A Chicken's Fate in Mali

Some people have inquired about the fate of the chickens. Well, I hope my sister's students will not be too upset to hear that they ended up on our dinner table last night. As Adama, the teacher who gave them to us would have wished, at least I think he would have, we had the chickens prepared and shared them with friends.

The meal was prepared by the wife of one of our Save the Children hosts. It was a traditional Malian meal.......very tasty. The base was a grain and ground peanuts. On top was the chicken, tomatoes, onions and carrots. It was a lot like a tajine that you find in North Africa. The meal was served on a communal platter; I didn't attempt to eat with my fingers as I was pretty sure that these hands wouldn't know how to roll the grain into a neat oblong without it all landing in my lap before arriving in my mouth.

The dinner discussion was lively, lots of laughs and teasing. We got around to the topic of the status of women in Mali. As I said before, women are well respected here, however, they must ask their husband's permission to do most things. One of our hosts said that there is an organization of women who feel that the struggle for women's rights and freedoms should go no further. There was agreement from the men that it is absolutely indisputable that in cases of divorce, the children must go with the father, as is the custom. The women keep their maiden name after marriage but the children take the father's name. As I mentioned before, men may take up to 4 wives. In a different conversation at another time, the men I was talking with complained that men had to pay for all of the wedding expenses and that the bride and her family sometimes made unreasonable requests. Interestingly, this was one custom that they would be happy to dispense with!