Watching the flocks go by...

As soon as we arrived in Bamako in October, we noticed that many people kept sheep. It wasn’t at all unusual to see a herd of sheep being hustled through the downtown traffic. It also wasn’t unusual to see someone “walking a sheep” just like in Toronto we see people walking their dog. As we entered the month of November, sheep were everywhere and last week, I can safely say that Bamako had been taken over by flocks of them….so much so that their “baaaaah”ing became a sort of lullaby for us as we fell asleep at night and was our wakeup call in the morning.

Thomas and I went away this past weekend and when we got back to Bamako, all the sheep were gone!!

This past Saturday was la Fête de Tabaski. In West Africa, this is the name given to Aïd-el-Kébir (which actually means “la grande fête”) and it’s held approximately two months after Ramadan. Tabaski is celebrated to remember Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son for God. According to the Bible (I think Genesis, chapter 22) God stopped Abraham and told him to sacrifice a sheep instead. Throughout the entire month of November, Bamako was getting ready for “la grande fête”. Women were buying new bazins (beautiful silk-like fabrics) to make new dresses and robes for their husbands and children and the streets were full of girls and women getting their hair freshly braided for the big event.
Though Tabaski is not celebrated by the 4% population of Christians in Mali, Abraham’s sacrifice is of course remembered.

Last Wednesday, while I was at thee office, a man came in from off the street selling knives. I deeply regret not having taken a picture. His entire bag was full of knives of every size- from the size you and I would use to peel an apple or chop vegetables to daggers to massive machetes. The two men in my office who are “chef de famille” (Heads of their family) looked through all of them very carefully trying to find the perfect one to use to “égorge” their sheep.

Thomas and I were invited by my boss at the last minute to celebrate Tabaski with her family- but fortunately or unfortunately (I’ve heard mixed reviews from other volunteers who witnessed celebrations) we had made plans with Deb and her daughter Bintou to go to Teriyabougou, a village just north of Segu. It was paradise!

Pictures of the weekend getaway will follow soon….