January 25, 2009
Friends of GAIA and friends of Mali –
It is true that GAIA is one of many foundations that finds itself in crisis at the present time, especially since promised funds from major foundations have failed to materialize, and it is true that the financial crisis is suppressing donations, and that as a result – despite our amazing progress and our ability to meet our goals – we don’t have enough money to see out six months – - but we are full of joy and optimism about our work in Mali. Why? Because we remain convinced, that we can do so much with so little. We will find a way, because there must be a way to do what needs to be done – to give a future to children who would otherwise have none, and to give hope for survival to their parents, AIDS patients who, without the simple meals and the medications we provide, would have given in, and given up, many months ago.
We at GAIA are full of joy because – there is nothing quite like the sun setting through the red dust in Bamako – nor, for that matter nothing like the sight of a small boy wearing shredded shorts and a filthy shirt who sits proudly on a stack of treadless truck tires – or like the the flock of sheep stopping traffic in mid town – or the 10 foot Tuareg on the 15 foot camel right on main street doing some afternoon shopping. . .
There is nothing quite like the vision of carrots piled high like so many orange sputniks topping heads – nor the push carts next to donkey carts next to the Mercedes at the stop lights in Bamako – or the flutter of a well fitted “pagne” over intricately hennaed feet – and there is nothing quite like the joy of dancing until you drop, the gentle back and forth of greetings and farewells, all this, all of this and more, is Mali.
Beyond what can be seen in Mali, there is still so much more that invites joy. There is the pride of doing, the engagement, and the partnership that GAIA has with the community. There is Allou Sylla, head of the national AIDS organization (CSLS), who opens his arms wide and embraced GAIA’s mission and sustains us, promising refrigerators and training and even a motorcycle- for our HIV clinic in the CSCOM, and he asks, “What are we waiting for?”
We met with him yesterday, and in addition to these wonderful promises of direct aid to our HIV clinic, once we start HIV care on site, he promises to support the conference that we’d like to do with local non profits, and he said that he is going to organize the National HIV conference, and he’s going to make sure that it happens when we are in town!
He said, in addition, that we have done things exactly as should be done – we came to work with Malian scientists to bring a globally relevant and globally accessible HIV vaccine to trial in Mali, and we made no bones about that, but while we work on developing the vaccine, we have partnered with our colleagues in Mali on HIV prevention and improving access to care. He says EVERY scientific partner should follow this model – building infrastructure, reinforcing capacity, and then bringing in the clinical trials.
And so, he gives us his blessing for the work we wish to do –opening the first ever HIV clinic in a village in Mali, and so does the chief of the village, who brings his strength and powers of persuasion to the mix, and so does Haby Bengal, our first HIV patient from so many years ago- who is just fine thank you-and who now has a new donkey, thanks to a church in Cumberland, and so does Mahamane Maiga, director of “CAMS”, whose homeless children now will have a place to go for HIV care. And Madame Diallo of the regional department of health gives us her blessing too. She patiently steered our fragile ship away from disaster on more than one occasion. She sat beaming in her office the other day when I finished giving her an update on our work. She could not be more proud of the progress. She will come see the clinic to see our doctors providing HIV medication to patients on site, and she knows that she contributed to making that dream come true.
We are at this point thanks to her guidance, and to help from Sounkalo Dao, HIV doctor to thousands of Malians – - he sends us his young specialists and is the source of the new pharmacist who will give out HIV medications in our clinic. Lest we not forget we should also mention Malick Sene and his adjunct Tounkara at the HCNLS, and Ousmane Koita, who has always believed that we will some day have the vaccine in our hands, and who works tirelessly, guiding us, listening to us, helping us in a myriad of ways to move that hope forward. And so, too, we are helped by Ben Aboubacar, the director of the Millennium Village Project programs in health for West Africa – who found Karamoko Tounkara, our director (another blessing) and has patiently provided Kara with direction and directives when I cannot because I am so far away.
In truth, if Paradise could have AIDS, then this would be Paradise on Earth, because – despite the dust, and the desperate poverty, there is so much hope, and so much optimism for something better, and so much desire to reach out and help – each one contributing something to obtain that distant, but achievable goal, a vaccine against HIV that is globally accessible, and, in the far distant future, a world without AIDS.
Here is just one small example – a mural being created by San Francisco muralist Eduardo Pineda, who traveled to Mali, inspired by the GAIA message of Hope for Access, to lend his hand and inspiration by painting the wall outside the HIV clinic in Sikoro, Bamako, the epicenter of AIDS in West Africa.