(This is from December 13, 2009)
The last twenty-four hours may have been the best ones so far for me in Mali.
Yesterday was Fatim’s birthday. In the morning, I took the Sotrama to Artisanat, which is the artist’s market downtown. I had a friend meet me there, because he is pretty well connected and I didn’t feel like being harassed or bartering in Bambara. We walked into the market together, and he immediately ran into a bunch of his friends (he calls them his brothers but who really knows). We all sat in the center of the market discussing violence against women among other topics, and my friend told someone what I wanted. The guy brought it to me, I bought it, and it was over. Then we went out for coffee, which felt strangely familiar. By the way, what I bought was a really beautiful picture frame for Fatim. I put a photo of the two of us inside.
When I got home, I met up with Amanda and we went to drop off her ISP at my professor’s house. He was wonderful as always, and we hung out with his family for a little while. They are equally as wonderful. We also made plans to eat dinner at his house next week. Then, Amanda and I went back to my house to get ready for Fatim’s birthday celebration. A bunch of my and Fatim’s mutual friends came over, and we ate cake on the roof. I gave her the present, and she almost cried she was so happy. We hugged a lot.
Last night, Fatim and I went out dancing with five of our guy friends and the music was all Malian and so good. My friend Bebe gave the DJ all of our names, and so all night he was saying happy birthday to Fatim and saying, “La Rose!” It was cute.
This morning, I woke up super late with Fatim still snoozing beside me. I took a shower outside and then hung out with my sisters. Then I read some of my book (Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat) and discussed with Fatim how we are going to get her to the states. I think we have a good plan. I am sad to leave so soon, but I am beginning to be so sure that I’ll be back here that it’s not as big of a deal. It is more of a “see you later,” than a “goodbye.”
