Marie Venner's blog

Bamako Student Art Project—May 09

Paul and I had the opportunity to work with the US Embassy and four Bamako schools on an art contest designed for the students. Over 120 kids created drawings using materials that provided by the US Embassy. The themee of the art contest was, "La Lecture: Source de lumière" (Reading: A Source of Light). The students were competing for their artwork to be printed on the front of the Ambassador's thank you stationary and/or on a 2010 calendar.

We visited three private schools. One was the "rich kids' school" and had a spacious classroom, a sink, posters on the wall and school t-shirts! NICE! Another private school didn't have any supplies and was overcrowded but it did have ceiling fans and lights. The Madrasa, school for Islamaic studies, wasn't in the best shape but it was way better off than the one public school we went to, which had no electricity in the rooms (no lights!) and graffiti on the walls...and a teacher that smokes in the classroom. I couldn't get over that.

I will let you look at the pictures and figure out what school is which.

Jun 20, 2009 8:25:53 AM

Adventures with Mat. May 25th - June 7th 2009

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Gassing up to head out of town. Mat was thinking, I'm pretty sure it isn't safe to fuel up while smoking a cigarette with the car running.

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I think this was the first flat tire. There were two during our road trip and we lost the front driver's side fender. Issa, our driver, was quick at changing tires and picking up lost car parts to through in the back or the 4x4.

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"So you're telling me that African print is the new Black."-Paul

Paul getting fashion advice from our Djenne guide, John Travolta. Yes thats right, John Travaolta. John showed us a lot of mud.

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Mat takes a photo or is praying to Allah for no more flat tires??

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I saw this artwork on the side of a building in Djenne. It looks like work by the British artist, Banksy...could very well be. The yellow bird had a hole where its heard was and when you looked through you could see into a family's court yard.

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Making mudbricks in Djenne.

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"Mudbrick rock"

Rock formations on our way into Pay Dogon. Paul and Mat took some great postcard quality photos.

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Dogon granaries in the vilage..

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"Look, no hands!"

Muso (Woman) walking up the steep cliffs in Dogon country with a baby on her back and bucket on her head... and in 105 degree temperature.

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Mat weaving his way through the maze of granaries in the Dogon cliffs.

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Pots in Segu.

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The shipment of pots coming in.

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Back in Bamako we checked out Yaya Coulibaly's marrionette exhibit at the French Cultural Center.

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Kono (Bird) costume from Yaya Coulibaly's exhibition. For Patrick McNaughton!

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We ended our adventures with Mat with one last packed, hot four hour car ride to Kolokani and back. We visited the house of Nakunte Diarra and her son Bindé. Both are well know Bogolan artists. Both Nakunte and Bindé's refined work can be found in museum collections back in the states.

Jun 11, 2009 7:59:16 AM

Baby Tilekura Diakité 5-20-09

Tilekura ("new sun") is the daughter of Abdoul, the brother of Paul's Bloomington Bamanakan instructor, Boubacar. Mom, Flani is getting ready to join her husband, Abdoul back in Indiana in a few months after she gets their visas. Tilekura was born a week before I went back to the states. Malians like to put eyeliner and draw eyebrows on their babies, boy or girl, doesn't matter. I think it makes the babies look like little older people.

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In this photo she looks like Uncle Boubacar.

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Jun 11, 2009 7:22:07 AM

California for Steve and Kates wedding. April 13th - May 15th

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The wedding was in Santa Cruz. It was a beautiful day with pleasant beach weather, 70 degrees! Mali, 105 degrees.

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Sara from Tucson chatting it up.

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Big Girl Raine finally gets her baby quilt.

While in Chico I rented a car for a few days. I was able to go to the post-office, find an 220v iron at the thrift store for three dollars, watch episodes of "Blues Clues" with Reese and Marissa, buy groceries, and cook dinner all in a period of five hours—yeah for efficiency! All these endeavors would have taken at least two weeks to complete while in Bamako. I take that back, I don't think it's possible to find a three dollar iron or visit Reese and Marisa.

For Paul's sake I did not take any photos of the good food that I ate during my visit home. So you will not see any images from the savory lobster and crab dinner I ate courteous of Sean and Michela, the Nobby's burger I inhaled in Chico, or the flavorful twice baked potatoes that Bill and Judy made.

Jun 11, 2009 5:05:00 AM

BKO. ZOO April 10th

Why you should visit the Bamako Zoo:

1. The admission is roughly 10 cents per person.

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2. There is a manatee.

3. A funny little alligator

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4. Cute school kids daring each other to get close to the snakes.

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5. You can taunt a Black Mamba.

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6. You touch a monkey or make faces at one.

7. There is wheelchair access!

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8. Pelicans.

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Not so Cool stuff at the Zoo:

1. There is trash every where.

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2. The manatee has been stuffed and is now decaying in a broken glass case.

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4. Can't seem the find the lion only a mound of donkey heads and ribs in its cage. (zoom in)

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5. The smell....words can't describe.

May 21, 2009 12:43:34 PM

Segou, I just cant get enough of you. April 3–4, 2009

A necessary sanity mini-trip. Oh yeah, we took a trip to Segou, my favorite town in Mali! Bamako's bad air and heat was starting to wear on Paul and I. But, we weren’t the only ones who feel the urge to get out. Our friends, Jaime and Idrissa, were also needing to escape Bamako’s craziness and offered to drive their car to Segou for a little weekend getaway. We stayed at the Hotel Djoliba, which located in Segou's clean air, tree-lined streets of Downtown. The hotel also offers fantastic food in its indoor /outdoor restaurant and A/C in each room. Paul and I blasted the A/C all night, slept under a big comforter, and woke up cold. YES COLD! We stayed in our rooms as much as possible and went out for good food, bead shopping, card games on the terrace, and dancing at a near by night club.

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On our way out of town we backtracked a bit (30km) to visit Markala, which is where the large Sansanding dam on the Niger is located. The French project was built with the forced labor of Malian between 1934–47; hundreds of workers died during it’s construction. The water supply is used to irrigate farmland for rice, cotton, and sugarcane under the control of the Office de Niger. At one end of the dam there is a monument, which pays tribute to the Malian’s that constructed the impressive dam.

MOOOOVE OVER!

Apr 11, 2009 7:35:57 AM

Small, Medium, and Super Sized

During Sharon’s visit the three of us were able to experience the Djenne Mud Mosque in three different sizes.

The town Djenne is a World Heritage sight on an island in the Bani River. The mosque is the largest mud built structure in the world and looks like a grand sand castel. The dirt lot in front of the mosque provides space for Djenne’s Monday market...crazy busy.

As much as I like miniatures, I have to say the XXL mosque was my favorite. The scale was impressive. The two smaller versions were located at Mali’s National Museum in Bamako.

Mar 12, 2009 4:34:35 PM

Mali Travels Feb. 21-27 2008

Paul, Sharon and I hit the bumpy roads of Mali. One of our first encounters was with a grand baobab tree on the side of the road. bili bili ba yiri (really really big tree)

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Paul shakes hands with a baobab tree.

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Bee hives in a baobab.

Mar 3, 2009 7:59:49 AM

Paul gets down

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Paul dances at a wedding.

Feb 16, 2009 3:17:03 AM

Segou I love you 1-30 to 2-1-09

Paul and I took a trip to Segou this past weekend to attend the 5^th annual Festival sur le Niger. Paul, Spencer, Jeremy, and I left town Friday afternoon in an air-conditioned Toyota Forerunner owned by Jeremy. Jeremy is a professor from the University of Madison and is in Bamako studying agricultural economics on a Fulbright. The ride only took three hours and was very comfortable in comparison to any taxi or bus in Malli. After we rolled into town, we went to the ticket booth and bought our three-day festival bracelets for 65,000 CFA ($130) EACH! A total of $260 for Paul and I! If you were a Malian citizen you paid 6,000 CFA ($12) or about one-tenth for the same pass. I could see one-fifth maybe. It felt abit like discrimination? No? Paul tried everything to get a better price all while speaking his best Bamanakan, but nothing worked. We shelled out the money and then ate and drank away our miseries at Guido’s Pizza Parlor. Guido’s is located on the Niger river. We got a table five feet from the water and watched sun go down. Here are a few shots.

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Later that night we walked to the stage, which was literally "sur le" Niger. We met up with Amy, another Fulbrighter, who lives in Segou and was our host for the weekend. The concert started out slow with female singer form Portugal but by the time Adja Soumano, a Malian singer, started the concert was packed and everyone was rock’n out.

These are pretty poor quality videos, but they should give you a small taste. The first video is of Haira Harby who played towards the beginning of the night. In the second video you can see how crowed it was when Soumano started.

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The next morning, Paul whacked his head open on the bathroom sink at Amy’s. Split his forehead open real good. What a goof! We had breakfast, and then spent the whole day on the festival grounds. Here are some photos and videos from Saturday.

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Paul taking notes at the festival art exhibit and Jeremy wonders what that brown lump is.

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"How do I look?"

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The floating hotel next to the stage.

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Practicing for the big festival pirogue race.

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A lonely fisher man decided to row across the path of an oncoming pirogue cruising at full speed. Fast! I freaked out and forgot the camera was rolling. "A man nyi" (Bad)