Virginia Friends of Mali

Halfway through this year's visit to Mali and I've visited Bamako, Segou, Koutiala and I may get to Sikasso. I got here in time for the last of the Harmattan, seasonal winds that keep the days looking smoggy and the nights looking smoky and sexy like an old jazz nightclub. But nothing's old or jazz about the music scene here. I've only had a taste and really, it is gorgeous. The photo above was taken in Markala at the local civil social services coordinating agency. Kida is on the right and the man directly to his left is the agency's director. Our visit was quick, but almost every social services issue a community can have touches base or is coordinated through this agency. In terms of the business at hand, I've visiting all three of the AUPAP project sites, taken photos and am in the process of writing my reports. In all three instances the need is clear. And, as I was going through the photos from last February's visit to Les Poupons I discovered on...

Report: first leg of journey to Mali for 2011. I will represent the VFOM at this year's festival and begin official documentation of the AUPAP site work when I arrive in Segou this weekend. I had a one day layover in Dakar Senegal to visit with my father and stepmother at their home and my aunt who was visiting Africa for the first time. My father determined my one day in Dakar was best spent on two sites: Gorée Island and the new national monument of Senegal. When you understand the geography of the slave trade era you recognize that this is part of the history of Mali's people as well. Voici les images:

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...