On our first visit to Mali in January 2001, Sahara and I stayed in a village I had known on my first visit to Africa in 1987. During my stay, I was given the name, "Yatome," meaning "a cool place" by the Bamadio family. A name not insignificant in a place that is dry and usually well over 100 degrees in the shade. Soon after our arrival and visit with Chief Bamadio, he asked the elders of the village to find a name for my daughter, Sahara. Several days past before the name was picked and the ceremony to name her began.
Early one morning, the elders gathered outside of Chief Bamadio's hut. They invited Sahara to sit on the straw mat placed on the ground next to them. When the ceremony began, the group of elders recited chants. Together, they raised their hands to call out, then dropped their hands down only to reach up again to cover their faces before crossing their arms. Now and then they bit into cola nuts spread out on a bit of torn paper in front of them. The ritual ceremony lasted about a half-hour. When it was over Sahara stood up and everyone gathered around her to shake her hand and greet her as "Kah-Monno".
"Ka" means, "the word," and "Mono" means "unity." Spoken together "Kamono" means "unity and understanding through words and dialogue." Of course they knew nothing of Sahara's writing. They had only observed her and interacted with her over a period of several days. In many tribal traditions, names are given to describe impressions people have about a person.
I was there photographing and interviewing the elders for my own project and naturally Sahara decided to interview the children. She invited four girls about her age, to sit with her under a baobab tree. On video, Sahara asked the 10-year-old girl, Genabou what was her favorite thing to do. She replied it was to go to school. Sahara responded enthusiastically since that was her favorite thing to do as well, and asked her what she was studying. You can imagine Sahara's surprise when she learned Genabou didn't actually go to school, but only dreamt of it.
We learned it costs only $35.00 to send Genabou to school for an entire year. While registration is free, a child's family must be able to afford $35.00 for supplies. Additionally, school is only open to seven-year-olds-if a child does not register at seven, they are barred from receiving an education for life!
Understanding her desire and frustration, Sahara immediately blurted out that she would send Genabou to school. The next day we walked through pathways that snaked through the village past dozens of family compounds built of mud-brick to meet Genabou's mother. The headmaster came along as our translator. When Genabou's mother learned of Sahara's intention to sponsor her daughter's education, she was excited and delighted beyond measure. Genabou could not believe it either. Her life was about to dramatically change forever.
Over the course of the next day, we learned that there were thirty-four more girls in the village that desperately wanted to attend school. We asked them to meet us in front of our hut to take down their names. We promised to investigate what could be done to help them. That's when Sahara announced she would send them all to school, effectively canceling the rest of our itinerary in Mali!
We formed a committee with the chief, headmaster, village first-aide tech and two of the mothers. The headmaster has agreed to oversee the group and take personal responsibility for the girl's education over the years. In the short term, he agreed to tutor them on weekends and after school to catch them up with the first year children, so they can all attend 2nd grade in the next school year. He declared that they are to do no more pounding of millet or carrying heavy loads of water or millet on their heads.
The Sol Project is supplementing his meager salary for all his dedication for the Kah-Monno Group. Also, within the past year, WorldVision had built a large, three-room school in the village. So there was a place to make this miracle come true.
As a condition for this support, Sahara asked the village to ban female circumcision for all the girls in the village. We cited the ban that the Malian government was imposing by the end of 2001 and explained the girls were part of the next generation of Malian women who would be spared genital mutilation. It was a request that the Chief and the other committee members readily agreed to.
The number of girls sponsored through the Sol Project is currently thirty-five. Each new school year, we will increase that number by ten girls to include 7 year olds whose parents would not otherwise be able to send them to school. TamTam Tours of Bamako, Mali is our partner in this project and administering the project from there. They are involved in many projects trying to improve the lives of traditional people.
If you are interested in supporting the "Kamono" group, please let us know how many girls you are interested in supporting at $35.00 per year and for about how many years we can count on your contributions. All the funds go directly to help support the girls. There are no administrative fees paid to either the Sol Project or TamTam Tours. We will give you the opportunity to renew your support as the girl's progress and see pictures of them. Maybe even meet them in their village.
