Virginia Friends of Mali

A good friend sent this link to a new, still under construction, but very exciting new website: African Film Library . From the "About Us" page: The African Film Library is an M-Net initiative showcasing the best of the African film industry – making the movies easily accessible for movie aficionados around the world.  The African film industry is one of the oldest – with its roots in Ain el Ghezel (The Girl of Carthage), which was produced in Tunisia by Chemama Chikly in 1924. M-Net has spent the last three years negotiating the rights to almost 600 works in English, French, Arabic and Portuguese and digitally remastering them. The library forms an important archive of the continent’s cultural cinematic heritage, and also, for the first time, m...

The whirlwind of activity surrounding the celebration of Mali's 50th anniversary and the visit by our friends from Segou has settled into a period of follow-up tasks and back to our core business for VFOM. Allan and Dana are working on new water projects by connecting Maggie L. Walker Governor's High School for International Studies with the secondary school system in Segou Mali to pair MWGHS with a local high school and work towards a partnership with a rural village to install a well. The Barbara Grey Travel Fund is slowly but steadily growing and will provides scholarship assistance for 3rd grade teachers traveling to Mali to support their efforts to teach The Empire of Mali as part of th Virginia's SOL curriculum for social studies and world history. Cultural exchange projects underway include a Segou based Peep This film camp, Sister City Internationl Youth Art Competition, Three Rivers Photography exhibit, a complementary exhibit at the Black History Museum and Cultur...

You may have noticed that our primary website, vafriendsofmali.org, is a little out of whack and out of date. We've decided to call in professional help but hope you find this blog site to be useful in the meantime. One new feature is the Paypal Donate button (over there on the right). We hope you'll use it to help VFOM continue its work Teaching Timbuktu to teachers to strengthen their efforts to teach the Empire of Mali as part of the 3-6th grade social studies SOL.

At a dinner sponsored by the African Community Network to welcome the sister city municipal delegation from Segou MALI, we were graced with the music of Cheick Hamala Diabate and his band at the home of VFOM member. Enjoy this song... From