Ouelessebougou, Mali, Africa

These people are dancing and singing while the drums are playing. The women dance in a circle and the children dance on the outside of the circle if they want to. How many women do you see carrying babies on their backs? How do mothers in your community carry their babies?

Here are some children in school. How is their school different than yours? Are there some things that are the same also?

Here are some teenage boys resting on wooden benches. The benches they are sitting on were delivered to the schools in the Ouelessebougou area in November 2000 so the kids have better benches to sit on and a place to hold their notebooks so they can write more comfortably. The one on the left is named Abraham. Do you see any ways that these boys dress differently than you?

Wow! Look at the bright designs on these women's dresses. Which one is your favorite?

Here are some men sitting under a tree. They are about to eat lunch which is in the large buckets. They're having rice and peanut sauce with some vegetables mixed in for lunch. They don't use knives, forks, or spoons. So what do you think they use to eat with? They eat with their hands. Can you think of any advantages to eating with your hands instead of utensils?

This woman is dancing with her baby on her back. Mothers wrap their babies on their backs with a piece of cloth. That way they can work at home or in the gardens and still have their babies with them. Can you see the cloth that is holding him on his mother's back?

These 2 men live in a village called Sena. The one on the left is the chief of the village. The long stringy stuff is part of his hat, not his hair. What do you think his hat is made of? The man on the right is wearing a shirt made of mudcloth. It is made by starting with a beige colored piece of material and then is dyed with mud to make the dark colored designs.

This man is Boubou with his wife and 2 of his children. Isn't his wife's dress beautiful? Women often wear a headdress in Ouelessebougou. What kind of fruit is sitting on the table?

These girls' hair is wrapped with thin black wire to make it stand up. Look at the wall of their school. What is between the bricks?

Here's a cute girl in the market at Ouelessebougou. Do you think you would see a girl in Utah wear that kind of a dress? What about the material wrapped around her head? Would you see that in Utah?