Salif Keita in Mopti//Sara Becomes a Star

Thanks to Wikipedia, I can provide you the following information about Salif Keita:

"Salif Keita is an internationally recognized afro-pop singer-songwriter from Mali. He is unique not only because of his reputation as the Golden Voice of Africa, but because he is an albino living in Mali, and a direct descendant of the founder of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita. This royal heritage meant that he should never have become a singer, which was deemed to be a griot’s role.

Because of his albinism, he was outcast by his family and ostracized by the community, as they deemed it a sign of bad luck. He left his hometown of Djoliba for Bamako in 1967, where he joined the government sponsored Super Rail Band de Bamako. In 1973 Keita joined the group, Les Ambassadeurs. Keita and Les Ambassadeurs fled political unrest in Mali during the mid-1970s for Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire and subsequently changed the groups name to Les Ambassadeurs Internationales. The reputation of Les Ambassadeurs Internationales rose to the international level in the 1970s and in 1977 Keita received a National Order award from the president of Guinea, Sékou Touré. Keita moved to Paris in 1984 to reach a larger audience. His music combines traditional West African music styles with influences from both Europe and the Americas, while maintaining an overall Islamic style. Keita found success in Europe as one of the African stars of world music. After much success in Europe, he returned to Mali in 2000 to live and record music."

Despite being an awesome musician and in everyone's top three favorite artist category here, Salif has a bad reputation for actually showing up to his shows. He'll make engagements in Bamako and the venue will charge an entrance fee, but he'll never come. Or if he comes, he'll play for 15 minutes and then leave. Needless to say, when a country-wide tour was announced, I was a little skeptical. It was announced that he would be in Mopti the 15th of June so Beth and Dan and I decided to go. The show started at 9. He didn't come until 11. After sitting around for awhile we got up to dance, take photos and do some video recording. Here is one recording, from stage level, and some awesome photos. Enjoy:

I especially love in this video the fact that he just really gets his fans excited. Not to mention the awesome lights at the end that display the Malian flag (green, yellow, red) on the backboard.

The yellow light shining wasn't the best, but here's Salif!

Again, Salif jamming for his crowd.

My favorite photo! I was standing infront of the stage with everyone and the flag in the background with a fan clapping just happened all at the right time.

But, just when I was ready to throw in the towel and go home, this guy walked up to me. He asked me if I wanted to go dance with Salif Keita on stage. I figured he was joking and that I was just going to go dance with him, but I said yes and off we went toward the stage. Despite having a skirt on, he and his friend each grabbed a leg and hoisted me on stage. Salif's backup singers helped me up and the next thing I knew, I was on stage with Salif Keita!!! I didn't know what to do, so I walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned around and saw me, he gave me a hug! Here's the really blurry evidence of the hug, as taken by Dan:

In the center of the photo is me with Salif Keita. I'm on the left.

After we hugged, his band started playing music and we danced a little infront of the audience where people were taking our photos and this guy on stage was videotaping the whole thing. Then I went over to his backup singers and we danced a little too:

Again, I'm in the middle but on the right this time.

Shortly after this photo was taken, a security guard tapped me on the shoulder and directed me off stage. I was super excited! The best part is that the next day, I ran into all of these people in Sevare that I know who were like, "Hey, I saw you last night and took a photo of you with my cell phone!" So, I'm hoping to get a clearer shot, but if not at least this blurry evidence is there.

My fame was short lived, but it was an awesome night.

Finding a Good Tailor

Especially in West Africa, finding tailors who really know what they are doing is difficult. Because the clothes here are usually so big and shapeless, they rarely use (and follow) tape measures and measurements and detailed instructions. Needless to say, it has been difficult finding the best tailors who can measure and pay attention to detail. First we started on a quest to give one bag to a lot of different tailors and if they made it correctly we’d give them more. In the end, with the sage advice of some friend of Peace Corps Baba, we decided to set up our own sewing workshop behind his store. There are 10 sewing machine, 10 tailors and two shifts per day of sewing. It’s still a new process but we’re hoping that this will give us better control over the quality of product coming from them. My personal opinion, given that they are all handmade bags, is that the small differences make them unique. Well, we can only run with that for so long until American consumers get picky about "her bag being different than mine." So, we're trying to minimize this as much as possible. Here's an idea of what the tailors have been doing:

Our first meeting - Sembe (lightblue standing) and Baba explain to the the chosen tailors which tissue to use and what the exact measurements are.

Sembe (left) and Barry (right) measure and cut the bogolan. Initially we were going to use a tailor in Bamako to do all the cutting with his laser cutter. Time became a factor and we started doing it by hand.

Benjamin Guindo taking the project to heart and doing the best measuring, cutting and sewing I've seen in Africa!

At a large workshop in Mopti, these two worked together on the bags and did a mighty fine job.

The initial stage of our workroom. 10 sewing machines were bought and assembled and then moved into the room for production to begin.

Inside the workroom with the dayshift crew. We had to explain the importance of keeping the work area clean and focusing on quality, not quantity. They all seemed to understand, but we're all actively there to encourage and support them along the way.

The workroom in motion.

The tailors initally began working individually, but we changed it to an assembly line production.

It's a long road to meet our mark, but we're working hard everyday. I left the project in the hands of Sembe and Baba while I run around Ghana on vacation. They are both amazingly competent and dedicated to their job. I can't wait to get back and help though!

A Day in the Life of Bogolan

The last few weeks have been very busy and exciting. I haven’t had any time to update, but now I will. At the beginning of June I was counting down the days until my vacation in Ghana. Then, all of a sudden, I was given a project by my supervisor to help this guy, Peace Corps Baba, fill an order. PC Baba is this awesome guy who, with the help of Peace Corps volunteers, really got his business off the ground. Now he’s really successful and goes to trade shows with his jewelry in Europe and the US. With this order for an American company, his business is rapidly expanding.

Instead of jewelry this time, we’re working on these bogolan bags. Bogolan is a West African type of cloth dyed using mud. After the mud is used, natural substances or bleach are used to put designs on it. The process of making these bags is not simple. We have to find the fabric, send it to the bogolan dyers, retrieve it, cut it and then sew it. It’s crazy. I travelled to a city called San - about three hours from Sevare - and I met PC Baba there. We went to visit the families of bogolan dyers to see how they dye the fabric and to see how our order from them was coming along. Here are the fruits of our labors:

The tissue we buy comes in large rolls like this. They have to be measured to strips of 2 meters and then cut and 10 have to be sewn together. This all has to happen before they are dyed.

This is a natural product that comes from one of the trees here (Baba only gave me the Bambara word for it). After they boil the leaves - like tea - this becomes the first step of the process as they dip the white tissue in it.

You can see the tissue turning yellow here.

The woman in the foreground is putting the tissue in the yellow liquid and the woman next to her is wringing all the excess dye out of it. After this step, the tissue is lain under the sun to dry.

This is the actual print that is put onto the bogolan. In the tin is the mixture of bleach and they use stencils - I was amazed! - to make the design as uniform as possible.

Due to the size of our order, everyone in this family is helping out and at one point there were six designers working hard.

Both before an after the bleach design is created, the tissue is covered in mud - giving it the name of mudcloth. These two boys were mixing mud to prepare to slather onto the tissue.

Here the mud is put onto the bogolan to reinforce the black color. I was worried the design would be ruined but alas, all went well.

At the end of every step, the tissue has to sit under the sun to dry. You can see all steps of the process here - far left is the just the yellow tissue, middle is the mud, and far right on the truck is the bleach design. In Africa, everything is done together, so the horse eating and using the truck as a surface is no coincidence.

Finally, here is Peace Corps Baba!!! He's sorting through all of the bogolan that this family has already made for us to determine whether or not it was well made. If it's not, he'll leave it and ask them to touch it up.

Coming up next....the task of finding a good tailor in West Africa.

Lame post

This is a lame post just letting you all know I've been so busy! I'm going to Ghana on Sunday and will definitely update after my trip with photos and a lot of information. A lot has been happening but I haven't had time to sit down and capture it all. All in due time. Until then...

Thoughts Evolving

Before coming to Mali, I was pretty set in my way as far as the way I thought about Africa, development and wanting to be the perfect PC Volunteer. I thought that development really did work, it’s just that something has been missing for the past 30 years. And if it didn’t work, why were so many organizations and people throwing money into it. And Peace Corps, I mean, Peace Corps is the ultimate volunteer agency and was the perfect path for me. I knew it was a perfect fit and I had been telling myself that since Sophomore year of college.

Well, as the title suggests, my thoughts have changed a little. I thought that I had something to prove, that I needed to be the most hardcore volunteer that was in country. I thought I was competing with someone for that title. I wanted a hut, an outhouse, no electricity, no toilet paper and minimal food. Well, after about two or three months, I realized that it’s just not that easy to let go of my creature comforts. I still craved Oreos and wanted ice cream! I also thought that I was going to change the world – and if not the world, then definitely my little village. When the villagers just stare at you blankly when you start to profess your words of wisdom concerning better health and how to cultivate millet, you realize, “Okay, maybe I’ll just focus on changing the habits of my family, not the whole village!” Even though I didn’t have this kind of site, I wanted it! I thought that at least I could help a little like this.

Recently, as I’ve said, I changed sites and changed jobs. I have a nice house, indoor plumbing, a gas stove, ceiling fans and a neighbor who has a refrigerator. When I’m hot, I come to the Peace Corps bureau and sit in the AC room. I buy ice frequently to enjoy cold water. I ride my bike around and eat good food and can buy fresh fruits and veggies every if I want. I’m not living the way I “wanted” to live, but I’m having a great time here in Sevare.

As far as changing the world, I’m not going to do that and I finally realize that. Not to sound like I’ve given up, I’ve just become realistic. Development work hasn’t worked for 30 years because there’s only so much that Western organizations can do. It’s a 50/50 relationship and most people – in my case, Malians – aren’t keeping up their 50%. They’re set in their ways, and behavior change doesn’t seem likely. Malians will likely accept your suggestions on washing their hands or planting a garden, but once you leave, they give up and go back to their old ways. That’s not sustainable development – that’s immediate gratification that will end as soon as you leave.

With all of this said, I’ve developed some new thoughts and goals for myself. Before it was to suffer and become Malian and live the way they do. Now, I want to be here working and see what I can get done. But at the end of the day, if my project doesn’t succeed or I don’t change the entire city to see things and do things my way, I’m not going to beat myself up for it. I’m going to live in Mali for the rest of my service and I’m going to have fun. I’m going to put myself first. And if that means making homemade ice cream or enjoying Oreos sent from the States, then so be it.
There's a huge disconnect here between living and working. If you're living, then you don't necessarily have an effect on the people around you. You're doing your own thing and satisfying your needs. But if you're working, all that you have is devoted to work and to - in most cases - developing certain villages. It's hard to live and work here. I've pretty much decided that it can't be done. So, I'm focusing on living and working, but not forcing myself or Malians. If they want to succeed, they'll seek me out. I'm not pushing anymore.

Needless to say, I'm putting myself first and I'm going to have a great time. I no longer need to compete with anyone else, I just need to be happy. However I reach that goal of happiness - which is pretty hard this day and age - depends on the strides with which I take my life. Happiness and fun are my mantra now, of course with a little bit of work mixed in.

I'm Feeling HOT HOT HOT

All I have to say is that sweating profusely in 110 degree heat isn't the funnest thing in the world. Pray with me for the most plentiful rainy season ever. And pray for it soon. Or just speed along time until June 15th when I go to Ghana.

The point is that 110 is not a good number.

Laiterie Suudu Baaba

I’ve recently started working at my new job and I love it! It’s a dairy co-op and they produce milk and yogurt using the milk from local farmers. It really is awesome. It’s a lot more rewarding than my past job was and I just feel so at home.

Even though I have no idea what the milk-making process in the States is, I’m sure it’s not very similar to this – save for the pasteurization process. Here’s a day in the life at the Co-op.

Lala Bah and Oumou sifting the milk and bagging it. This milk was actually made the night before and is being packaged the next morning.

Lala is sifting the curds of out the milk to make it as smooth as possible.

Here are Bolly and Sidibe pouring the morning's fresh milk into the pasteurizing machine. They use gas to heat it up and it takes about two hours to pasteurize.

Here is Sidibe taking the temperature of the milk to make sure it's finished.

And the unloading of the pasteurizing machine into buckets. You can imagine the smell of 120 gallons of hot milk. They even filter it at this point to make sure that no debris has come this far.

Here, Bolly and Sidibe empty out the pasteurizing machine getting every last drop of scalding hot milk. The outcome is 4 or 5 large bins of milk.

Here the ladies clean the pasteurizing machine - Lala, Fatumata and Oumou.

After the milk is done, Sidibe adds sugar and stirs two of these bins to make yogurt. It's really good, just not strawberry - yet!

And here is the final product in the cooler - milk is in the clear bags and the yogurt is packaged in professional Suudu Baaba packaging.

Here is it! The only problem - and everyone thinks I'm crazy - is that I don't drink milk here. Maybe I'll wean myself into it. Until the next time...stay cool!