Virginia Friends of Mali

SISTER RADIO : The Sister Radio documentary follows the lives of two young journalists working in sister radio stations almost 5000 miles apart. Check it out!! Support it via Patreon. Project site on WRIR: https://www.wrir.org/sister-radio. Documentary Trailer: https://vimeo.com/453065495 VFOM invites you to join us in celebrating the Republic of Mali as it marks the 60th anniversary of independence from its status as a colony of France.  Join us at 1 pm (5 pm Mali time) today on Instagram @ChopSueyBooks for readings and discussion about our Sister Cities Friendship between Mali and Virginia Chop Suey Books' Ward Tef will welcome Ana Edwards, and she, if we're very lucky, will chat with Kadidia Samake Konate from Bamako! She is VCU alumnus who can speak to the experience of being a Malian in Virginia. What is a sister city relationship? How did the sister city get started? Who was involved? Why Segou?  What projects have been done?  Has it been a good thing?

VFOM occasionally posts links to articles we think may help illuminate what is happening in Mali at this moment. We do not claim to endorse the content of these essays but share them for your information. First is a link to our monthly newsletter, The Richmond Chiwara , where we cover topics about people from Mali and Virginia. You will find a Subscribe button there as well. https://us20.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=3fc13b3ee64508366fa23697c&id=e398f1452d The second link is to an essay written on Aug. 18th by our board member, Robin Edward Poulton, and published for TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment . https://www.transcend.org/tms/2020/08/mali-a-history-of-military-bullying-and-corporate-dependency/ The third and fourth links are to posts on a blog called Bridges From Bamako , written by Bruce Whitehouse, a former Peace Corps volunteer and Fulbright Scholar in Mali, who has blogged his views on Mali for many years. Here are two pieces he wrote on Aug. 19th an...

Woman washing clothes and dishes in the refugee camp built in a landfill near the Bamako Airport  where she and her family have lived since escaping the violence back home in the Dogon region. Please assist with A FUNDRAISER FOR THE CAMPS OF DISPLACED PEOPLE FROM THE DOGON REGION OF MALI The  COVID -19 pandemic is spreading across Sub-Saharan Africa, threatening its most vulnerable citizens. In Mali, thousands of villagers have fled the central Mopti region where much of Dogon Country and the Niger River flood plain have come under the control of Islamic extremists.  Hundreds of villages have been ransacked, houses and granaries looted and burned and livestock stolen. Innocent women, children and men have been murdered in an interethnic conflict instigated primarily by outside forces. Many Dogon and Fulani displaced persons from the Mopti region have been living in Bamako for over 3 years in tent camps without toilets or running water.  In such cramped quarters it is...

Ankataa A Youtube channel for Bambara Speakers and Learners Videos for speaking, learning and exploring the Manding language in all of its forms: Bambara, Jula, Malinké, Mandinka. New "Na baro kè" video every month. More info at www.ankataa.com . What I love about these videos is that the instructor takes you around Bamako talking to people about each theme, so you hear the voices of indigenous Bmabara-speakers.  Bambara.org   Don o don, tulo bɛ taa kalan so. Every day, the ear goes to school. "I bisimila !  Welcome to our web site on the Bambara language of Mali,  bamanankan .  Here you'll find resources to help you as you learn this great West African language." A Bambara/Bamanakna lexicon online and in downloadable PDF.   Mali   [màli]  n.pro. Mali. Category: Country. mali   [màli]  n. hippopotame; hippo. Category: Animals - wild.