L'ETERNEL EST MON BERGER
'The Lord is my Shepherd', it says on the front of the Djenne/Bamako bus which I boarded yesterday to travel to Bamako. Above we are crossing the Bani river on the ferry as we leave.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...
Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death...
Is this the Valley of the Shadow of Death?
I have hardly been able to speak to Keita for a week. This is because his wife is constantly by his side and she is not supposed to know that I am travelling to Bamako too. Keita is travelling today to meet me here and he will, supposedly, drop his wife on the way in Segou.

I refused at first to travel under these circumstances- I said that everyone, including Keita's wife has to know what is going on. I can no longer hide like this. But after long deliberations with my relatives who are here from Sweden, it was decided that Keita is too ill and is in a state of chock still about what is happening to him. It is wrong at the moment to put any more pressure on him. He will not be able to handle it. I therefore agreed to travel to Bamako alone, to set everything up for his arrival with the Djenne hospital ambulance today. He- and I- are supposedly going to stay with Djenneba, his big sister when he arives tonight. He has a full week ahead of him which I arranged in detail yesterday: laboratory tests, treatments and appointments with his two specialists- one the hematologist/oncologist and one the neurologist who will give us a prognosis of his paralysis- is there any hope that he will walk? I am also here to take his next batch of Thalidomide through the customs at the airport- this has to be done by me since I made the order.

Meanwhile I have not been able to talk to Keita. I sent him a text last night (I can of course not speak to him, his wife is always next to him): 'can I talk to you?' I received a text in reponse: 'I don't have the strength to talk".

If this is not the Valley of the Shadow of Death it it certainly the darkest valley I have ever attempted to cross.