Bolle Prison

I spent three days in an all women's prison. Now anyone that knows me might ask "what did she do now?" Well have no fear I was not in for anything except documenting the area and yet another round of Here Bolo. Maddie, Bay, Ramatoulaye, and Malick spent the days talking to the women about the five points of Here Bolo. Most of the women are in prison for prostitution, or killing their babies. It truly is poverty stricken cases. Out of fifty women, four could read. So the survey was taken and then we discussed with everyone the misconceptions of transmission, and the access to care if they were HIV positive. At the end they were given tshirts with the Here Bolo message, and surprisingly enough we were asked to come back, test them for HIV, and visit another ward of the prison.
Bolle is not like your typical prison. Women are allowed to have their children on the grounds and there are facilities for day care. They also farm all the food that is consumed on the grounds. Corn, millet, eggs, etc. To top it off they have a seperate area that women can sew clothes and make soap. This concept was conceived by the warden Madaam Diarra. The concept being that the women don't feel as though they are in prison, but learning tools and rehabilitating themselves to be able to go out in the world and make a living. Madaam Diarra is a tough cookie with a heart of gold. The women seem to admire her. This is as much as I can tell as they speak Bambera, which is then translated to French and then the French is translated to English for me. All in all it was a great time. The people seem to enjoy our company and the message of GAIA once again was well perceived.

Bolle Prison Photos

This is me....

Well here I am. I am a photographer and full time college student working on a project in West Africa located in Bamako, Mali. I am working for the non-profit organization GAIA Vaccine Foundation in Providence, Rhode Island (gaiavaccine.org). My overall project is to document the GAIA VF mission. Please check out their website for the most detailed information. I have been here for a little over one week and becoming adjusted to the culture. I do not speak any French nor do I speak the native tongue, Bambera, that they speak here, but so far it seems to be working. Malians are beautiful. Today it came to me as I was taking a walk. People are the same all over the world, this is true, but how we live is defenitly a world apart. The people of this community are poor to the eye, but rich in their hearts. They live their lives, surviving day by day, meal to meal. Their spirit is genuine, and I feel myself learning a great deal about life just by sitting back and listening. I hope you can learn a bit too from the photos.
As my time here goes along I will update you on the programs that GAIA VF has in place. The images you see already are from this week. Please come back and check out any updates, as I will post on a regular basis. If you have something to say, well then blogg it! Follow the link to view the photos......

A Day at The Balanie

Bal-a-knee: Bambera for a street party,or dance. With music and a purpose. The purpose was to introduce the community of Sikoro to a progam called "Le Main de l'Espoir". "Le Main de l'Espoir" (which translates to "Hand of Hope" in English and "Hêré Bolo" in Bambera) will teach Malians about HIV prevention and treatment. Maddie DiLorenzo, a second year Brown student heads the program for GAIA, and she has recruited two powerful people to stand by her to train peer educators in the community. There is Bay Hudner is a third year Harvard student, and has just recently joined the program. Then there is Ramatouye. Rama is a local Malian and is extremely effective in getting the community together. She speaks Bambera and French, which makes it easier to communicate with more people. Not only that, but she shares her story openly and at that moment you realize that there is more to a person than just the surface. Rama lost her husband and two children to AIDS and she herself is HIV positive. You would think that would get a person down. Not her, she trucks on, passing a message of Hêré Bolo. What is this message of the hands? Espoir: hope (the thumb),Identite: identity (index finger), Transmission: transmission (middle finger), Famille: marriage, fidelity and family (ring finger), and Communaute: the community (both hands together). With this powerful message in the hands of Ramatouye, Maddie and Bay, the word is being spread fast. They have already trained ten nurses and doctors at the Sikoro clinic to act as counselors.
So the Balanie went off with huge success. We danced, we preached the words, and then we danced some more. Take a look at the photos to see all the fun we had spreading a positive word for GAIA VF.

A Day at the Balanie Photos

Dr. Daou

The journey to Pointe G Hopital. One of the largest hospital in Mali. To see one of the biggest doctors in Mali for infectious diseases. The ride was beautiful. Now your wondering: Why no photos of the ride? Well if you were riding in the cars around here, with other cars 2 mm away, and the motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic as they do, you might not stick a camera even close to the window. Trust me the scenery was amazing. I will get some this week or next when I take a day to walk in the moutains. So back to the hospital. There is a university and hospital in one. This is pretty big for Mali.
Let me take a step to the right and talk about the players involved. Dr. Malick Kone. Enough said. A man to admire. He is the Director of GAIA VF in Mali. Malick comes from a family devoted to the medical industry. The man does it all, he works one on one with all the volunteers to accomplish each important mission, and thats just the beginning. Rajiv Kumar is the co-founder and director of Adopt a Doctor. He is a second year medical student at Brown University. They bring doctors from surrounding communities with a small donation to visit clinics in small villages such as Sikoro to treat HIV patients once a week. Check out his link for Adopt a Doctor. Jared Meshekow is the founder of GAIA at Boston University. He is in charge of teahcing doctors a program called Lab Tracker. This is a program which allows for the tracking of HIV-positive patients, medication usage, lab-results, and other relevant medical data. So now, off we go to Dr. Daou's office. He is a fast-paced man, I like that. He has a profile of Martin Luther King, and the same sense of mission as well. As I said before he is the head doctor for infectious diseases in Mali. Talk about a man with a dream. Nothing seems to be impossible for him. So hand in hand, Malick, Rajiv, Jared, and Dr. Daou attack. A slow well planned out attack. Where to bring doctors to treat, what doctors to use, and Jared persistently checking on Lab Tracker to make sure that the patients that are treated are documented. This was a rewarding experience to wittness. Once again another resolution.

Dr. Daou Photos

My Photo Album

Day to day, here I go. Trying to find what makes Mali exist. Its in the people. Look at the eyes, see their resolution. Everyday with the intention to resolve the unresolved. Look at the situation. Never a situation we will be presented with in this lifetime. Put the two together. The situation and the resolution, and you have Mali. Follow this link for weekly updates, sometimes a lot more. The stories and the images can work together.

My Photo Album