Cross-Culture Ministry in Mali

Mar 16, 2001 - © Melissa Enderle

Flag of Mali
An article in the continuing series on Lutheran cross-cultural ministries. This letter, written from a member of Salem now teaching in Mali, tells of life in Mali as well as the challenges of living and teaching in another environment among another culture. Miss Enderle has given me permission to share he letter in this forum.

Dear Pastor Sonnemann and congregation members:

How nice to receive a letter from you, that you are thinking of me here in Mali, West Africa! Likewise, I think of you and the church often. I especially enjoyed going to Bible Class on Sundays, and greatly miss the discussions which took place. I know that I always had a lot of questions, and was glad to have some of them addressed or answered. In a country where there are no WELS churches or missions, I am especially appreciative of the fellowship and worship opportunities I had in Wisconsin. I am grateful for the copies of Meditations that Howard and Virgie have sent me. I would also love any self-study Bible study courses or books. They could be directly correlating to particular books of the Bible, or they could pertain to contemporary topics.

As many of you probably know, Mali (West Africa) is a very poor country - the third poorest in the world. The vast majority of people live in small villages, many of which don't have electricity. The Peace Corps and other agencies are working at improving the health of the people (the average life expectancy is about 43 years old) through the creation of wells, schools and clinics, but much needs to be done yet. Newly democratic (early 1990's), Mali is still learning how democracy fits in its traditional way of operating. The people are very proud of their heritage and culture and probably have some of the best preserved cultural practices in Africa. Like so many other countries in Africa, Mali was colonized by the French; however they fought fiercely until the bitter end and never accepted the French domination. With the exception of the Dogon people, most Malians call themselves Moslem. However, even that has not ever been fully adopted - the animist beliefs and traditions are still very strong. Bambara is the native tongue of the Malians - even educated people who know French would rather speak Bambara, especially within their family. Outside of Bamako and the other "large" towns, the average person doesn't even know French.

The copyright of the article Cross-Culture Ministry in Mali in Lutheranism is owned by Melissa Enderle. Permission to republish Cross-Culture Ministry in Mali in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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