Saving Lives and Bringing Joy to the Land of Timbuktu

I'm so thankful to be back home. I landed in NYC. It was the perfect transition back.  I was taking dance classes and stayed with a really good friend who was part Malian. It's been an intense three weeks since being back in the states: readjusting, filling out job applications, family reunions, traveling, etc.  This week I've decided to take a break from it all and work on organizing my Mali materials, which included unpacking!

Here is the synopsis of my studies in Mali:

Malaria project: The malaria project consisted of a theatre/song/dance piece we performed in a village, a mural, and a modern dance piece. What we didn't expect during the village performance was extensive knowledge of malaria and preventative methods the village held.  In fact, they performed a skit and dance they had choreographed outlining the major controversial aspects of prevention/treatment of malaria such as depending on traditional doctors instead of conventional doctors' medicine, which most often cannot kill the parasite timely. There is also the case of people not seeing any doctor and misdiagnosing their symptoms completely. Conventional doctors are trained to accurately use a blood test to determine if someone has malaria. Many of us were shocked at how little we needed to say to the people in our neighborhoods and in this village, the places that we were most exposed to in relaying our message of preventing malaria. 

So why do so many people die from malaria when this knowledge is already known? Part of the reason is the infrastructure of Mali. It is not such so that it supports a healthy environment. Because of the issue of trash, journal #3, where does it go? How will it get there? The sewage system is another reason. We could bypass the infrastructure and directly hit the family life with lifestyle changes. Engaging the mothers, the center of family life would be the target. However, it's not as simple as going in and saying OK, wash your nets this way, and do this every 6 months. Most women only speak Bambara, partly because the women are typically not the ones going to school to learn French, the national language.

I completed the modern dance piece roughly with Issa Sikosso.  I am looking forward to setting this piece on a group of students in my area.

Mural: The mural that accompanied the malaria project was interesting to unfold. It was a huge task to communicate with the assistant director of the children's center because I knew no French, definitely not Bambara and he spoke little English. It was so much work to get what we did complete. The children did the artwork, and again, without being able to write Bambara, did not understand how the words should be written, which is why you see the words so fused together. This mistake was coupled with the artist being so young, I'm sure.  Regardless, it was comical to me.  

Most people do not know ages, so I don't know his age perhaps he was 9 or 10. You will see his signature as large as the drawing on the final pictures of the mural. Isn't that hilarious? I'm used to seeing signatures on the bottom of a mural, in small letters or not at all.

The process of getting to the mural was interesting. We had the children talk about contracting malaria and what they could do for their neighborhoods to prevent the causes. It was well known that the mosquito carries the disease and that the mosquito comes from stagnant water. “Wow!” I was thinking during the discussion. We then had the children name explicit activities that would prevent stagnant water. With these examples, we then had the students draw pictures of these activities. We took the pictures and chose the best images to use for the mural.

We wanted to include a picure of the world to demonstrate that this is a problem that everyone has to get involved with, and we included the words in Bambara, 'Janto Yerela Koroko kan ye, Bana kumbe ka fe sa bana kumbe fa ye' which means essentially 'Preventing sickness is better than paying for a cure' for those who could read Bambara. And actually we weren't really considering how many people didn't read Bambara, I think we decided to use this proverb because it is a theme used in the dance/skit and printed on our fabric.

The other images you will see on the mural are: someone sleeping under a mosquito net in a house; covering open water that is stagnant, to prevent mosquitoes from going inside to lay eggs; and people throwing trash away in a trash can that is far away from living quarters.

I took several lessons in different instruments. Some of the best moments I had in Mali were being with the women. At one point, another American and myself gave our dance teachers pedicures. At other times, I would just watch the women cook over an open stove, with fire crackling. Or watch them wash the dishes.

My experiences with the choir were wonderful. They had a beautiful departing prayer for me the Friday before I left.

There are so many more experiences and so many details that I have left out. You will have to catch one of my Mali Dance Project presentations I will be giving in the new year.

My best wishes to you all. Thank you dearly for your generous support and constant love. As I continue to unpack my suitcase, organize my videos, pictures etc. please feel free to write or call with your questions/comments.

Hugs,

Joy T. Williams