more sun, more sand and still in our mosquitonets

We are almost getting used to the live here in Mali….every evening around 20.00 the last garibout kids leave, we do the last dishes, and I must say, by that time I am quite excited to go to my net. But then it still needs some routines before we can enjoy our nets and mats. Brushing our teeth is an experience in itself. Since it is already dark, beside our toothbrush and toothpaste, we need our head torches. Because everything is going into the big hole in the bathroom, but by that time it can happen that there are more creatures that enjoy being in that area. It just makes brushing your teeth a bit more exciting!!! After all we can all enter our nets (mosquito nets) and then it is time to try to get all the dust and sand out between….well….sand and dust is just everywhere!!! You should see us….every evening Hanna thinks she got a tan, until she washes herself and finds out it was all dust!! Haha….but Hanna…you are getting a tan!
But yes…we go to mat around 20.00. By then we have had a long and warm day (I hope that is enough of an excuse to be allowed to go to bed by that time).

Most of the work we are doing here is around the work that Lorna is doing with the garibout kids here. It is so much fun to hang out with them. They are all so….they all have something special…..oh…can I just mention some of them?
ALLOU is a little one, but when he is there, you know it! He knows exactly what he wants and shows quite clear that he doesn’t like everyone….but he is simply stuck to Jakob (literally as well, since he loves to be on Jakobs shoulders). It is great to see those two together!!!
SOLOMON… When you say “Solomon rocks”, he replies with “Becus rocks” (he and Bex have something special and he is having trouble with saying x. Bex taught him to count in English…totally serious is he sitting there and counting…. “one, two, three, four, five, sicus, seven….”).
And then we have OMAR…he is not part of the group anymore since he broke the rules, but he had spent enough time with us to steal Annika’s heart….but he has just such a beautiful smile…with dimples in his cheeks (smile holes…for the none English speakers among us). Even though that he isn’t part of the group we still see him around in the village.
And ALI…..he was the one that broke the rules together with Omar, so he is not part of the group anymore either. Katja and Annika went to look for him after not haven’t seen him for a while. Annika and Katja met 3 other gariboutkids who took them all the way through the village (the gariboutkids that are part of the group all come from different marabouts all over the place) to find Ali. They just took their hand and took them there!
Well, these are only 4 out of 20…Suley, Boucarie, Alley… I could write so much more…

When the kids leave after they got their breakfast, we often have worship and intercession time, and teamtime. After lunch we go out hanging out with the kids that live around, most of the time playing football…Milka and Jakob, you guys are doing a great job!!!! Talking about football….yesterday we were invited for a meeting at a sort of junior high school. They had asked us to do some sports with them for about 2 hours. We had prepared different things, but after about half an hour of playing we found out that they wanted us (DTS team) to play football against their girls football team….hahaha!!!! So they came up in their blue football shirts.. and we were standing there in our brown team shirts (thank you Wilmer….you did a great job designing them!!!)…anyway…we tried to explain that we didn’t play football that well…but no problem….and soon we found out, why it wasn’t that much of a problem….hahaha….suddenly I didn’t feel to stupid anymore….it was an interesting experience!!! And Hanne…your football skills were better than I thought…but your cheerleading skills!!! You are great!!!!

Most of the time the garibout boys come to our place when they have time off as well…they enjoy spending time with us drawing, writing, playing games…like ‘Snap’, but then with their rules….don’t ask me what they are…we also call it cheating sometime….but they are having so much fun, they don’t mind at all. Then we have dinner at 17.30 and after 18.00 all the garibout boys come again for their dinner. By that time it is already dark. Some of the kids have been working at building a mosque here (the boys are so little and skinny, but so strong, it is sad to think about how they got that strong), others have been hanging around begging for money and food. Sometimes they are really tired and they come to sit with us and just relax, for others it seems they never get out of energy….they just keep running, tickling, climbing…hahaha…they are great…we will miss them so much!!!!

Well….there is so much more I could tell you!!!! But, I will keep it like this for now
Thank you guys so much for supporting and praying for us, that is a huge blessing for us!
Well…you will hear from us again!!!