Mask festival in Dogon Country
With the literacy center, we successfully got the 12 selected teachers trained in Bambara literacy and numeracy. Very surprisingly for Mali, we had perfect attendance all but one day. After the 10 days of training in Farakala I put the newly trained teachers into groups and had them start literacy circles in their respective villages. It is clear after the training that some of the facilitators are much more qualified than others but either way we’re on our way to making ourselves a more literate Farakala!
Once the classes took off, I decided I had earned a break from the bush and took off to meet Cole in Bamako. We hopped around to the live sounds of the kora with Abdoulaye and Toumani Diabate and then set off to Dogon country (a tourist attracting part of northern Mali). In Dogon country we were tricked into one of the hardest 3 day hiking trips I had ever been on in a place called the 3 Ukas. Although the heat was blistering and the legs were burning the trip was well worth it. We saw some spectacular sites that are truly too remarkable to explain (see pictures below). Each day we took off at about 8 am for a full day of hiking and then crashed on the rooftops of the dogon huts in random villages we stumbled upon during our hike. One of the things that amazed me the most were the abandoned villages in the cliffs (the cliff dwellers) and the good condition that they were in considering how long they have been deserted (“Way back before the Jesus man walked the earth” as our guide, Hassimi put it).
Going back a few weeks - I celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8 with the women’s association of Farakala and another women’s association that helps with agricultural development. I forced the women to step out of their comfort zones a by making them paint on canvases their representation of the power of the female. To be honest the paintings looked like they came out of a kindergarten classroom but the women sure got a kick out of it and some of them have even started painting on their own time! The president of the association asked me to give a speech so I put a little something together and included the poem by Sonny Carroll called “The Empowered Woman”. We wrapped up the festivities with balofone dancing and my favorite Malian spread, Zamen and veggies. The whole day was a great success thanks to The Lunas and the motivated women of Farakala.
Fanta (president of women's association of Farakala) and I on international Women's Day
Banner painting with the women on International Women's Day
Women presenting their banners after painting
Me and my new dog Sully in my hammock
Sully!
