Advisory Board in Mali: impressions from an impressive week!
Voice Bazar
From October 15-19, 2018, the Voice Advisory Board visited Mali during the week dedicated to People with Disabilities as part of Solidarity month. Here is a small excerpt of a moving week organised by and with the Voice grantees in Mali. The first day a Voice Bazar was organised by the grantees at the National Museum allowing grantees to showcase their work and progress. The principle of Nothing About Us Without Us featured strongly throughout the week.
Welcome
The leader of the Union Malienne des Associations et Comites de Femmes Handicapees welcomed the Advisory Board to Mali. Master of Ceremony Latiki Sidiki enabled most people to express themselves.
Beyond words…..
The music connected beyond language, gender, culture and age.
Voice Bazar
The National Museum was the ideal background for each grantee to feature its work and sell its products.
Agoratoire
Featured the art of the work it has been doing working with youth with intellectual and mental disabilities, as part of their project Voices of kids with a difference.
Grantee: GADEC
Groupement pour les Actions de Developpement Communautaire works with little people to showcase their music, art and fashion, dispelling the myth that People with Disabilities have no abilities.
Women with fistula preventing fistula
In this project Malian NGO PIE-APCD aims to prevent fistula by having women fistula-survivors drive women in labour to the nearest hospitals in these improved motorcars.
People with Albinism
Came out in full force as members of the Malian Association for the Protection of People with Albinism. Later in the week AMPA also organised the Mr and Ms Albino Contest.
Next day
We visited grantee Agoratoire where Artist Ben Slam had just brightened up the walls of the office in Lafiabougou. In this poorer neighbourhood Agoratoire organises regular slam activities for anyone interested.
Expressing through art
These paintings tell more than a thousand words: expressing sadness, freedom and storytelling.
Expressing through music and dance
Through their project, young women and men learned how to express themselves through various creative forms.
Expressing through song
She had a voice like Nina Simone putting all her emotions into them.
Ms & Mr Albino contest
Grantee AMPA also organised the Ms & Mr Albino Contest. Here the winner was crowned by last year’s winner. What an empowering exercise to be respected, included and honoured!
And the guys followed suit!
Here all the participants for Mr Albino in traditional Malian clothing.
Nice Innovation: best couple!
A BIG thank you
Edwin Huizing, Director of Hivos spoke some words of gratitude, of pride with the painting that was made of the Advisory Board in the background.
Thank you to Inez Hackenberg, Catherine Essoyan, Marinka Wijngaard and all grantees in Mali for sharing the photos.
