Coincidence?

"Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.” - Emma Bull

1. Years ago my friends Jean-Marie and her husband Morris gave me a 2 ft. x 2 ft. piece of an ornately carved wooden door. Morris said it was from somewhere in Africa or so he had been told. It was beautiful so I kept it. It was very heavy though so I was afraid to hang it lest it tear down the wall. So I stood it in the corner as decoration for years until I moved from NYC to California. The door was indeed heavy, ridiculously heavy even, and with a limited budget I chose to give it away rather than pay to have it shipped all the way to my new home. Now that I am in Mali, I have learned that the door was created either by those in the Dogon area of Mali or by those familiar with their techniques.

2. I was assigned to work with Projét Jeune this summer. As a part of our orientation week we toured their facilities today. They have a lot of activities on their site to attract young people, and while they are there they can get reproductive health counseling, materials and health checkups. Among the activities they have is a court for soccer and - of all the sports in the world - volleyball, the sport I have been playing competitively since age 13. Playing it in this weather is another story though.

3. On our first full day here when we had the miscommunication with Rodney, he wandered the streets with very little money while he waited for us to get home. (He had the key to the outside door but not the second door which we locked). A man on a moped offered him a ride and it turned out the man was our next door neighbor. Apparently other people told him they had seen his new neighbor wandering the streets sweating and he should go check up on him. With no more info than just that and the direction Rodney had set out in, he found him.

4. The more we discuss the specific situations of public health and education in Mali, the more it becomes apparent that youth in Mali and youth in US communities of color are experiencing the same issues. I did not expect that parallelism but is is more than striking. It hits you over the head. Overcrowded, underfinanced public schools with inconsistent curricula and quality; under-educated parents who cannot or do not know how to advocate for their children; a shortage of teachers, in general, and qualified teachers specifically; the general lack of access to resources; the lack of awareness and the prevalence of stigmas surrounding AIDS; unequal footing for power and negotiations for all but particularly for women and for the young, the need for immediate action...

What does it mean if Mali, a country where donkeys, goats, begging children, mansions, and cyber cafes share the same street, experiences the same problems that are experienced in the US with all its resources? It offers wonderful opportunities for international collaboration, coalition-building, strategy-sharing, yes, but does it mean there is no hope?