Brandi à l'étranger: welcome to the middle of nowhere

September 13, 2008

welcome to the middle of nowhere

Home to:

- a mud mosque built in the early 14th century
- about 23,000 Islamic religious, historical and scientific texts dating from the 12th century on
- Tuareg, Songhay, Fulani, Bambara, and Bozo populations
- salt caravans, starting here and trekking 800km north by camel to the salt mines (a 35-day round trip journey)
- very insistent Tuareg jewelers, with amazing talent at jewelry making...and coercing
- a big sandbox, and constant mini-sandstorms to boot
- the middle of nowhere.

Welcome to Timbuktu!

03:04 PM | Permalink

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contact info. & package wish list

wanna send me something? or call me?

COS trip: Aug-Sept 2008

There are a lot of photos to wade through here, but I hope it's at least somewhat entertaining. I've seen a lot in the past month or so! Am in the process of writing descriptions for all the photos, so bear with me.

Burkina Faso: jul-aug 2008

Dori girls' camp Jun 2008

The three GEE volunteers in my province (Jenni, Yaneth, and myself) planned a girls' camp in Dori during the school vacation this year. After much discussion, we decided to invite girls who had just finished primary school, but were at high risk for not continuing on to secondary school. We asked the principals of the 6 primary schools in Dori to choose the girls for us based on this criteria. The camp was five days long, and the themes for each day were as follows: environment, Life Skills (focusing on self esteem and role models), health, and careers. The fifth day consisted of wrap-up and a closing ceremony, where the participating girls were given certificates and T-shirts. Our provincial director of girls' education was an immense help in the logistics of our camp, and she participated as a role model speaker for the girls as well.