Me, Eddie Murphy and Trading Places...We all have something in common. See here what that is...

I was watching "Trading Places" the other night, for the 1,000th time, and saw something I have never seen before. In the scene on the train where Eddie Murphy plays the foreign exchange student "Nanga Eboko" he is wearing a bag hanging from his neck.  See it below in the left.

I have one almost identical to it! There is some variation because they are handmade. It was given to me in 1983 by the drivers in the motor pool at the US embassy in Bamako, Mali (Northwest Africa) as a going away gift. I was a very young US Marine security guard stationed at the embassy.

It is one of my most prized possessions.  The drivers do not make a lot of money but they pooled some and got me this from the local market.

The movie came out in 1983, so the wardrobe people REALLY did go for authenticity in dressing Mr. Murphy.  Wow...1983...30 years ago....Feeling old BUT having warm thoughts of the many Malians I met long ago...