We are met with shouts and singing. The Greer towered above the rest beating the drum he had slung around his shoulder methodically. They are celebrating because they are hungry and they are about to be fed. Famine was already sweeping across Central Sahel before the coup d’état hit Mali in early March. Last year’s crop failure mixed with the constant political unrest has left many villages in Mali on the brink. Earlier in the year GBR responded with a food ration for the village of Lakemane. This year the rains have been good and there is a promising crop coming in a few weeks but GBR did not forget Lakemane and again offered corn, millet, beans and peanuts to hold them over until the harvest. An older Fulani woman smiled as she thanked us, “We just used the last of the millet from your last visit, we were going to be hungry but God knew.” All over the village people of Lakemane want to show their gratitude to us but we reminded them again and again that we were not bringing them the food it was JC who had remembered them. Lakamane is a blessed village because JC has brought them more than just food to stave their physical hunger. Two women visit Lakamane every week and are working to translate the Good stories into Kassonke so that they might fill their spiritual hunger as well. For the four days of the food distribution we were able to go out with translators and tell them a few stories in the trade language of Bambara. Many people listened to the stories and thanked us for telling them. Many of the older people said it was good that the younger people learn about JC. I pr@y that our Father opens the eyes of the elder in Lakamane to see that this Good New is for them too.
