Peace Baba (real name Oumar Cissé) is the most famous bead person in Mali. His nickname comes from the fact that he used, for more than 20 years, to take care of Peace Corps volunteers in Mopti Region, whose 'vacation house' was right next to his shop: Farafina Tigne is the name of his museum/shop and the website is fabulously extensive, including a decent travelogue description of the country's major towns and features of interest to tourists. Peace Baba has moved from his small store on the island that is Mopti town, to a larger store in Sevaré beside the main paved Great North Road. Here he has a museum of beads and crafts upstairs, and a fantastic bead shop downstairs. Peace Corps Baba (Baba - Father) is a great man with a magnetic personnality and communicatable English. His beads are SO WORTH WHILE (and such good value). Some Malian beads are 5000 years old. Some were made when Jesus Christ was alive. Some are made from the bones of fish or the nuts of t...
VIRGINIA FRIENDS OF MALI creates and promotes educational and cultural pathways to understanding and cooperation between the peoples of the West African nation of Mali and the state of Virginia, USA. LES AMIS DU MALI EN VIRGINIE crée et promeut des voies éducatives et culturelles favorisant la compréhension et la coopération entre les peuples du Mali, pays d'Afrique de l'Ouest, et de l'État de Virginie, USA.