Wednesday 22 February 2012

Siby and Festival Sur Le Niger

Sorry for not posting in a while I have been quite busy I promise.  There has been so much going on and to be honest it would take me forever to try and explain everything, but I’ll try my best anyways.
Work
English lessons have finally started they are going a lot better than the first lesson which went really badly. But after planning our lessons down to the last second they have turned out really fun for both us and the students at UMAV. We have been trying to get creative with the activities so that blind and partially sighted children could make the most of the lessons, by playing games such as shopkeeper and direction games where the children are blindfolded.
The project proposals for the garden and playground are finally finished and we should start building them pretty soon. It’s all very exciting! Me and Bridie even went plant shopping to get some estimates for the garden; the plants seem to be a reasonable price, so we afford to make it look really good. We also went to the Parc National Du Mali; the first thing that came into mind was how green it was compared to Bamako and the rest of Mali especially. We went to the national park as inspiration for our sensory area, as there is a playground for young children there as well. However when we tried to test out the swings the security guard came running telling us that we were too big. I was quite upset as I was secretly looking forward to the swings. Whilst we were there we saw miniature buildings of the famous mosques in Djenne and Timbuktu, which probably the closest I will get to Djenne and Timbuktu thanks to the red zone.
After the trip to Parc National Du Mali, there was a leaving dinner for the group from the Children’s Society (Fran’s group) as it was there last day in Mali. I can’t believe how quickly three weeks went. The dinner was at Rene’s, the food was amazing, there were three women cooking the food for everyone. Ended up being one of the best meals I’ve had here in Mali.
Fun and life in general
Apart from working really hard we have also been on two trips outside of Bamako. Firstly we went to Siby; it is a forty minute car ride from Bamako. All the staff from IS came with us so it was a big IS Mali trip. We stayed in mud huts in hotel that was apparently really close to Zinedine Zidane house. On the first day (Saturday) we visited the Siby Saturday market that is meant to be popular that even people from Bamako go there to buy things from the Saturday market. That probably explains why it was full of people, and there was barely space to walk two steps without stopping. After the market, we got in our 4x4’s or (KatKat in French) and made our way up the mountain to get to the waterfall. After an hour in the KatKat in the scorching mid day heat we finally arrived; instantly making it worth the trip as it was so beautiful. We stayed there lazing about on rocks for the rest of the afternoon.
On Sunday morning we had an African drumming lesson and bought some Shea butter that is now renamed miracle butter by Meagan. The weather here in Mali is really dry, making our skin dry as well. But now thanks to this miracle butter sold by the women of Siby we all have smooth soft skin, plus the proceeds go to a good cause. Hence everyone’s a winner! Afterwards back up the mountain to see some beautiful rock formations. We had got there a bit late resulting in us having less time there, nevertheless it was amazing and I got some really good photos.  As soon as it started to get dark we made our way back to home to Bamako. All in all it was a really relaxing trip.
This weekend we went to Festival Sur Le Niger which is by the river in Segou. The festival is one of the biggest festivals in Mali, after festival of the desert. We set off at 1.30 as the coach was meant to arrive at 2 but true to Mali time the coach didn’t come till 4 in the afternoon so we spent 2 hours and a half trying to find shade in the mid day heat. Once the coach had arrived it drove off with just me and Rachel and the bags. When I asked where it was taking us, the driver replied to get petrol, which left both me and Rachel a bit confused to say the least as the coach picked us up from petrol station. Once the driver got his petrol we made our way back to the other petrol station, the others got on and off to Segou we went. On the coach there was band that was going to play at the Segou festival from Sweden and Senegal. We got talking to them and found out how they travelled from Sweden to Senegal by car in 3 weeks. The musicians from the band also taught me and Rachel how to play on the kora. Once the coach ride we got to Hotel Savannah where we met our guide who had organised for us to stay with a local family. We ended up staying with a woman named Awo Coulibaly and her 3 children. Awo took us to a small restaurant that was a five minute walk from her house. The food was cheap and cheerful; however as soon as I left the restaurant I started heaving and within 5 minutes of leaving the restaurant I had thrown up the contents of my dinner on a side street in Segou. When we got to Awo’s there wasn’t enough space for all of us , as her house was only 2 rooms. Thus 4 people slept outside with mosquito nets and a really thin mattresses and the rest of us slept on mattresses inside. It was surprisingly comfortable or maybe it was just because I very tired, either way I had a good night sleep.
On Saturday Morning, we got up nice around 9 and made it to the meeting point for 10 to get our wrists bands for the festival. From there was a bus to take everyone to the festival. Mamadou, Awo’s oldest and only son accompanied to us the festival as his mother said he would help get to and from the festival. During the day of the festival there were traditional performances and smaller groups performing. There were also a lot of artisan and material shops. We met a Tamashek guy called Moussa, who probably ended up loving us due to the amount of stuff we bought off him. We saw him again later on in the day and he was telling us all about Mali. There were a lot of Tamashek at the festival all telling us about Timbuktu and how amazing it is. Another Tamashek called Mohamed Abbass, who had been sent by his family to sell jewellery at the festival because he was the oldest boy. Mohammed also told us about the Toureq headscarf and the different ways of wearing the scarf depending on the weather.
As the sun started to set the bigger musicians took the centre stage including Rokia Traore, Habib Koite (the I Pod Guy) and Salif Keita. Rokia Traore even sang some Bob Marley, Habib Koite sang I Ka Barra – the song that comes on the I Pod for free. But Salif Keita was the best by far; he really got the crowd going everyone rose to their feet as soon as he came on stage. Although Salif is 62 years old he had so much energy when he was dancing.
Whilst Salif was performing Rachel, Felicity and Jemma met some American guys who were doing a rally from London to Bamako so they could donate an ambulance to the Salif Keita foundation. The trip was meant to take 3 weeks but ended up taking 10 weeks; the Ambulance broke down in Mauritania for 4 weeks. The girls got a ride back to Bamako with them on the ambulance and they invited us to their ceremony where they were handing over the ambulance. On Sunday morning we all made our way back to Bamako, after an incredible weekend.
Today we went to the ceremony to hand over the ambulance and MET SALIF KEITA. When we introduced ourselves he ended up inviting us to his PRIVATE ISLAND. OH YEAH WE ARE MEETING THE PRESIDENT ON SUNDAY--- cannot wait.
If you have made it this far I hope you enjoyed reading about our travels in Mali (well limited travel as we are not allowed to about three quarters of the country). As you can probably tell I’m a little bitter about the red zone situation, but the bits we have been to so far have been amazing. I just need to find a camel so I can go on a camel ride and my time here in Mali will be complete. 

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