Seli!

09/09/10
Today was the beginning of Seli, the big feast for Ramadan. It was really exciting! Seli, for Muslims, is like Easter for Christians. Everyone puts on their best clothes; the women get the hair done, they cook up a big feast and the children go from house to house as the adults hand out money. My family was looking so sharp! Even the little ones had on new three-piece suits and dress shoes. Later in the day, a group of musicians came over and played a mini concert of traditional music. Then, my uncle asked me to go with him to see his pharmacy and the new one he is building next to the old one. But, before we went inside, he visited the families who lived behind the pharmacy and he gave them money to celebrate the holiday. In fact, he gave them all the money he had and he showed me his empty wallet. He is such a kind man. On that note, my family has given me eight bottles of water over the past few days as I was waiting for my water filter to arrive and I tried to pay them back three times, but they refused. Also, on the day that we went to Bamako, they paid for my entire fare there and back. And tonight, my uncle gave me mosquito repellent from his store and as I tried to pay him back, he refused. I already have a problem with not spending money and now, they won’t let me! Anyway, so after we visited the families behind the pharmacy, we went inside the construction of the new pharmacy. I was really impressed as he showed me his new office, because currently he doesn’t have one, and he’s going to get satellite cable and internet connection. Then, there’s the main room where he and his staff will sell things and people can wait and there’s a storage room and a TILED NYEGEN! I felt so happy for him! The new pharmacy is about 2.5-times larger than the current one. Then, he proceeded to tell me how much money it costs to build it. Lately, people have been telling me how much money they’ve spent on items. I don’t know why, but I really don’t need to know that information. Like, earlier, I told my sister that I really liked her earrings, and she told me they cost 3,500 CFA. I didn’t ask to know the price; I just said I liked them. Anyway, I’m really proud to see what my family is doing and how they are continuing grow. Adama wants to go to school to become a lawyer this winter and Mousa, my uncle, wants to start taking an English course and he showed me the books that he bought, which he then told me how much he spent on them. I really hope that they stop that.