Mali

A Photo Essay: Bamako Taxi Interiors

by phil June 6, 2013 Mali

Before you look at Bamako taxi interiors, please consider reading my last post and supporting a grassroots democracy project being led by Malian activists (our campaign ends in 68 hours!). I could easily make a tumblr of bamako taxi interiors. I could do the same for West African barbershops, minibus proverbs, and dibiterie sheep drawings. [...]

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Why this can work

by phil May 28, 2013 Mali

If we had held these kinds of gatherings in the early 90′s, we would not be in the position that we are today. That quote comes from the dugutigi (neighborhood chief) of Bankoni, the neighborhood where we held our most recent SOS Democracy community event (help us fund the project here). Early warning, I’m probably [...]

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SOS Democracy: how this came to be

by phil May 14, 2013 Mali

Earlier this year, I was emailed by a Malian woman named Coumba. She was trying to get in contact with Bruce Whitehouse about a post he had written, in which I was quoted. His post linked to my site and she ended up writing to me thinking that I had authored Bruce’s larger post. I [...]

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Dancing on the Roof of Nafaji

by phil April 17, 2013 Mali

After Bankoni and behind Djelibougou, is a neighborhood that straddles the sprawling tentacles of Bamako and the villages that lie just beyond the hills. I didn’t have any reason to go to Nafaji until Sophie put me in contact with a dancer at Yeredon, a community based dance center. I made my first visit to [...]

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Some recent photos from Mali

by phil April 3, 2013 Mali

I recently wrote a post on How to Draw Camels about what I’ve been up to in Bamako over the past month. You can check it out here. I haven’t had time to write the final chapter in my Yopougon Toits Rouges saga (see part 1 and part 2), so in lieu of another 1,000+ [...]

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Mali is on the Front Page, This is What you Should Do

by phil January 26, 2013 Mali

Outside of Timbuktu, January 2012 I am back in Bamako now. Another 36 hour ride with Sama Transport in the books. Previous trips from Abidjan to Bamako (in 2012, at least) foreshadowed traumatic events in Mali. I arrived in Bamako a few hours before the coup last March. Several weeks later, I had a flight [...]

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