lasts longer and is less expensive. I think I got both pairs of jeans for $6.00. We got some strange looks, especially since the children were calling me "mama".

We finally went to get candy---everyone wanted chewing gum. The next stop was for slates and chalk. While we were there, Billy saw his reflection in a mirror for the first time. It was the one time he didn't want to be held---he was completely enthralled with his own image. Then we went to the gas station for cold Cokes before heading home.

Billy can't drink out of a bottle yet so we found a cup. He still made faces and kept blowing on the Coke---it was too "hot". He finally gave it to one of his brothers. Moussa asked if he wanted some lait caille, kind of like runny yogurt. Billy was much happier with that---he drink about 2 pints. It was a fun shopping excursion.

Oh, we also found out that two couples are looking at our career request for Kenieba. We sent an e-mail to the powers that be saying that if the couples saw our request and still felt called to the Malinke people, we'd take both. They will spend their first two years studying the language and culture anyway and they'd get a good feel for the team concept if they were based in Kenieba. After they complete formal language study, one couple would stay here and the other would start work in a new area, either Mali, Senegal or Guinea.

Well I guess that's enough for now. Give everyone my love.

Lots of Love, Susan

Susan's letter of February 24, 1998
Prayer Letter (March 3, 1998)