by phil | Sep 15, 2012 | Cote D'Ivoire, Mali, Stories
While waiting for a customs agent to come to an agreement with a man that had many jerry cans of palm oil on our minibus, we stood in the road and listened to Chéché Dramé on my girlfriend’s cellphone. Trucks and busses tore past, slaloming around potholes,...
by phil | Jun 7, 2012 | Stories
In Timbuktu with a piece of camel cheese in my mouth “Home” is difficult for me to define. For the moment, I consider “home” to be places where people know my name. Thinking about that today, I realized that not only do I have more than one...
by phil | May 14, 2012 | Cote D'Ivoire, Mali, Stories
In Bambara, Sama = Elephant I have spent approximately 110 hours of my life on the road between Bamako and Abidjan. I first took the trip in October of 2010. At that time, the northern half of Cote d’Ivoire was controlled by the Forces Nouvelles and it was the...
by phil | Feb 3, 2012 | Mali, Music, Stories
I recapped the Festival briefly in this post. The event was over two weeks ago. A lot has changed in northern Mali (and in Bamako, you could say) since then. I will address this to an extent later in the post. I will also list some resources for you to follow. I first...
by phil | Oct 20, 2011 | Stories
Taxi interior design in Bamako. Minimalist taxi interior design T-shirts in English in Francophone countries. “PMS – Putting up with Men’s Shit.” He’s not trying to be ironic. He just doesn’t know what the shirt says. I’m...
by phil | Sep 27, 2011 | Stories, W. Africa
Anne-Marie and Blessing head up BCU (Banku Crushers United). I was a provisional member until word got out that I don’t actually eat Banku. In the world of dense heavy starches, I prefer fufu. Thankfully, I was not banished entirely from the girls’...
