I just returned to Bamako from the Festival sur le Niger in Segou. Most festivals are removed from reality in the best way possible, but this weekend was particularly incredible. I plan on returning every year.

This is a clip from Salif Keita’s Saturday night performance. The stage is in the Niger River; the crowd dances on the shore. Around the 18 second mark, you will get an idea of why this was such a fun festival.

More thoughts, photos and video to come.

Refugee and Personal Update

The refugee situation has not improved. Close to 50,000 people have now fled to Burkina, Niger and Mauritania. The number of internally displaced is also in the tens of thousands. My Timbuktu family is still in Fassala and the UNHCR is constructing more permanent camps there. The good news is that they may try to return home as early as next week. That said, this is not the case for many others. Timbuktu itself has not seen fighting, but for those in many of the smaller villages and towns in the far north, the battles have occurred on their doorstep.

In a previous post, I wrote about a few ways that you can help. In addition to the three organizations I have already mentioned, tamasheq.net has also just released a benefit compilation that you can check out here.

For those that hear a blip on the news about fighting in Mali, you must realize that the fighting is occurring in the far north and the actual number of casualties and deaths has been small compared to many other conflicts. I am safe. I was also safe in Segou. Of course, for the people that live in the north, the situation is awful. And for those that left southern Mali because they feared they would be associated with the rebellion, many of them are now dealing with difficult conditions as a refugee. As I write this, there are still many families living in the desert, afraid to return to their home and unable to afford transport to a neighboring country. There are many northern residents who don’t support the rebels that are supposedly fighting for them. The situation is particularly terrible for them as they are caught between two fighting sides and they are not a part of either. We can only hope for peaceful resolution.

I am going to be in Cote d’Ivoire in a week or so for restaurant/business things and then back to Bamako before taking a trip elsewhere. Hot season is going to start momentarily. Nothing can really mitigate the heat, but mangoes will be falling from trees all over Mali. They say there are not enough people to eat all the mangoes that arrive during the hot season. I will be trying to change this single handedly. I almost did it last year. In the off chance that there are excess mangoes, I will be using them to start my dried mango export business. You want in?

Want to Experience the Energy at Festival sur le Niger? Watch this is a post from: Phil in the Blank

Please read this post if you haven’t already. I’m about to talk about block parties in Bamako, but there is still a refugee crisis in the Sahel.

A few weeks ago I spent an evening on the most crowded street corner of the quinzambougou neighborhood in Bamako. Chris from Sahel Sounds had invited me to a balani show organized by Kaba Blon, one of the acts on his label.

From the paved road to the dark car-less side streets, vague directions were offered. I was lost, redirected, finally standing on a trail of extension cords that led to a circled crowd.

At first, a balani show seems like nothing more than an organized block party. Look closer and you can see that it’s the urban adaptation of a village balafon show. In the villages, money is pooled and parties are organized. A balafon (wooden xylophone) ensemble keys the event, but there are typically many components including storytelling, dance, and Mali’s traditional MC, the griot.

In Bamako, the griot is the Dj, the live instruments have been subbed for computers and a PA system, and skinny jeans have taken the place of bogolan cloth. But the spirit is the same.

Warming up the crowd with a comedy routine.

Kaba Blon performing acapella. You’ll notice that several of the ladies in the crowd are quite taken with these gentlemen.

This dance troupe turned themselves into a land octopus and then, well, you can watch for yourself.

If you are in RSS reader and videos don’t show up, click here to go to the post.

For all of Bamako’s high profile musicians and established music venues, there is also a creative spirit that is more democratic and accessible. For a couple of hours, a balani show transforms the street into a stage and a playground. Even if my head hadn’t been swimming in terrible gin, I would have enjoyed this.

I will now leave for Segou to attend Festival sur le Niger. Once more, if you have a moment, check out the previous post for a couple of ways that you can lend a hand with Mali’s (still growing) refugee situation.

Bamako Balani Shows: Streetside Music, Theater and Dance is a post from: Phil in the Blank

UPDATE 2/10/11: My host family from Timbuktu has made it to Mauritania. They are staying in the border town of Fassala. They are safe. The UNHCR has a camp there and the family reports that they have shelter and (limited) food. People continue to arrive in a steady stream. If anyone knows how to send targeted donations with UNHCR, please let me know. At the bottom of the post, I have also added two new organizations that are on the ground in northern Mali, Tamoudre and Association Etar.

Mariam, one of my star camel drawing students, is living in the desert with her family right now. They have abandoned their house in Timbuktu and will soon be traveling to Mauritania. I sent them a bit of money for the journey this morning. They were reluctant to send someone to pick it up from western union in town. They were reluctant because they fear for their safety.

I introduced the current conflict in northern Mali and the country-wide fallout in my last post. A lot has been written about the politics of this situation, but I want to focus on the humanitarian crisis that has quickly developed and overwhelmed whatever small capacity existed for refugees in neighboring countries. There are ways that you and I can help. But first..

Let’s be clear about a few things. This is a complex and awful situation. Many Tuareg and other light-skinned Malians and immigrants residing here have fled because they are either

1) afraid that Mali’s non-Tuareg population will associate them with the rebellion and attack their property or their person (this has happened in different parts of the country) or

2) afraid of the approaching MNLA, who have been fighting their way through northern Mali or

3) afraid of the Malian government and military or

4) all of the above.

Let’s all keep in mind the following: the situation is complex. It is not a simple story of hero rebels liberating a population from an oppressive government. It’s also not a simple story of a benign government trying to put down a “terrorist affiliated” insurgency. Nor is it a story of Mali’s non-Tuareg population perpetrating systematic violence against lighter skinned ethnic groups.

There are many Tuareg who support the rebellion. There are many who don’t. There are Tuareg who have been harassed and attacked, who have had their property destroyed. This does not mean that every non-Tuareg has participated in an anti-Tuareg pogrom.

This post is apolitical and the message is one of peace and assistance.

Two things:

1. Get the Word Out

Friends over at Essakane Film have published a comprehensive press release detailing the refugee crisis. Click here to read it.

The refugee situation has emerged quickly. Relief agencies like UNHCR and the International Red Cross are trying to catch up. Right now, the story has a low media profile. Use the information and linked articles in that press release to change that.

Go to media websites and write them (most have contact forms). Get on facebook and twitter (don’t have a twitter account? Make one. It takes two seconds and you can send out a few tweets and be done with it. Or keep using it because it is a great tool and resource). In your message/tweet/facebook post, link to the press release itself or any of the articles embedded within.

Hound media personalities who carry a lot of weight. Example: Anderson Cooper. His twitter account, facebook page, CNN’s facebook page. Click here to email his show.

Or New York Times writer Nick Kristof: @nickkristof on twitter and facebook.com/kristof

You can also tweet: @cnn, @ac360, @maddow, @ariannahuff, @msnbc, @abc, @huffingtonpost, @hrw (human rights watch), @bbc, @france24, @ajenglish

Here is an example tweet (feel free to copy and paste this):

UN: 20,000 Who Fled Violence in #Mali Need Help http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/UN-22000-People-Flee-Mali-Fighting-138848574.html @ac360 @cnn @andersoncooper @huffingtonpost @abc @hrw @nickkristof

2. Skip that Pain au Chocolat and Donate a Few Dollars

There is a reliable and easy way to donate money to the International Red Cross operation in Mali and Niger. I am waiting to hear on additional online venues for donating to reliable organizations. As it stands, the UNHCR does not allow you to target your donations, but they are also operating in the Sahel now (see here).

To donate to the International Red Cross in Niger and Mali, click here, scroll down to other operations and select Niamey (Regional – Covers Mali and Niger). See screen shot:

Red Cross Donations Page

Update: Thank you to Arnaud Contreras for bringing these two organizations to my attention. Both are operating on the ground in northern Mali and at least with Tamoudre, you can easily donate online via paypal. If you don’t speak French, use something like google translate.

Tamoudre (donations page)

Association ETAR

Resources

Essakane Film press release

These twitter accounts are good follows for finding up to date information:

@EssakaneFilm
@tommymiles
@BabaAhmed38
@martinvogl
@tweetsintheME
@agtita

I tweet at @philinthe_

Please supplement above information with any resources, media contacts, and/or ways to donate to reliable NGOs and relief agencies, in the comments below. I will be traveling from Bamako to Fana tomorrow, returning Thursday evening. If needed, I will make additions then.

This is not the only humanitarian crisis going on in the world, but it is one in which we can effectively contribute and assist people who are in many cases getting squeezed from all sides. Spread the word. Donate a few dollars.

2 Easy Ways you Can Help over 20,000 Malian Refugees Right Now is a post from: Phil in the Blank

I recapped the Festival briefly in this post. The event was over two weeks ago. A lot has changed in northern Mali (and in Bamako, you could say) since then. I will address this to an extent later in the post. I will also list some resources for you to follow.

I first traveled to Timbuktu in 2010. I ate an amoeba before I got there and spent most of my time shitting blood. This trip was different.

The air was cooled by the Alize wind, the town was inundated with camels, and no organism was trying to break through my intestinal wall. Also, there was a music festival in the dunes just beyond the city.

Arriving in the port of Timbuktu

Timbuktu is more accessible than many people think. If you want, you can take an airplane from Bamako. You can also take much slower and possibly more uncomfortable transportation. In 2010, I took an 18 hour bus ride to Mopti, a 20 hour public pinasse to Niafunke, and a shared 4×4 for the few remaining hours to Timbuktu.

This time, it was an 11 hour bus to Mopti, and a blazing 8 hour or so ride in a private 4×4 to the river ferry just south of Timbuktu.

The above photo is from the manuscript library in Timbuktu. Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam holding a cat. Hard to argue with that.

A few days before the festival, there were only a handful of tourists in Timbuktu. We got to enjoy the city’s attractions in relative peace. Timbuktu was once a significant center of Islamic learning and a large number of manuscripts have been preserved. Many of them are housed in a more modern facility, but this library has a substantial collection of its own.

I see a turtle

Our home for the week was a Tuareg style tent – a tarp pinned on fat sticks, more or less – on the outer edges of the festival site. We were unofficial clients of a tour operator who decided he could make some money on the side by setting up an informal camp. He handed us off to his sister and her family and told us to steer clear of the official clients’ camp (on the other side of the dune).

This had its advantages. Namely, it was cheaper. It also allowed us to spend time with a family that was laughing and smiling for almost the entire time we were in their company.

I spent one afternoon visiting their house in Timbuktu. That’s where the above photo was taken. The house was a boxy room with high ceilings and free-for-all wall decorations of flowers, star player names from Europe’s major football leagues, and some basic addition and subtraction problems.

After drawing camels and drinking the three staggered bursts of sugary tea, we tilted our heads back and shut our eyes. I woke up with the jarring feeling of disorientation that occurs in strangers’ homes, but quickly realized who I was with and how much I liked them.

As unofficial clients, we got to enjoy Fatoumata’s family, but we also had to deal with a crazed guardian at our camp site and a diet that consisted of sandy rice with a bit of oil and a few pieces of boiled meat on top.

Many houses in Timbuktu are defined by their extravagant doors of carved wood and oversized metal ring knockers. Doors like the one above are nice, too. I hope Moricio and Jouto? are still together.

This was the stage area two nights before the festival began. A day later and everything was up and running.

MAGESTIC.

The festival opened with a camel parade followed by speeches from organizers and dignitaries. A warm-up performance from Khaira Arby and company teased the crowd before sundown.

Look at them. If you are in RSS reader, click over to the post if you can’t see the videos.

LOOOK AT THEM

One of my newly enrolled camel drawing students. This is her camel drawing before my training.

And after..

Beauty

Malian National Guard

In the days leading up to the festival, there was little to no security in and around Timbuktu and the festival site. In fact, I didn’t see a single police, gendarme, or member of the military. Once the festival started, there were armored vehicles and soldier-filled pick-up trucks rolling in from all directions. Whatever deterrent this show of force may have been, it seems more likely that AQIM did not disrupt the festival because it would have enraged a local population that already resented them.

In any case, the festival went off without any security issues and I never once felt unsafe. I enjoyed talking to the soldiers, honing my Bambara in a place where most people speak Sonrai or Tamashek. For many of the soldiers, it was their first time in northern Mali. This is a separate issue entirely, but how does the Malian government expect to pursue Al Qaeda (if that is indeed their goal) with soldiers that are completely unfamiliar with the desert?

AQIM has since become an afterthought (at least for the government); a new Tuareg rebellion began just days after the festival. On the other hand, the government may keep AQIM in the foreground as they try to establish a link with Tuareg rebels, a link that is likely bogus.

Tried to focus on the beetle, but got some crystal clear sand instead.

Our camp. Camels lounging.

My first time eating camel cheese. It was indestructibly hard, but tasty.

This is Noura Mint Seymali, a Mauritanian singer who was one of the festival’s musical highlights. Amidst stripped down instrumentation, her voice surely sailed far into the desert. Have a listen.

I don’t have a lot of video from the concerts. Even if I did, uploading the clips would be a multi-day affair.

For me, the concert highlights were Habib Koite, whose guitar work and stage presence should be experienced by everyone, Noura Mint Seymali (see above) and several of the Tuareg acts (Koudedé, Atri N’Assouf, Amanar, Tartit and Tinariwen). The super-group of Vieux Farka Toure, Afel Bocoum, Samba Toure, Toumani Diabate et al was not as exciting as it was when I first saw the configuration at la nuit de Niafunke last year in Bamako. This performance wasn’t as inspired and both Afel Bocoum and Toumani Diabate were absent. Also, there were some issues with the sound.

It is true that Bono was in attendance, offering a pledge of support to the beleaguered festival. While his presence was surely appreciated by the organizers, I did not enjoy his improvised guest spot with Tinariwen. He got on stage and yelled into the microphone for ten minutes.

The most energetic and crowd-stirring shows came from the frenetic Nigerien Tuareg guitar acts: Koudedé and Atri N’Assouf. During these two performances, each song garnered a larger eruption. In Afropop’s recap, Christopher Nolan remarked that Koudedé brought the mosh pit to the festival. This is accurate.

After Koudedé’s set, I shivered my way to the top of a dune and sat around a fire with some young Tamashek. Everyone giggled at the toubab’s vulnerability to cold. Their smiles broke through the shadows on their faces and I was offered tea soon after sitting down. As much as the festival was defined by music, it was small moments like these that I will remember most.

The crowd was largely Sonrai, Peul and Tuareg/Tamashek. As I said earlier, there were few Westerners at the festival. Locals did not have to buy tickets. Many traveled great distances to attend. It was one of the more uncommercial and democratic music festivals I’ve ever been to.

Samba Toure’s Friday night performance

Followed by Vieux Farka Toure

Me in my wrinkled parka, purchased in the Timbuktu clothing market for $16. Nighttime temperatures felt as if they were in the high 40′s (fahrenheit) and no more.

Few venues are more unique for a concert of this size. I hope that one day the festival can return to its former site in Essakane, an even more remote and dramatic location. For now, the more pressing concern is whether the festival can survive at all. Between AQIM, foreign travel warnings, and now fighting between a Tuareg rebel group and the Malian army, the organizers face significant challenges. That said, they have been resilient thus far and there is no indication that they will ever give up on their commitment to this event.

The current situation in Mali

Shortly after the festival, a Tuareg group that formed last fall – Mouvement National pour la Liberation de l’Azawad (MNLA) – began attacking towns in Northern Mali. Tuareg rebellion is nothing new in Mali, but the past several years have been relatively quiet. That said, poverty and a lack of political representation persist for Mali’s Tuareg population. While the underlying causes have existed for years, the fall of Gaddafi, which led to an increase in both weapons and former combatants in north Mali, may have been the trigger.

MNLA’s objective is an independent state. It’s a tall order, and one that is unlikely to be honored, especially given what appears to be a lack of popular support for the movement, but the rebels have had several victories in northern Mali. While it is hard to come across reliable info as there are very few impartial news sources and even fewer journalists actually covering the conflict, it seems clear that a significant number (at least 40) Malian soldiers died in Aguelhok. Some of them appear to have been executed (there are currently graphic photos circulating around the internet). It is unclear how many casualties the rebels have suffered since the fighting began.

In affected towns, many have fled, either to neighboring countries or to the scrubby, inhospitable landscape that takes up most of the area in this part of the world. Civilian casualties have been hard to come by, but it seems as if local populations have been spared the fighting. A total of 6 towns have been attacked and some of them are still in rebel possession.

In several towns in southern Mali, protests began on Wednesday over the government’s handling of the fighting in the north. In Bamako, military wives marched to the presidential palace. Upset that their husbands are dying in a faraway conflict, the women were also claiming that the soldiers are being sent to fight without adequate training or equipment. Mali’s president eventually sat down with a representative from the protesters and that conversation is perhaps one of the reasons that protests did not continue for a third day.

The scene turned temporarily ugly yesterday. I was at Tumast, the Tuareg cultural center in Bamako, in the morning and all sorts of rumors were flying around regarding Bamako’s Tuareg residents. Reports that the protesters were linking Tuaregs and anyone Arab-looking with the rebellion, attacking Tuareg businesses and residences etc. Many were calling Mohamed telling him to close down Tumast and get out of town. Yet, Tumast and the area around it was calm throughout the day. Many friends of the center stayed in their homes and shopkeepers shut down for the day.

While there were more physical attacks in Kati (a Tuareg owned pharmacy was attacked along with a Tuareg residence, no casualties reported, but mob described as violent), many of the rumors regarding violence against Tuaregs in Bamako don’t appear to be true. If you are reading this and you have concrete evidence to the contrary, please let me know. Still, there are reports that many Tuareg, Mauritanians and Arabs have fled town because of the situation.

I tried to scope out the situation in centre-ville yesterday, but my mission did not last long. I crossed the old bridge on foot and walked in the direction of Patrice Lumumba Square. At the north end of the square, tire fires lined the road going to the market as well as the bisecting east-west road. I looked around and realized that most people were quickly walking towards the bridge and the only people who weren’t were groups of young guys with sticks, who were walking quickly in just about every direction.

Then I was hit by a rock. It was a small rock that had been thrown from a crowd. I don’t think it was thrown at me and I wasn’t hurt, but the adrenaline started flowing and suddenly the situation felt very unsafe. Almost immediately, passengers in a sotrama started yelling at me to hop in and like that, I was scooped up and ferried across the river. A packed sotrama of friendly passengers and a prantike who refused to charge me for the ride was just what I needed.

On the other side of the river, you would have had no idea anything unsafe or violent was occurring just across the bridge. In fact, almost all of Bamako was calm during the protests. And as scary as the situation was yesterday, I have not seen/heard any reports of any serious injuries or deaths from the past couple of days (in Bamako). There were no further protests today, Tumast remained undisturbed, and I did not hear of any Tuareg harassment. Finally, the mob scene in centre-ville was not connected with the actual protest (the military wives). It was an instance of opportunism carried out mostly by young people and it was not related to the conflict in northern Mali.

With elections coming up and the conflict in the north, this is a critical moment for Mali. For his part, Amadou Toumani Toure, Mali’s president, met with a representative from the protestors and soon after sacked the defense minister. Time will tell whether this gesture was meaningful or not.

For now, all is calm in Bamako. I spent the afternoon in the outlying quarter of Misabougou where I revisited a women’s farming cooperative. We had a long, laughter-filled chat under a tree.

2012 Festival au Désert in Words and Photos + Update from Bamako is a post from: Phil in the Blank

The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations is underway. I’m in Bamako where dusty roadside TVs are being co-opted by crowds eager to see Mali advance. This is Africa’s largest tournament and whether or not you care about the sport, it’s hard not to appreciate the atmosphere.

I have been supporting Ghana since I studied abroad there in 2005. I will be admittedly less vocal about it tomorrow when Mali takes on Ghana in what could be the most exciting match of the tournament thus far. If you are not in Africa and you want to stream the matches (the Ghana v Mali match is tomorrow at 2PM EST, 1900 GMT), check out the site firstrow.tv – just don’t tell anyone I sent you.

For more information about the tournament, the official site is here. I recommend following @garyalsmith for tournament commentary if you are on twitter.

Finally, I also recommend following Juliet Bawuah (@Miss_Bawuah on twitter), who I had the pleasure of meeting when I was in Ghana this past November/December. A broadcast journalist at CITI FM, Juliet sat down with me to talk football in Ghana, Africa and beyond. If you have any interest in football in general, you will appreciate her insight into the sport.

[apologies in advance for the youtube clip. It was the only site that worked for a large upload with Mali's Orange internet]

Up next: A more substantial post about Festival au Desert and a new post on howtodrawcamels.com following up with Medicine on the Move and Ghana’s female aviators. Look out for these on Monday.

Interview with Juliet Bawuah on Ghana Football and the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations is a post from: Phil in the Blank

I’ll have a more substantial post up in the next week. For now..

As of two weeks ago, I didn’t know whether or not I would be attending festival in the desert. Security concerns and cost weighed heavily. But a week or so before the festival, I found myself having some reassuring conversations. I was also able to secure a press pass largely because of this blog. New friend Kyle, who I met through this blog, found affordable transport and we were off.

A week of camping on the outskirts of Timbuktu, on the edge of the desert. Three days of music.

More specific highlights:

- Hanging out with a Tuareg family for a week
- Sitting on dunes at sunset in the company of camels
- The hypnotic melodies of Koudedé, Atri N’Assouf, Amanar, Tartit and Tinariwen
- The booming vocals of Mauritanian singer Noura Mint Seymali
- The inventive guitar and warm stage presence of Habib Koite
- CAMELS EVERYWHERE
- Telling a Malian soldier that I was his father (understand cousinage here)
- Sharpening my Bambara with shopkeepers in Tonka, a pharmacist in Timbuktu, soldiers at the festival, and Mohamed, a Tamashek chauffeur who blasted us through the sand track after Douentza at light speed
- listening to live music in the desert
- The 24 hour bus ride home that took us through the less traveled north side of the Niger. Great cast of characters, charming dilapidated bus, sahel scenery at its finest. I loved it.

I even held a few camel drawing workshops:

Mariam, a young Tamashek girl, working on her camel drawing. Of all the ethnic groups in Mali, it’s the Tamashek who are most familiar with the camel. Unsurprisingly, they were some of my most eager students.

Festival attendance was down significantly this year. Western tourists stayed home after a November kidnapping in Timbuktu. There were a few hundred toubabs in attendance and several thousand Malians, most of whom lived in northern Mali. On the first day of the festival, a family arrived at our camp. They had traveled for 15 days by camel to attend the concert. Stories like this were not uncommon.

Cold nights were warmed by music and tea and sachets of gin. Days were spent lounging with camels. In the early evening, when the temperature was just right, we perched on the dunes and listened to the opening notes of the night’s first act. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was nowhere to be found and the local population was welcoming and exceedingly friendly despite the desperate economic climate.

Festival au Desert is likely the most unique music based gathering in the world. I’ll have more to say in my next post, but for now, consider making an early addition to your 2013 calendar. More pictures and words to come, and perhaps a video or two.

Also, look out for a post on howtodrawcamels.com with interviews and video from Kpong airfield in Ghana, and an interview here with Juliet Bawuah, sports broadcast journalist in Ghana, about the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

Brief Recap of 2012 Festival in the Desert is a post from: Phil in the Blank

1. In this part of the Yopougon neighborhood of Abidjan, a row of houses backs up to a sandy tree-filled corridor where you’ll find 4 twenty-something Ivorians playing monopoly. The properties are all Parisian landmarks. Gare de Lyon costs $125 in monopoly money.

In the same corridor, you will find small roadside bars and barbershops, women frying plantains and doughnuts, boutiques selling baguettes and firecrackers, and boxy cafes with built in bar stools serving up hyper-sweet nescafe, spaghetti, and avocado, cucumber, tomato, and onion salad.

I love all of these things.

2. A recent Al Jazeera article speculated that coupe-decale (I talked about this music here) could soon be coming to an end as a music genre. The argument went something like this: coupe-decale was born out of Cote d’Ivoire’s civil conflict. Now that the conflict is over, there will be a return to the more mellow music of zouglou or perhaps something altogether different. Nice argument, but not the case at all. Coupe-decale, a genre created by Ivorians living abroad, is very much the music of Abidjan.

“The reasons of [coupe-decale]‘s birth make it a movement that will come to a close.” That quote from an Ivorian professor and performance industry developer. Not surprising that a performance industry developer would predict the demise of coupe-decale – coupe-decale has little in the way of performance or live music – but what he needs to understand is that coupe-decale is dance music and Ivorians still like to dance to it. Civil conflict is not part of that equation.

Coupe-decale on Christmas. If you don’t dance to it, it will just rattle your brain.

3. Reconciliation is going to be difficult. Every street in Abidjan is lined with news stands. The newspapers are tacked to a board and anyone who stops by is treated to a war of headlines, many of which border on libel. Pro-Gbagbo newspapers take shots at Ouattara and pro-Ouattara papers fire back from the other direction.

I have a friend who was/is a fervent Gbagbo supporter. I can’t have a political conversation with him. He gets too upset. He has not bought into the new government at all and he’s confident Ouattara is going to ruin the country. There are many who feel this way.

While northern Cote d’Ivoire is decidedly pro-Ouattara, the south and west are more evenly split with Gbagbo carrying a majority of support in some areas. Within much of Abidjan, lines of support are hard to discern. Many people say that Yopougon is a pro-Gbagbo neighborhood. At the same time, I stayed in a Yopougon house of 3 families, one Malian and two from northern Cote d’Ivoire. Dioula and Bambara were commonly heard and everyone supported Ouattara. The fact that Yopougon is a neighborhood of mixed political allegiances is one reason there was significant violence there.

The political situation is complex. It was never as clean or straight forward as North vs. South or Christian vs. Muslim. Reconciliation is going to be an enormous task. It will take years. Ouattara has formed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but it’s not enough.

If Ouattara wants to convince the opposition that he is serious about reconciliation, he is going to have to first address the charge that he is ignoring/allowing/sanctioning impunity when it comes to the soldiers that fought for him. He is in a fragile spot politically. He doesn’t want to prosecute those that fought on his behalf, but there is clearly a lack of discipline within the ranks of FRCI forces. No FRCI commanders have been sent to the ICC or prosecuted within Cote d’Ivoire, despite the fact that there was clearly a massacre committed in the western part of the country. It remains to be seen whether something will be done about this.

The Christmas menu included crocodile steaks. Not bad.

4. Cote d’Ivoire’s economy is on the move. Ouattara is an economist and his background is clearly having an impact. The central business district of Abidjan is filled with construction projects. There is road reparation going on throughout the city (as well as throughout the country – saw road work being done into the evening on a Friday night on the road to Yamoussoukro). Samsung recently announced that they are building a store in Abidjan that will rival the size of their Paris and Dubai outposts.

I strongly recommend reading this post from Martin at Hotel Ivory. I can vouch for many of his observations. The reduction in checkpoints is entirely accurate. Last year, I dealt with close to ten checkpoints between the border of Ghana and Abidjan. This is a relatively short distance and close to two hours was added to our trip specifically because of the checkpoints. This year, there was one and we weren’t even stopped. Want to encourage trade with your neighbors? A good place to start is by making it easy to transport goods and people throughout your country.

Growing the economy may do more for reconciliation than anything else. Ivorians have dealt with years of economic stagnation, mostly because the political situation remained uncertain for close to a decade. Even before the crisis of 2002, the country suffered from a one-dimensional economy that was rocked by falling cocoa prices. Right now, there are clear efforts to eliminate corruption and diversify the economy. If these efforts are sustained, Cote d’Ivoire will once again be the powerhouse of West Africa.

One my partners in the restaurant/catering biz serving up a delicious lentil stuffed chicken.

5. I am officially going into business in Cote d’Ivoire. Over the past year, I have created a mini online business that has sustained my travels. This will be something altogether different. I have partnered with two Ivorian friends (former couchsurfing hosts, actually) and we’ve now made our initial investment, worked out contracts, salaries, and profit-sharing. There is a good chance I will be returning to Abidjan as the project takes on a more physical form.

It’s going to be a joint restaurant and catering business. The catering will be specifically focused on offering lunch to office buildings in Plateau, the central business district. In Plateau, affordable lunch options are limited outside of a few areas that are concentrated with vendors. The idea is to offer an affordable menu (3 different plates each day) that would be delivered to the office.

Right now we are securing the space and assembling the team. From there, we will be preparing a sample menu and delivering some free meals along with our pitch. One reason I am so confident in this venture is that Faty and David, my partners, are incredibly motivated and hardworking and, importantly, they seriously know what they are doing in the kitchen.

I’m very excited about this project. Even if it were to fail completely, I could survive losing the initial investment. That said, I think it could be really successful. At the very least, it will be a learning experience. Stay tuned to the blog for my updates on this.

I am in Bamako at the moment, enjoying the cool night air, reconnecting with friends and familiar faces, figuring out what’s next. For now, here are some more photos from Abidjan:

Cooking up some onions. Notice the camel.

Fabrice drinking Efes Extra (9% Turkish beer) with a civet on his shoulder.

The lagoon at Assinie, a short drive down the coast from Abidjan

Thoughts and Photos from Abidjan a Year After Elections and my First Visit is a post from: Phil in the Blank

Happy Holidays from Abidjan! I am recovering from a dinner and dance party, but I wanted to share some art from two roadside barbers.

A Christmas Camel on my Head is a post from: Phil in the Blank

Last year, on a bus from Abidjan to Bamako, I fell asleep on the morning of our second travel day. The sun was coming up and coupe-decale was still squeezing its way through tired speakers.

I woke up at noon and the coupe decale had been replaced by Coumba Sidibe, a matriarchal Wassoulou singer from Mali. I figured we were listening to the radio. Turns out it was a tape. The pratike, the driver’s mate, had matched the soundtrack to the landscape.

When you travel from the green humid coast to the red scrubby interior of West Africa, the sounds change as much as the scenery (see this). For the past year and a half, I have been collecting these sounds. What I’m working on now is a collection of tracks that will take you on this voyage.

The trip starts in Accra, and specifically the Newtown neighborhood that is most familiar to me. The first track is one I posted previously, a chopped up remix of 2 recordings taken from 2 different minibuses of a poppy gospel highlife song that was on the radio last year.

Mavis Blown Apart Ghana Minibus by lionsinthetiles

The second track is pinned down by a commercial jingle for a brand of pasta called Gino. This commercial airs on ViaSat 1, the shiniest TV channel in Ghana. In crowded Newtown, where sounds overlap and collide constantly, the gino jingle regularly sails through my window. This commercial has been on TV for over a year now. Other bits of sound in this track include an iphone recording of a bar blasting tunes through blown out speakers and some beatwork that I put together.

Gino really does care by lionsinthetiles

Both of these are unmastered and unmixed. The second one has a low, low volume until I work on it some more. The idea is to have the tracks flow into each other, making a fluid transition from coast to Sahel. The closing tracks will put you in Mali. I will post pieces of this project as it comes together.

I don’t really know what I’m doing most of the time, but this is a fun way to explore a place. If you want to collaborate on this, get in touch on the contact page.

Here is some bonus hiplife for you, circa 2005

02 Track 02 – Hiplife Sammy’s Mix by lionsinthetiles

Next post from Abidjan. More posts to come about my all too short time in Ghana. I will also link to the How to Draw Camels post on Medicine on the Move and Ghana’s female aviators (see previous post if you are confused) once it goes live. For now, check out this piece I recently wrote about shadowing a community health worker from Project Muso in Bamako – yet another organization that deserves to have their profile raised for their innovative approach to public health.

Traveling from Accra to Bamako by Sound is a post from: Phil in the Blank

This post is a warm-up. I have a lot more to say about what I experienced last week. A more substantial post to come on the How to Draw Camels blog in the near future.

Northeast of Accra, close to Lake Volta, the largest man-made lake in the world, there is a town called Kpong.

It is here that Jonathan Porter (aka Captain Yaw), a British expat, partnered with the local community to form an aviation and engineering school for girls (AvTech Academy), a flight school for anyone who wants to learn, and a humanitarian organization, Medicine on the Move, which uses planes to bring doctors and health education to villages that are inaccessible by road.

Patricia (see photo above) is 22 years old. She is the first woman to obtain Ghana’s National Pilots License. She is an engineer, a recipient of the Rotax Aircraft Engines certification. She knows how to fly and build planes. She’s the only certified female flight instructor teaching the National Pilots License in Ghana. When I met her, she was teaching a Norwegian oil industry engineer how to fly.

Patricia is teaching people how to fly in planes that she built.

Normally, I approach prospective camel drawing students with a certain level of condescension. That was not the case in Kpong. If anyone was a student, it was me. I’ve yet to meet a more inspiring group of people.

I will be sharing a more in depth post on the various projects in Kpong on howtodrawcamels.com. Expect some video and interviews. For now, I want to share the results of my camel drawing workshop and introduce a few girls who I am privileged to know.

Drawing camels. Lydia, on the left, is 15 years old. She suffered an insect bite when she was younger. It became infected and her arm became completely disabled. Recently, she underwent several surgeries to restore mobility and improve the appearance. While she still has limited mobility, she can fly a plane. As she says, “disability is not inability.” Before she was invited to join AvTech Academy, she was working in the market for her mother.

Lydia’s before (right) and after (left) camel. Lydia was so pleased with her camel that she started drawing camels all over the place.

Juliet’s before (right) and after (left) camel drawings. We drew our camels in the air traffic control tower. Every now and then, the girls told me to shut up as Juliet radioed the two planes in the air to notify them of changing wind patterns. Juliet decided she wanted to become a pilot after coming to Kpong for a fly-me day, a multi-village event wherein girls were invited to fly with Patricia and others as a celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the first woman in flight.

Emmanuella’s camels. I don’t think Emanuella would be offended if I say it’s obvious which one is the before and which one is the after. She, like Patricia, came to the Kpong airfield looking for work. She began by clearing the runways of stumps and rocks. It wasn’t long before she was invited to fly with Patricia. Now she is on her way to becoming a pilot and engineer.

There are many reasons to be impressed by the work that these girls are doing. Some of these reasons are evident above. Here is another:

The day before I went to Kpong, I was having a chat with Winifred, the youngest girl in the family that runs my guesthouse. We were talking about what she wanted to do when she grew up. She wants to be a pilot. You know why? Because she saw Patricia on national TV building and flying planes.

A lot more to come on AvTech Academy, WAASPS, and Medicine on the Move, including ways that you can contribute. For now, check out the sites below.

Medicine on the Move
WAASPS
Patricia’s story

Drawing Camels with Ghana’s Young Female Aviators is a post from: Phil in the Blank