Leeny

jono the tall one…

i miss him!

but probably only as a place between Ghana and some other countries…

not a bad place though people can be annoying …

plus, Ougadougou is a cool name! A very French City with grand avenues and parks! (in a dusty country… strange)

The only time i have been was in 1993, and went with my family as my dad was working for the UN there at the time!

were in a small town on the tip of the island called Jeremy… was quite young (only 12) and my parents sheltered me from a lot, but I could still see the devestation, poverty and violence – especially in port au prince – but in Jeremy, Haitians were kind, generous and friendly.

the empty beaches were amazing!

and the funniest thing was everytime my mom walked down the street – haitians would say ‘bomjour ma soeur’ thinking she was a nun cause the only white women they knew were nuns! A nun with 3 kids in tow! now there is a contradiction!

I hope the country stabalises soon!

Mali is amazing! I loved it! Be prepared for an adventure!

didn’t make it to Timbuktu, but haven’t heard great things about it anyways! (would rather go to Agadez in Niger… soon, i hopes)

but Dogon country is amazing… really beautiful! and Djenne Mosque also very incredible (shame you can’t go in…) but you can go into smaller mosques (in Mopti or cross the border into Burkina Faso, where they are less strict! – that type of mosque is found all over northern western africa – northern ghana, burkina, mali, niger etc)

but this is my absolute favorite thing about Mali… the following quote comes from some BBC article, but is absolutely true in Dogon Country!

“The men, in contrast, spend a lot of time sitting and talking – vital work, of course – and gathering at the meeting house, which is built with a very low ceiling, the theory being that if the men cannot even stand up, they cannot get angry.”

I love the low ceilings! It’s genius really!

well, i want to go because my old flatmate lives there – cause she is Finnish… and i haven’t seen her in 2 and 1/2 years! I miss her!

and its the land of big band don johnson… who i love!

and, I am going in less than 6 weeks!

Super excited… will be leaving day of summer solstice, which is a shame, but excited for the day light all day long!