First off, we share the world’s concern about the news that the first Ebola case has been confirmed in Mali. The first confirmed patient is a 2-year old-girl in Kayes whose mother died of Ebola in Guinea and was brought back to Mali by relatives. Our thoughts and prayers are with this little girl, her family, and her community.

Keeping with our tradition of Friday party here at Dokotoro, we’ve been thinking a lot about la cuisine (or gwǎ in Bambara–go ahead and pronounce that long a with a falling and rising tone). I just learned about Mariam Diallo, a Malian who stars in her own TV cooking show and has written, with Awa Diarra, a gorgeous cookbook of Malian food. It’s only available in French, but you can download it here, on the Slow Food Foundation’s website (PDF, 4 MB).

See you Saturday, when we will bien manger at our Fall Fundraiser. We’ve got a small army of friends, volunteers, and tanties cooking up tigadegena, dabileni, lenmuruji, nsaame, dolo, and more!