Greenermind

Traditional Dogon economy is a model of cradle-to-cradle design. There is virtually no waste (all outputs become inputs for something else) and the few “technological” inputs seem to be recycled endlessly. The Dogon have definitely changed the environment around them by creating fields where there was rock & driving some species to near extinction (e.g. cliff dwelling monkeys) but overall, it seems that they could go living on the same piece of land forever. Dogon country would be a great destination for anyone looking to learn more about sustainable design.

Unfortunately, plastic & other non-recyclable, non-compostable materials are quickly entering Dogon country. Where people used calebasses to transport liquids, they now use small plastic bags. In the absence of any waste management system & with the added strain of tourism, this could quickly turn into a recipe for disaster. Already today, many back-alleys in the villages are littered with plastic bags and the rivers are misty blue due to the industrial laundry detergents that have replaced traditional shea butter soap.

Our hope is that Dogon country (and other similar areas in the world) learn to bypass these products that will destroy their environment and leapfrog to the sustainable economy “of the future” in which people use bio-degradable bags, agriculture is organic, laundry detergent is harmless for the environment… This could be a business opportunity for the companies working in those fields in the Western world - they have surely heard about the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid!

After Djenne, we headed north to Mopti - the base camp to Pays Dogon. It’s a fairly large city on the Niger river with about as many “guides” as tourists. We were lucky to see an amazing sunset and explore the bustling port and try some street food (beans and rice!) early in the morning.

From Mopti, we left for a 5 day treck through Dogon country.

In Djenne, we wondered if being a tourist here is like being a high powered executive. Basically, almost everyone you meet wants something from you but you have limited time and resources. Tourists need to quickly and accurately prioritize who to spend time with and where to allocate resources. Your decisions heavily impact people’s income and their jobs… and throughout you have to try to stay in a good mood.

The city of Djenne is a UNESCO World Heritage site where most of the buildings are made of mud (mud bricks with mud + cow dung surfacing). It was raining pretty hard when we got to Djenne and it was strange to see the mud buildings of the city visibly erode under our eyes.

The mosque in Djenne is amazing. It looks like something straight out of a Star Wars movie. The rest of the city is in various stages of disrepair. The houses require a lot of maintenance and it seems that many households can’t afford to get their homes resurfaced twice a year. During our visit of Djenne, we saw one house that had collapsed due to the rain the previous day.

Djenne’s other water woes relate to waste water. A Dutch NGO introduced indoor plumbing in the city but ran out of funds before it could build a proper sewer system. As a result, all the waste water flows into the streets and people have to walk through it and catch all sorts of diseases. It also erodes the foundation of the buildings.

Part 1: The bus from Hell

As much as we believe in public transport, our bus from Bamako to Segou - supposedly only 4 hours away - was nightmarish… By the time we got to the bus station in Bamako, the last bus of all the good bus companies had left. We ended up on a stinky bus where the windows didn’t open. After about 30mn, the bus stopped for no good reason and sat on the side of the road for 2 hours with the engine running (so much for reducing our emissions by using public transportation). Luckily, a bus from another company stopped by, we grabbed our bags and literally jumped on. We have now learned to chose our buses more wisely.

Part 2: Sustainable transportation overdose

After a brief night in Segou, we headed directly for Djenne. The bus ride to Carrefour de Djenne (intersection of the road to Djenne and the main road) was great: beautiful views of the orange soil turned green by the rains, stops in small villages to look at the people wrapped in colorful clothing, food on the go… The ride from the Carrefour to Djenne proper was another matter. The mini-bus driver crammed over 35 people in a vehicle designed to hold 25. I was in the very back, sitting right above the diesel exhaust with Adam on my knees and someone on his knees and some creature biting my ankle…

Overall, it just takes a really long time to get from one place to the next in Mali…

We were lucky to have dinner with a leader in community radio in Mali and West Africa on Sunday night. Here are some of the learnings for us:

• Radio is a very powerful media in Mali due both to the low alphabetization rate but also the importance of oral tradition. Even in the remote Pays Dogon, we saw people listening to the radio all the time! Unfortunately, the radios are completely dependent on State and foreign aid for their financing because the areas they operate in are too poor.
• As a result, many non-profits are eager to work with community radios but this makes the financing of the radios very vulnerable to the latest fads… This is why the community radios in Mali have created a group that can talk to the NGOs as a group. This also gives the NGOs more scale for their work.
• Some NGOs don’t involve the radios in their work. They often just send a tape for the radio station to broadcast but have limited understanding of whether the material is appropriate for the area’s needs. In addition, once the NGO leaves, the programs are discontinued. Taking care to involve the radios closely helps insure that the programs created are more relevant and last beyond the few years of funding provided by the NGO.
• Overall, Biton believes that the biggest issue hindering Mali’s development is its debt. Apparently, the repayment of this debt to the World Bank and other institutions is 3 or 4 times larger than the aid the country receives every year.
• Luckily, Mali has thriving civil society. Since 1991, many individuals have created their own associations to help their community develop.

Cab drivers in Mali continue picking up passengers until their cab is full. Each passenger pays the fare to their destination and often a single cab will have two or three paying customers at a time. (You can pay extra if you want to be taken alone and directly). This system doesn’t add much time to the trip for the passengers, it allows the cab driver to get more revenue for each precious gallon of gas, and it keeps cars off the road by carrying more passengers with fewer vehicles.

The traffic in Bamako is already pretty bad - I’d hate to see it if the cab drivers didn’t pool rides. If only New Yorkers were comfortable with such a system.

There seems to be a lot happening in Mali’s budding civil society. Apparently, since the revolution in 1991 people have been very active in working towards improving their, and their community’s, lot in life. It helps that there is a really strong sense of community in Africa. We’ve only been here for a day and a half and we’ve already randomly met several people who are working on starting their own cooperatives and NGOs.

For example, yesterday we were chatting with our taxi driver about how taxis in Mali work. There are no meters and you negotiate the fare beforehand. Most of the taxis are really beat up and we were wondering if the cabbies own their own car and who does the maintenance. This particular driver rented his cab and pays for the gas himself, with the owner of the car responsible for maintenance. (As a side note, the one nice cab we’ve been in was owned by the driver.) Our driver said that there is no cooperation or collaboration between cab drivers and things would be much better if there were. A few months ago he and 25 fellow cab drivers decided to try to start a cooperative to be able to:

- Get health insurance
- Set up a pension system
- Conduct training for new drivers
- Deal with the (sometime corrupt) police
- Pool resources to own better cars

They’ve contacted several international organizations to help them and this group hopes to grow as other drivers see the benefit of being part of a larger cooperative. Just one small example of a relatively informal system becoming more formal and efficient through individual actions of the folks within the system.

We’re in Mali! After a 24h flight and one lost suitcase (we flew Lufthansa - as a result, I have lost my trust in German logistics…), we made it to Bamako at 4am on Saturday morning.

We have spent the past couple of days strolling around town, soaking in the sights, sounds and smells. Some highlights so far include: Adam playing basketball with a group of French and Malians at la Maison des Jeunes (while Julie was having tea); taking a cab to Point G to look at the view, having our cab driver serve as impromptu guide and tell us about his plans to create a taxi cooperative to provide cab drivers with health insurance and pensions; eating riz sauce d’arachide on the street next to the Burkina Faso embassy… Most of all, we love just walking around and meeting people. Everyone here is incredibly cheerful, friendly and laid back. We love it!

We are leaving for Segou this afternoon, once we get our visas for Burkina Faso. The city there is supposed to be very peaceful and friendly.

Thanks to all who joined us for our wedding in Lyme, CT this past Saturday. We had a blast and hope you did too!

We are about to leave for our 4 week honeymoon to West Africa. We plan on visiting Mali, Burkina-Faso and Benin.

We will update this blog as we travel to keep you up to date on our latest adventures.

Love,

Adam & Julie