A Few Rendez-Vous

Yesterday, we had three meetings with different political people involved in Sikoroni.
1)Mayor’s office sanitation rep.- really unhelpful and completely infatuated with Julie because she was a Koulibali. He took an extensive cell phone call in the middle of the meeting (there were six of us in there meeting with him).

2)Mayor’s health rep- the largest guy I’ve yet to see in Mali- he was at least 6’6” and easily 3 times the size of a typical Malian. His office was strewn with papers on every surface. The ivronnage (rainy season) had finally started with weekend, so he told us matter-of-factly that he was simply drying out all his important documents. He told us the government was already taking care of a trash truck for Sikoroni (one of our projects is a sanitation project to clean up all of the plastic and all the other refuse that lines each city street), something which the sanitation guy had failed to mention. He reassured us- everything in Sikoroni was under control completely, and we only had to wait until mid-July before the city streets would be instantaneously cleaned up- as his official documents fluttered across his desk on to the floor.

3) Director of the CAMs organization for orphans in Sikoroni. We walked down the muddy streets of Sikoroni, completely destroyed by the first rains of the season past a few mango stands, and open gates, revealing courtyards where dinner was in different stages of being cooked. The road was only a short distance from the chaos of the Sikoroni market, and the sounds of the motos and the general bargaining over CFA had not yet faded. We turned right down an unpromising road (now just a massive puddle) and found CAMS. It was a tidy courtyard of protection from the unkempt city streets and garbage. We were confronted by a somewhat startling Tele-tubbies mural as we walked in which invited us into a yard full of foosball tables (Bamako style, in which the soccer players look like large wooden blocks instead of people), board games, and enclosed by bright murals lining each wall. A group of beaming young men greeted us, and invited us in to meet the director, a solemn man, with a heavily lined face though not more than thirty, with a short, pious beard. After we introduced ourselves, he began to speak thoughtfully and slowly about his organization. He opened his courtyard not only to orphans, but to all the children of Sikoroni- it was the only place which they had to play with games instead of picking through the garbage-strewn streets to find things to play with. He worked with about 80 kids, he recruited children to the center and helped prepare them to enroll in school. Once they were enrolled, he followed up with them consistently, making sure that they attended school, got along with their teachers, and most importantly, that they were healthy enough to continue their studies.
Since malnutrition is such a prevalent issue, the center provided one large meal every day. Each educator who worked there would donate a large dish to create a midday feast that was shared each day with each child who needed it. This way, they could take their lunch break from school at the center, and return for their afternoon classes. The director told us matter-of-factly that the food was not donated by any organization, but that it was always out of his own pocket, and that it was for the orphans who needed it.
Last night, Ben and I went to the French cultural center (tubabo center of Bamako) to see a movie, and then got dinner after at the restaurant at the French center with a few other Tubabos. Taboleh in Mali was delicious- its great to have an occasional dinner without worrying that a fish head will appear unannounced in the next spoonful of rice.