Dɔɔnin dɔɔnin kɔnɔnin bɛ ɲaga da.

—Bambara proverb: “The little bird builds his nest bit by bit.”

If we had a motto here at The Dokotoro Project, this would probably be it. We’re getting closer to our goal of publishing the book Where There is No Doctor in the Bambara language, but I think it’s safe to say that this project has turned out to be longer and more complicated than any of us ever imagined. We have a couple of exciting things to announce:

We just published Chapter 16: The Eyes, on the website. Go to our Downloads page to check it out.

We recently completed the final edits to Chapter 10: First Aid. Whew, this was a long one! Volunteers are working on formatting it for the web now. Our translators worked entirely from English-language source text (based on the all-new 21st-century edition of Where There is No Doctor from Hesperian Health Guides), so there is no bilingual edition available. Please contact us if you can help with English-to-French translation, even just a few paragraphs at a time!

Illustration of how to attach bandages from the First Aid chapter

We’re planning a little barbecue in Berkeley on Sunday, June 29. This will be an informal get-together to thank our volunteers and supporters, or just hang out and chat about Mali. Make sure you subscribe to our email updates to get an invitation!

We’re considering holding a larger celebration in the fall to commemorate le 22 septembre, or Malian Independence Day. Please be in touch if you would like to join the planning committee or have any ideas!