Day four in Bamako was a very productive one. Right To Play held a conference at the National Sports University on a range of topics from: sport and education to sport for development. There was some media coverage and great dialogue. As ambassadors we all addressed the room with our personal stories and messages.
In the afternoon we got to be big kids! Right To Play was celebrating its 10th anniversary and used an inclusive play day to celebrate. Happy Anniversary! 200 kids from eight Bamako community centres were unleashed and we had a ball.
There were also students from Jigiya Kanlaso school, which is a school for children with special needs. I learned an important aspect of Right To Play is having their coaches adapt and modify games so all children can participate.
Thanks for letting me share this with you. Have a great weekend.
P
Dave, Marnie, Chris, Moi, Jeremy at the conference
Right To Play Mali staff, some of the best souls I've met
The boys with the staff after the conference
Chris with the director of the university
I was all up in this parachute, it didn't make any sense, ahh feels like grade 3!
On day three we drove 1.5 hours to reach the village of Keleya where we met with Right To Play staff, the mayor and his advisors. We visited their school, hospital and walked around the village.
We drove another hour and arrived in Manfilani, where we met the traditional leaders, watched a frisbee match and danced and had fun.
Enjoy and be great today!
Perdita
Holding a baby born the night before in Keleya. The hospital is responsible for quite a large area and isn't very large itself.
The doula tells the exhausted mother that her baby will be fast and a champion too now that I've held him :)
Lunch in Keleya with Right To Plays partner Borne Fonden together they have provided remarkable programs to the commune (region) of Keleya and beyond.
The children of Manfilani, excited and very curious
A tiny spectator soaks in the girls frisbee match
Being greeted in Manfilani
Manfilani's girls frisbee team. Because of Right To Play there are many like them in other villages.
He was so happy to let let me take his picture,
The bottom of the village well in Keleya
The school courtyard in Keleya
Meeting the students
I made another friend!
Posing with a civil servant in Keleya. This is the first time in Mali history that a woman has held this position and she just started the previous week!
Paths in Keleya
Children leaving school
The birthing suite in Keleya hospital
No pain medication is administered and you labour here
Making friends in Keleya
The village chief of Manfilani giving the official welcome to us on behalf of his community
Meeting with the village leaders and discussing Right To Plays impact and success
Manfilani is ready to watch their girls play frisbee!
Deuces up lets go team!
Spectators on every side
This game is serious
Chris getting his dance on...we all did!
You see me jukeing!
Marnie presents a new frisbee after the game
Julia, who works for Right To Play in their Toronto office and I. Our first visit to Africa, how perfect that is was to Mali!
Thursday October 14, 2010 will be one of those days I never forget. Just like Paris. And yes just like Athens. But yesterday being memorable had nothing to do with competitive fire. Its flame rising or crudely extinguished.
This wasn't in a stadium in some glamorous or legendary city. No, this is a place less known. The only road to it is long and unpaved, marked by stalks of corn, precarious bridges and silence. This place was one of the most warm and inviting places I have ever been to. And I felt like I could have stayed in its midst forever.
The village is called Manfilani and when our jeeps approached this wonderful place, its youngest inhabitants had lined the road ready to meet us. As we got out of the cars they cheered, giggled and ran towards us, their anticipation finally over.
Mine was too.
I saw hundreds of smiling, perfect faces. Faces that looked just like mine. It was like I had been on a long trip and just came home. Not one person had forgot me, they were just happy I was back. I don't know how else to describe it.
We sat as honored guests as the entire village of 900 sat around. We were greeted with a performance. I didn't know the tradition or the symbolism behind it, but I know how it made me feel. Overwhelmed, happy, blessed. A. Part. of. them.
I felt like this is where I was suppose to be, and gosh I wish I had come back sooner. I could have cried for a long time in that moment. And if I was with someone I knew very well I probably would have.
Instead I let a few warm tears escape my hands and hit the ground beneath me. Hoping that when they touched the earth this would send a memo to God, the universe and Manfilani that I was grateful.
