Almamy Traoré, age 12, lives in the house we are renting. I walked down the flight of stairs and sat on a mat in the central courtyard near the entryway to the house to talk with him. Almamy speaks Djennenké, the language of his ethnic group. He also speaks Bambara and a little bit of French. I can only understand a bit of French so I had to have help to communicate with him. While we talked there was constant activity around us making noise. For instance, the donkey outside was being fed, people were going in and out the door, and little chicks peeped and scurried through the courtyard. Almamy wore a khaki colored shirt and pants combo and plastic sandals on his feet.

Imagine this...Almamy has four elder brothers and two younger sisters! Every day he helps his Mother and Father for about an hour. Sometimes he goes with his father to his shop to learn to become a tailor. He goes to public school as well as a Koranic school, an Islamic school.

In a city where poverty is abundant, like Djenné (pronounced "Jennay"), there is no Sega Genesis or Nintendo to play with. Almamy has not even heard of either game. Instead he has friends to play with. For fun he plays table soccer (or Foosball) with his pals. It costs him 10 francs to play (approximately 2 cents) and brings him much joy. He also may go to his friend's compound and play football (soccer) with his friends. This is his favorite sport. Sometimes he just hangs around outside with his friends. He also goes to Koranic school. He says he enjoys school.

If you are wondering, yes, Alamay has seen T.V. but he does not have one. There is a T.V. tower in Djenne. He says there are horse races and documentaries, stuff like that, on the television. He doesn't have a bike which to me seems like a big disadvantage in Djenné because he has to walk everywhere he goes.

I asked Almamy if he has ever traveled outside of Djenné. He said he has only been away from Djenné once when he went to Segou to spend a vacation. Segou is a town about 250 km south of Djenné. He would like to visit other Malian towns for vacation. I asked him if he would like to come to the United States. He said he wants to go to see what it is like there. He knows that there are many differences between Mali and the United States.

Electricity has recently been provided at Djenné. Almamy says this has changed many things. He says that people can now work into the night without fearing the darkness. However, the loud radios playing late bother him.

I asked Almamy what his favorite meal is. He said his favorite food is macaroni. Normally he has bread and coffee for breakfast, rice for lunch and to (pronounced "toe") for dinner. To is a millet couscous with a green colored okra sauce. Most meals are eaten in the courtyard. The boys and the girls eat separately (so do the men and the women). They share a big bowl of food and eat with their hands.