The Importance of Bread

Here in Mali, I always see kids with yellow-red-ish hair. Or with yellow or red eyes. Everyone's skinny. They want very badly to be fat, but a diet of a few handfuls of rice, millet or bread with sauce actually doesn't do much to get you fat. Because it contains little or no nutrients, essential for adequate development of the brain and body. 

The kids with yellow-red-ish hair are malnourished. The eyes are malaria. The skinniness is lack of adequate nutrients. The wanting to be fat is them wanting to be fat like Americans, because they see it as "rich" if you can eat enough to get "fat." And by fat, I mean not-rail-thin. I'm fat to Malians. 

In a place where people are hungry, where the rainy season stopped very early and we don't know how many nights certain families will go without eating because their crops won't grow now, without rain, food that fills your belly is...pretty important. 

That's where bread comes in. 

I spent about four hours making bread at the little boulangerie down the street from my house. They come in at 1 AM to make the dough. And they work in a perfect team that gets that bread out, steaming hot, to Malian hands first thing in the morning. When hunger will strike early. 

Bread is important because, although its power for filling tummies diminishes quickly, it leaves the stomach full and happy, at least for a little bit. 

While I'm buying a half loaf of bread, loading it with protein-rich eggs and onion and meat sauce, most Malians, especially the kids, will buy a tiny little sliver of bread with a little sauce for flavor. It's always humbling. 

Every time. 

So, here's to the importance of bread. To keeping the bellies full, even for a little bit. 

At the Bouloungerie: 

The bin full of dough. Bajigi is quickly beating the dough into little balls and throwing it on the table to his left for the guy to his left to line up and shape into loaves. 

Typical photo opp. Taking a rest. A lot of times people will just lie down or nap wherever they are.

Dough balls

After Bajigi threw the dough balls on the table for the next guy to beat and shape

Inside of the mud-brick bread oven. It's heated by fire. They see inside of it with a flashlight. These guys are incredible. They feed bread to the entire community without any electricity. Malians are so resourceful.

Now, you can start to see the division of labor. Bajigi is shaping the dough into balls, throwing them on the table, and Traore man is lining them up to shape into actual loaf shape.

That's a lot of dough!

I honestly just took this pic because this guy has really nice arms. Enjoy. 

Arms...I mean, lining up the dough to shape.

Next, they will shape the dough into long, oval shapes.  

In the meantime, some bread was done, so they sent these kids out to sell it in the market. The kids travel around, go to butikis, etc and sell the bread one by one. Price of bread is set here at 50 CFAs (10 cents) for a half-loaf and 100 CFAs (20 cents) for a full loaf.

This is the wheat they used. I took this because I was trying to explain to them that I come from the land of wheat! 

This is my friend, laughing, after I complained that Malians don't smile in pictures. So, he burst out laughing for a shot, haha

After the bread is shaped into loaves, they are separated between this fabric. Next, these wooden slabs are inserted into the huge, mud-brick bread oven to bake for about 5-10 minutes.

Got some more bread to sale! Normally they balance these slates of about 90 loaves of bread on their heads as they travel around. 

Ready to embark on his bread-selling journey

There is no Malian day complete without the constant making of tea!

So, now you see what happens when you're persistent when it comes to smiling in pics! When I showed them this pic, they all burst out laughing. He looks like a crazy guy, but it's a great pic! Here, they're literally beating the bread to turn it into loaf-shapes (behind the guys). 

Dough loaves

Situating the loaves between the fabric to get it ready for baking

Big bag of flour. You get covered in flour in this place!

Bajigi separating the loaves between the fabric

My "brother," a fellow Coulibaly, making the tea for the workers

Smiley throwing some bread into the oven

I tried getting in on the action of beating the bread into perfect loaf-shapes. So, here you go.

They worked so efficiently and productively together. Everyone had their own role, and they worked very fast. It was really cool witnessing this. And I got a bunch of free, piping hot bread when it was done!

Bread in the huge, mud-brick oven

Smiley doing what he does best - baking that bread!

This is who I called "Jam Jam Ba" - which means "really tall" - he kept proposing to me and telling me he was going to cut my neck (sounds really creepy, but it's what joking cousins say to each other - don't be alarmed!!!!). We all just made fun of him the entire time!

Almost done for the day!

The kids carting out a huge trunk full of at least 200 loaves of bread to sell. Here, kids get to do work like this. It's their role in society. 

Ready to eat

Here, he is wiping down the bread to get ready to sell

Off to sell a bunch of bread