The Cinquant Anni Celebration

The Cinquantetheure Celebration

On September 22, 2010, Mali celebrated its 50th anniversary as a country. Back in 1960 while America was all about free love and worshiping the Beatles (MOM!), Mali was transitioning from the French colonialist power to become an independent nation.

Over the past 50 years Mali has had three presidents, paved several road spanning large parts of the country, and had the Chinese donate several hydro electric dams providing electricity 24/7 ish for several of its largest towns. However, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. Children suffer from malnutrition, clean water is hard if not impossible to find in most villages, and diseases go un-treated because medication is too expensive. Now I don’t mean to sound like a Debby Downer here because Malians are some of the over all happiest people I’ve ever meet. You will never hear someone complaining about having to walk across town to get water from the pump or women slumped over a charcoal fire preparing food for four hours a day. The kids will run around with their swollen bellies playing games in their free time. And the men at the end of the day will sit under trees making tea and talking about just about anything.

I was recently reflecting on the state of development here in Mali, it is years ahead of Guinea but that’s not saying a lot in the grand scheme of things. The thing that really got me thinking was how the Malian government spent some obscene amount on the celebration for Bamako (the capital). There were parades, marathon runs, jet fly overs and parachuter’s jumping out of planes. Also you can’t forget all the repairs that the city did trying to snazzy things up so the city looked good for the celebration. Now I’m all for cleaning up the streets but I find it ironic that this country is suffering from countless poverty stricken problems and can justify sending fighter jets all around the country to celebrate their independence.

All of this said, I did have a great time at the Segou parade. Everyone and their brother was there by ten in the morning to watch every single association walk down the street. There were groups of farmers holding corn/millet stalks, bakers with break, butchers with meat hanging off a truck (I couldn’t even make this up if I tried), and school children with matching t-shirts. And the grand finally of the parade there was the jet fly over. It was a dramatic ending to the parade indeed.

A very special thanks to:
-Mom and Dad
-Aunt Betty and Uncle Dan
-Grandma and Gramps
-Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Wes, and Kyle
-Aunt Mary and Uncle John

For all the birthday wishes and gifts. Thank you so much!