A few days ago an unprecedented number of children descended on Hotel Djenne Djenno. Children of all ages and nationalities, belonging to at least five different families on various aid schemes in Burkina Faso, the Niger and Ghana as well as one or two university professors in Bamako. The hotel was not a pre-arranged meeting spot; the families didn’t actually know each other but were brought together by a kindly disposed providence in order to furnish enough children to make it worth while playing hide and seek, murder in the dark, football, etc. A young American boy even found time to beat me at chess. The hotel was abuzz with laughter and the thump-thump-thump of little feet.