CINQUANTENAIRE!

The 50th Anniversary of Mali's Independence was yesterday... and the country has been crazy for the past few weeks preparing for the celebrations. I spent it in Village with my town, which was crazy but fun.

 This is Nakoria, the woman I work with who runs the orphanage. We just got back from opening a bank account for the association, and I decided it was a good photo op, with her standing in front of the Monument de Independence in Bamako. 

This is the Monument at night, when its lit up. This picture was taken a few days before the actual independence day so they weren't done "fixing" it yet. But you can also see to the left of it, as stage, where they completely blocked off one of the main roads in Bamako for 3 days to have a concert in the middle of the road! All of Mali's top artists were there to perform in this concert that started, in the rain at close to 1am and ended around 5am! 

 This picture was taken in Dioila, at our Cinquantenaire Celebration. This is the opening ceremony where the military officers raised the flag while the National Anthem played... I was surprised at how quiet everyone got... they definitely showed their Nations Pride!

 There were soooooooooo many people there, I think every person in the town was there! The police were all on a power trip and kept the crowd in random lines that they kept moving whenever they got bored it seemed like. I got to use my "white card" and sat with all the big names in Dioila. We each got a seat under a tent with prime view of everything, with guards standing by to whack anyone who tried to stand or sit in front of us. You see the kids on the wall trying to look in, it was like that everywhere!

Stilts! One of the villages obviously has talent! I don't remember which one it was, but each village surrounding Dioila got to march in the parade and showcase themselves somehow. This village chose to have 5 members walk and dance around on Stilts while they drummed and sang!

 One of the woman's association in Dioila. I was really impressed by their signs and coordinating outfits. 4 hours later the parade finally ended with, a bicycle race by a boy from each village, a rice sack race and a egg on a spoon with the spoon in your mouth race for the children.

Later that evening Eric, my new Dioila volunteer and I went to the soccer game. Which was a HUGE deal. It was Old Town Dioila VS. New Town Dioila. Eric and I both live in New Town so we had to represent... I have no idea who won because there were soooo many people there we couldn't see anything. People were sitting in trees, standing on whatever they could possibly find, it was madness! I'm glad I got to experience it though, It really was a pretty cool time to be in Mali! Who knows, I might be back in another 50 years to celebrate the 100th! Now that is going to be wild! lol I'll be 75... Damn!