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