Returning to Segou

From Mali's Everywhere Art

January visit to Segou for AUPAP monitoring and follow-up; cultural project development; youth and women project development; art making and deepening relationships. It will be harder to be gone from home than I thought.

1 Feb. 2010

I arrived in the middle of the night at the Bamako aeroport, but even in the dark I could see the red earth of Mali, the red earth of the approaching Sahel, the red earth of Africa I have only read about, attended lectures on, heard other visitors stories of, seen movies filmed on location in... all adjacent, vicarious experiences and yet there I was: standing on the tarmac breathing the dust of Africa, the dust of joy, into my lungs. Je suis arrivé au milieu de la nuit à l'aeroport de Bamako, mais même dans le noir, je voyais la terre rouge du Mali, la terre rouge de l'approche du Sahel, la terre rouge de l'Afrique que j'ai lu seulement, ont assisté à des conférences sur, entendu d'autres histoires de visiteurs, vu des films tournés sur place po .. tous, à côté des expériences d'autrui, et pourtant j'étais là: debout sur le tarmac de respirer la poussière de l'Afrique, la poussière de joie, dans mes poumons.

This photo is of me and one of my dear new friends, Kalifa Toure, a Sonrai of Gao (an eastern region in northern Mali), who lives with his wife, Ami, and their three children, in Bamako. He is the Mali-based representative of Virginia Friends of Mali. Cette photo est de moi et mon cher ami nouveau, Kalifa Toure, un Sonrai du Gao, qui habite avec sa femme, Ami, et trois enfants a Bamako. Il est le représentatif, en Mali, des Amis du Mali en Virginie. We were having lunch at a restaurant in Bamako, San Toro, part of a center that included a gallery, studio, and gift shop surrounding a beautiful courtyard filled and shaded by tall, leafy and flowering trees, palms and shrubs. Nous étions en train de déjeuner dans un restaurant de Bamako, qui faisait partie d'un centre qui comprend une galerie, atelier et boutique de souvenirs entourant une belle cour remplie et ombragé par de grands arbres, feuilles et fleurs, palmiers et d'arbustes.

This photo is of my new friend and hostess in Bamako, Carol Hart, Michelle Elcoat-Poulton and between them is Geneba Coulibaly. They are all long-time friends. Carol has lived the better part of 20 years in Mali; she and Robin and Michelle have been friends since their college days and share a commitment to their lives, friends, families and work in Mali. Geneba is a powerful woman who raised her eight children to adulthood on her own, but also as part of a society of people who are so family-centered that few who are friends are not also part of the extended family, sharing in responsibility and kinship. Cette photo est de mon nouvel ami et une hôtesse à Bamako, Carol Hart, Michelle Elcoat-Poulton et entre eux est Geneba Coulibaly. Ils sont tous amis de longue date. Carol a vécu la plus grande partie de 20 ans au Mali, elle et Robin et Michelle ont été amis depuis le collège et partagent un engagement envers leur vie, les amis, les familles et le travail au Mali. Geneba est une femme puissante et gentille qui a soulevé ses huit enfants à l'âge adulte sur ses propres, mais aussi dans le cadre d'une société de personnes qui sont tellement centrés sur la famille que quelques-uns qui sont des amis sont aussi partie de la famille élargie, le partage de la responsabilité et de la parenté.

As a point of emphasis: I do not want to over-idealize any description or circumstance, but I do want to point out characteristics that feel somehow distinct from my experiences in the U.S. in a generalized way. People are people every where and in every dynamic, but there are some broad characterizations that bear acknowledgement for the understanding they can bring to a given situation or set of experiences. Comme un point d'importance: je ne veux pas trop idéaliser une description ou une circonstance, mais je ne tiens à souligner les caractéristiques qui se sentent en quelque sorte distincte de mon expérience aux États-Unis d'une manière généralisée. Les gens sont les gens partout et dans toutes les dynamiques, mais il ya quelques caractérisations générales qui portent la reconnaissance pour la compréhension qu'ils peuvent apporter à une situation donnée ou un ensemble d'expériences.

In ka kene? Tooro si te!!!

Mali is a revelation.

Hot, dry, red dust, rudimentary plumbing, sporadic internet access, limited potable water, poor sanitation infrastructure. The people are generally gracious, beautiful, certainly beautifully clothed at all but the lowest income levels, organized, very hard-working, especially the women.

Segou has an unusually accessible government structure -- a characteristic some of our own mayors might consider -- and remains of a manageable physical size and population, is a very pretty small city. Associations are formed by every conceivable grouping of people and issues, but Madani said he thought they are not as impactful as they might be because tend to have a narrow, short-term view of their own usefulness, to be activity-based, not upon a fundamental principle. I told him we have similar problems with community organizing in the states.

Malians have kept HIV-AIDS/SIDA at bay, but polio is evident and of course, malaria. Quite a number of French, Netherlands and other international NGOs are on the ground, all over the country. Poverty is thorough in Bamako. Thousands of hand made shacks, improvised awnings and patios and markets and vendor stalls. Every intersection, every stop our car was approached by people, boys and young men mostly, hawking phone cards or other conveniences. i only saw women beg directly for money; one old woman leading a blind man gesturing for something to put into her mouth; other younger women, usually walking or seated with small children - also gesturing for something to put into their mouths. I had my camera out and had been taking pictures, but finally had to stop. It seemed absurd to photograph living, struggling people as though they performed for my entertainment - disrespectful. This became the norm throughout the trip so you will see relatively few photos of individuals that were not acquaintances unless they asked to be photographed.


Robin said that within a decade or two the population of the urban centers of Mali would increase exponentially through migration from rural areas. I'll need to check the data, but Bamako is apparently one of the fastest growing cities in Africa, and except for hotels and a consular complex abadoned shortly before completion, all structures are just one to two stories high. The market districts are incredible with ART as far as the eye can see -- into doorways, alleyways, street stalls, makeshift studios, ground-level, rooftop... Apparently the Grande Marchee burned to the ground recently and the artisans and shopkeepers are re-establishing themselves along new routes.

Air pollution is horrible; also like Los Angeles - in the early 1970s. The smell of dioxin, burning plastic (discarded water bottles and black plastic bags) is pervasive in this northern, affluent district. Everywhere crushed plastic bottles paved the streets and the plastic bags billowed and swirled with the dust at our feet.

The temperature was 40 degrees C that day. My uniform was a lightweight tunic with pants, sandals and a scarf on my head. I started my malaria medication regime today and a security detail patrols Carol's home all night. Carol's cook is a man named Salifa, very nice and highly skilled - dinner was delicious. Most Malians in Bamako, and Segou I later learned, speak Bambara (a Malinke language spoken by Bambara farmers and traders). Many also speak French, but that increases with level of education; a few spoke English, too.

13 hours...

I'm ready to go; just finishing up quick tasks for deadlines that will pass before I return. Tomorrow, Thursday, I will fly to Atlanta, then Paris - staying one night - then on to Bamako by Saturday evening. I'm excited, but I wish I was bringing Phil and Walker and Taimir. That would make it the best trip. In lieu of that I will bring the trip back with me, in every way I know how.

This photo was taken on Oct. 12, 2009. The tall man with the white scarf is Le Mairie de Segou, Ousmane Simaga. To his left in light blue is Madani Sissoko, head of the Segou Comite du Jumelage or Segou's Sister City Commission. To the mayor's right, wearing pink, is the mayor's nephew, Nouhoume Simaga, who works in the ministry of tourism in Bamako. And there is Taimir wearing a bag made in Segou, decorated with the chi'wara - antelope - Mali's national symbol. Mali actually means hippopotamus, and as one of the most dangerous animals in African waterways, constitutes a potent symbol of protection.

The group is being serenaded by a group of 2 year olds at the Southside Child Development Center in Richmond, Virginia, and Monsieur Simaga is holding a gift he received from the children only moments before they began singing. Taimir acted as an ambassador to SCDC because he is a graduate of this wonderful center.

It was during this visit to Richmond that the Sister City agreement was signed, on Oct. 13th, by M. Simaga and his counterpart, Mayor Dwight Jones, both of whom had taken office in 2009. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Mayor Jones' assistant Cheryl Ivy-Green for her role in getting the two mayors schedules to align during a very busy time and in very short notice.

Departure in 6 Days

In six days I will depart upon my first international trip, barring one afternoon in Tijuana MX in 1974. Mali is my destination. Before 2005 I never thought of Mali. My father has traveled extensively to Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Senegal; other nations have been featured in the news, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Egypt, Morocco, Namibia, Ruanda, Uganda, Congo, South Africa, Madagascar, Angola, Togo, Chad, Niger, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and so many more. These were the countries of my awareness though of precious little knowledge. I make this trip on behalf of a relatively new organization, of which I am about to become president: the Virginia Friends of Mali.

I have not written like this, in a journal, for many years. I haven't drawn or made a really good piece of art in about five years. Since I will be traveling alone at the front and back end of this trip I look forward to some writing time. Time to get over myself, out of my way, into a place of intention and openness. I'll see. I might also use this opportunity to return to using haiku as the basis of my literary structure. That and a little automatic writing. I used to. I hope to journal daily and by hand. I will take no laptop (I don't think - a friend has offered me the use of her mini).

I will have one night each, going and coming, in Paris. I have been trying on clothes with the goal of packing as few as possible to leave room in the suitcase for souvenirs. 2 outfits, 2 pair sandals, 1 jacket, 3 scarves, 1 dress, 1 bubu (pa grande, je n'ais pas les pantalons). Oh yes, I may write occasionally in French, as my confidence and vocabulary build. Don't be surprised, reader, if I also wander between voices and stylistic rhythms. I won't know what they're called, these rhythms of literature, but you might, so don't call me on them, just inform me of them. I will appreciate that. By adhering to a haiku structure I hope to cleanly and succinctly illustrate my impressions of Mali, of Segou - its places, paces, people and things. what emerges (the river), what grows (a mooring), what sings (the trees), what plays (the wind), what drives (oar), what moves (my hand)...

I'm looking forward
to orange brown dust beneath
my feet, above my eyes

I'm looking forward
to bright water rushing by,
pushing me aside

in my boat, so deep
so wooden, so ancient. it
carries life to shore