From Bamako to Koutiala

 Guest house in Bamako where I stayed the 1st night.

Filling up chlorinated water to sell from door to door. (Bamako)

 Stores on the side of the road in Bamako.

 Notice the mom in the back of the moped with a baby strapped to her back (no car seat necessary)

 Gasoline for sale in bottles on the side of the road on the way to Koutiala.

 Malian kids out riding on the donkey cart (these are everywhere).

 This is a little girl named Kadia who is in therapy for leukemia.  She is in remission and is a beautiful girl.  Her hair is just starting to come back in:)

 We visited with Kadia and her family at their mud dwelling about 45 minutes from the hospital.  She is wearing her traveling clothes because she is heading to the hospital with her mother and brother to start her 2nd cycle of maintenance chemo.

 The kids at Kadia's house enjoyed seeing me juggle and liked for me to pass the balls to them.

 A few of the kids gave it a try!

 They love seeing pictures that you take of them... especially Kadia's brother Amos who is the little guy smiling with his head cocked to the side.  All of the kids nurse until 2 years old, so Amos made the trek to the hospital with us.

 Kadia's bags are packed!

 You can see the blue potty that Kadia takes with her so that they can collect her urine and dispose of it safely (after getting chemo).

 We bought a traditional cotton overshirt made locally by these gentlemen.  It makes me look African, don't you think.  They were happy to have their picture taken as well!

 The boy in this picture on the right is Francois.  He is also being treated for leukemia.  The boy on the left has colon cancer and is living at the hospital during his treatments.

Along with his family at the hospital.

It has been a long day and I am heading to bed.  We will start collecting blood samples for sickle cell screening tomorrow and we are going to set up the machine so that it will be ready by the end of the week.