“a fish rots from the head”… or does it?

More than once, listening to Bamakois vent their frustrations at their unresponsive government and politicians, I’ve been reminded of my own country, where we have the best Congress money can buy and where corporations have the freedom to bankroll candidates who advance their interests over and above the common good. Whether in Washington or in [...]

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Will your anchor hold in the storms of life

I was at a funeral this morning of a man in his eighties who had been a lifetime Boys Brigade man – and of course we sang the BB Hymn. Will your anchor hold in the storms of life, When the clouds unfold their wings of strife? When the strong tides lift and the cables [...]

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Wycliffe:Live October 2011 – Part Two

My previous blog covered part one of the recent Wycliffe:Live in N. Ireland. This blog continues the story… and early on in the second half we had these statistics… The surprise! The shock! The encouragement! The challenge! Janet McNeill from Macosquin in N. Ireland took up the challenge after studying at St Andrew’s University in [...]

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Audio Scriptures for Kouya people of Ivory Coast

My friends Barthe and Eugenie lived about 500 metres up the road from Vavoua International School in Ivory Coast where we taught for eight years in a school for missionary kids. Barthe leads the church in their Kouya village of Bouhitafla and Eugenie is a trained literacy teacher. They were delighted when the Kouya New [...]

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About the Balafon

Having blogged about Rob Baker and ethnomusiclogy some time ago, I thought I would pass on one of Rob’s latest blogs About the Balafon… I was recently in Southern Mali, working with the Jo people and had the privilege of recording the instrument you see above. Underneath the wooden bars hang several gourds; these serve [...]

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How do you see people: scenery, machinery or people?

The “scenery people” are for example those that we photograph during our vacations. We see them as decoration or objects on display, not as real people. We do not care whether the photo we are taking respects their dignity or not. The “machinery people” are those that we expect to function in a certain way, [...]

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Banter Mali Style

Ask any Malian whether they eat beans and they’re likely to burst out laughing and/or deny ever eating them… As John from Nornirn, I have a taste for banter: it’s an integral part of my culture. Some of my fellow countrymen think that we are unique in this respect, but my good friend and colleague [...]

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