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.
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