Send offs

In the Samogho culture, greetings and send offs are extremely important. They demonstrate the importantance of relationships and the value one person has to another.
The evening after we arrived in the village we heard drums playing. Wa told us they were about to dance the women out of the village so they could go to a neighboring village to celebrate the weddings. She asked if we wanted to go and of course we could not miss the dancing! We climb the hill and met the procession coming our way. The women were dressed in their best and ready for the big celebrations to come. An older woman led the line of women playing some bells and two men followed her playing the drums. The village walked them to the outskirts of the village to send them off
On Sunday night when the women returned, they were greeted and welcomed home with more drums and dancing! We joined in the fun and celebration. Yes, we were drawn into the center of the dance circle and did our part in celebrating the return of the women to the village! What fun and joy we had together. Bintu stayed in the courtyard but had her own celebration and dance with Wa!
Wa had planned to go to her home village on Monday, but decided to wait until Tuesday since we woud be leaving that day too. She was going to leave early because she had a 40 mile walk ahead of her and the hot weather has come early to Mali. She was unable to leave early because one of the women going with her was not ready. It turned out to be a great thing because we were able to walk these women out of the village, to send them off for their journey with the honor and value of their friendship expressed. It was a blessing to walk out with them and to pray for them as we sent them off on the long journey. There were 3 women and a young girl leaving that morning and 6 women and 4 children sent the off!
As I thought about these send offs and celebrations, it reminded me of how Father sends us out to make Him known and how He welcomes us back. He always goes with us and doesn't send us out alone. His Spirit goes with us.