Hey there. Time for me to peak my head out and offer some proof of life. Given global events. And domestic events. I am in the states with the family for a visit as I write this.

I titled this post in such a way because despite what happens next we have had a lot to be thankful for in the past two years. Avoiding bankruptcy, staying relatively healthy and having a pandemic baby are all major achievements. And despite an ECOWAS embargo (finished as of July 3rd woohoo!), a military government that has embraced Russian mercenaries, exorbitant inflation, an ongoing pandemic, the possibility of global recession and/or World War 3, and impending climate collapse, we continue to have a relatively cushy life in Bamako.

What is cushy? We have a group of incredible friends, unlimited support when it comes to childcare, and a fully staffed auberge/restaurant/bar which often serves as a comprehensive concierge service. Despite living in a country that has limited infrastructure and virtually nothing in the way of public services, we have managed to live a great life with a monthly income that would not get us very far in many other places.

Most of my recent posts – and by recent I mean the three posts I’ve written in the last two years – have been life updates. This one will be more of the same, but I will also talk a bit about what’s been going on in Mali.

Life

Time deceives us all in various ways, but if you have children you know that the passage of time is straight up incomprehensible. There is an often circulated quote by Gretchen Rubin – “the days are long, but the years are short” – that is likely unmatched in accuracy.

Our son Andre will be six in November and our daughter Awa (aka Eliza, Liza, leela, leelee, leeloo, looloo, mama Eliza) will be two in just a couple of months. Writing that sentence, I am gripped by both terror and wonder. More than 50% wonder, I think. Liza is in that cambrian explosion phase of expression right now, and watching her and Andre develop a relationship is a movie that I could watch forever. And the movie I am talking about is the 2-5 minutes of harmonious playtime before it all goes down in flames.

Bintou and I have some hard choices to make in the coming year. If anyone has any solutions to tick the following boxes simultaneously, we are all ears:

1. Get Bintou US citizenship
2. Spend more time with my family
3. Continue la belle vie in West Africa
4. Assure Andre’s education
5. Sporadically go on scooter trips
6. Avoid a nuclear family in the US suburbs situation
7. Avoid going bankrupt, getting divorced or losing our minds

Unfortunately, some items are mutually exclusive. The first one requires extended time in the US, and America is not exactly doing a lot to recruit us at the moment. I mean, wow. J’ai peur, America. You walk down the toothpaste aisle here and you think anything is possible. Then you focus your attention on almost any other single thing and it seems all is lost.

America also does not seem to be a big fan of the kind of communal living we have become accustomed to in Mali. Between full-time residents and Bintou’s family passing through, we have a small army helping out with childcare and generally keeping things lively when we are in Bamako. My mom and sister have been with us every day on this trip to the states, which has been great for both Bintou and I as well as the kids. But a once-a-year visit is not quite the same thing as a permanent or semi-permanent move.

Lots to think about. We will likely see where we are at financially and otherwise at the end of this year before we make any decisions. Depending on where we are at, the decisions may be made for us.

What else?

Against all odds, we had a successful 2021-22 season with Scoot West Africa. It was great to make new friends and to reconnect with old ones who we had not seen since February 2020, not to mention getting back on the bikes in our favorite corner of the world.

With some of our favorite people in the Casamance on a trip over New Year’s

Here is a short video with some clips from this past season (taken on my phone with an unsteady hand):

And here is a much better video (mostly riding) made by Jack who was on our last trip back in February-March to Guinea-Bissau.

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And finally, some very relaxing beach ride footage from Ivaylo Kovachev who is now a Scoot West Africa legend.

On that particular day we rode all the way from Cap Skirring up to the mouth of the Casamance River on the beach. It would be hard to find a better way to start the day. This is therapy for me.

If riding a scooter around West Africa sounds like your cup of tea, you know where to find us. You can also follow along on our instagram, where Matt is currently doing 30 miles per hour across America on a Honda Trail 125. And if riding a scooter around West Africa is not your cup of tea, come with us to Cape Verde — no riding, just walking, sometimes up a volcano.

In Toubab Dialaw, Senegal, at the end of our last trip of the season. Photo taken by Lynn, one of many great new people we met this year

Outside of scooter trips, the Sleeping Camel continues to tick along. It is admittedly much harder to run the business these days. The same could be said for just about any food business anywhere in the world right now. Trying to absorb higher costs while also providing extra support to our staff has been a serious challenge. We are fortunate to have a loyal customer base and ten years of experience weathering storms.

The Postcards from Timbuktu project is now over six years old. Considering the whole thing was just a shot in the dark, it is impressive what the team has been able to accomplish. The project was recently featured in Atlas Obscura and Reasons to be Cheerful and the extra publicity allowed for everyone from calligrapher Boubacar Sadeck to Ali and the scribes in Timbuktu to have a fantastic Eid holiday. We continue to face logistical challenges related to, well, everything? But we press on. The project has become too important to too many people to give up.

Mali

While most Bamakois don’t enjoy the cushy life we do, life in the capital takes place in another galaxy when compared to what goes on elsewhere in the country. On the island of Bamako the news coming out of the center and north of the country does not have much effect on day to day life. We hear the stories and read the government communiques. A massacre of 132 people in three different villages in Dogon Country leads to three days of national mourning in the capital but you will hardly notice. There had been massacres for several weeks in the far north before that. Those didn’t even make the local news.

The transitional government made the argument to the Malian people that the security situation would improve if the French left. Adama Diarra aka Ben le Cerveau (Ben the Brain), a popular activist who supported the coup and is pro-transition government, said that it would take six months for Wagner, the Russian paramilitary group that has an absolutely sterling record throughout Africa 😏, to end the conflict in Mali. Well, things are worse. There are more civilian deaths than ever.

If you spend any time on social media you will see that there are battle lines drawn between one group that says Mali is asserting its sovereignty and making decisions on its own terms by engaging Wagner, kicking out the French and most recently, arresting Ivorian soldiers they have accused of being mercenaries while also suspending UN military rotations, and another group that says Mali is being manipulated by Russia.

Without going down that rabbit hole, is it not clear at this point that no military intervention, paramilitary group or self-defense militia is going to resolve the problems in Mali???? In some parts of the country, civilians are being massacred, the social fabric is in tatters and historically successful community based mediation efforts are thwarted at every turn. It seems we got here with armed actors and an absence of the state. So let’s add more armed actors and allow for brief appearances of the state in the form of temporary military operations?

We will soon have spent a decade watching this decline accelerate. I hope that when I write my next blog post, which let’s face it, will likely be two years from now, I can say something different about Mali. For now, I am not optimistic. I hope I am wrong.

And I hope that you all are staying healthy and safe wherever you are. I’m terrible at staying in touch but maybe this post will kindle a few reconnections. Holler in the comments or write to phil dot paoletta at gmail dot com. We are in Ohio at the moment and will be briefly in NYC between August 5th and 7th before heading back to Mali.