Wash Day!

One of the impressions that I’ve brought away with me from my trip to Mali was that every day in Bamako seemed to be wash day. I’ve already mentioned the ladies walking back from the river with basins of laundry on their heads, and the photograph wasn’t of a goat eating bowls of food set out by the road for it, but rather helping itself to water from sufurias (big metal pans) and bowls used for washing (hopefully not to the clothes as well!)! No matter where I went, laundry was laid or hanging out to dry, whether hanging (conventionally perhaps?!) from lines across the street or inbetween trees, draped over rocks and bushes giving them a splash of colour, or even laid out on the concrete buttresses at either end of a major road bridge over the River Niger, heading towards downtown Bamako. Every potential drying opportunity was utilised to the full.

From the office window .................

Sitting at the desk that I’ve been allocated during my time in Bamako, Mali this week, I have a great view, looking down a mud road towards the Niger River. Whilst I am (of course!) hard at work, I can’t help but notice some of the everyday scenes that are taking place outside:
· A group of ladies walking down to the river, huge basins of laundry on their heads.
· People dressed in clothes made out of vibrantly coloured fabrics.
· Men dressed in flowing robes.
· A group of children playing with metal hoops.
· A donkey cart. (In Ouaga, I was particularly amused by the juxtaposition of the scene of a man txting on his mobile phone whilst riding in a cart pulled by a donkey!)
· Some boys during a torrential rainstorm, showering in water that was pouring off a roof.
· Goats wandering the streets.