Teaching Timbuktu and Pride in Africa

Many Virginians have Malian ancestors, and the American destiny of many ancestors took them through Richmond. Developing a pride in Africa will help the new generations to improve their self-esteem and ambitions. We can come to your school to offer in-class teaching about the medieval Empire of Mali and about Africa today.

We also offer training courses to teachers to support the SOLs for 3rd and 6th Grades.

We are professional West African teachers with a profound understanding of Mali, West Africa, the religions of Islam and Christianity, and the ancestral African monotheism that Abraham and Moses gave to the Jews. Yes, Africa and the Pharaohs bring new insights into world history!

HIRE US!

Lydie is a French West African teacher working in the Chesterfield County school system. Robin is British and Malian, author of books on West Africa and Visiting Professor 2002-2004 in VCU. Tall (tahl) is a Fulani name from Mali, and this doesn’t mean that Macky is especially tall!

The October 2005 exhibition Timbuktu in Mali at the Richmond Public Library was a great success, leading to the October 2006 exhibition on Malian music and culture. The Malian Ambassador brought the Prime Minister to Richmond in November 2005 and we created Virginian Friends of Mali to promote education and cultural exchange. Our next teaching exhibition is scheduled for JMU Harrisonburg in March-May 2007.

ASK US ABOUT VIRGINIAN FRIENDS OF MALI !!!

Be a part of the Sister-City project between Richmond on the James and Segou on the Niger! Get your school into contact with a Malian school in the region of Segou!

If you want professional West African teacher workshops on Mali or on Islam and Timbuktu, in-school Mali events, story-telling for students, parents and teachers, or simply want to discover the wonders of West Africa, call

TIMBUKTU IN MALI - City of 333 saints beside the Niger River.

VIPIS - Exhibition of artifacts and photographs

RICHMOND PUBLIC LIBRARY, 1 - 31 October 2005

In support of the exhibition, Baba Wague DIAKITE will tell stories and give readings to 1,200 Richmond third graders on October 5th and 6th in the Public Library at 101 E. Franklin St. He will also be available to autograph books and meet admirers on Friday October 7th at the First Friday reception, starting at 5pm.

Baba Wague DIAKITE is America's most famous author and illustrator of children's books about Africa. He will sign copies of his books The Magic Gourd, The Hunter and the crocodile and The Monkey and the Hatseller for young fans and admirers.

Book readings for children will be held in all the Richmond branch libraries during October.

LIBRARY READING SESSIONS FOR VIPIS AND BABA WAGUE

TEACHER WORKSHOPS

On Tuesday October 4th at the Public Library, Teacher Workshops will be held about Timbuktu and the Empire of Mali. These are aimed at Third Grade Teachers, but VIPIS is open to requests for other workshops aimed either at other classes in Richmond Schools, or at Third Grade teachers and students in counties outside Richmond.

THE TEACHER WORKSHOPS on October 4th will cover the following themes:

Teacher handouts will be provided.

DID YOU KNOW THAT TRADE along the Niger River was the basis of Mali's wealth and power? And that the river served a similar function for the Ghana Empire earlier and the Sonrai Empire later?

DID YOU KNOW THAT TIMBUKTU began to decline after 1492 when European ships started sailing along the coast of West Africa? It was easier to carry coastal trade goods over the ocean than across the desert.

DID YOU KNOW THAT MALI was always run by decentralized democratic governance, until the European conquest brought centralization?

read more on the teacher handouts: click here for a full PDF handout.

More online resources

Links from the Richmond Public Library exhibition

Why are we organizing an exhibition about Mali?

Mali is taught in schools throughout Virginia, as a Standard of Learning (SOL) subject for third graders. All Richmond children in third grade will visit this exhibition during the first week of October. There they will learn about Timbuktu, and about Islam in Africa.

Timbuktu is the fifth holy city of Islam, capital of northern Mali and an historical Muslim city. Islam reached Mali through the camel caravans which crossed the Sahara desert bringing salt and beads and dates to the people living south of the Sahara desert, and carrying back to the Mediterranean trade products gold and ivory and oil nuts. It is "mysterious" because it is on the other side of the desert, and because it is the spiritual burial ground for 333 Muslim saints.

The Seven Holy Cities of Islam are Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Fez, Timbuktu, Damascus and Baghdad. The first two were associated with the spiritual journey of the Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon Him and upon all the Prophets). Jerusalem is where Jesus of Nazareth (known in Arabic as the Prophet Isa) preached and died. It is from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem that the prophet Mohammed was said to have risen to heaven. Therefore Jerusalem is the holiest of cities for Jews and Muslims as well as Christians. Fez and Timbuktu were great centers of Muslim scholarship during the Middle Ages, and had flourishing universities before any of the universities if Europe were founded (the first were Prague and Paris in the early 1200s). Damascus and Baghdad, were capital cities of Islamic Caliphates during its early centuries.

The Empire of Mali was founded in 1235 by Soundiata Keita, the Lion King. He was a Muslim, and his was a story of nobility and courage and the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Soundiata lost the throne as a child and was forced into exile by the King of Sosso, Soumangoro Kanté. Soundiata was handicapped; he walked with difficulty but taught himself to be a great horseman. With the indispensable support of his mother and his sister, he returned to take back his kingdom and his story of triumph over adversity provided the model for Disney's smash hit film The Lion King. Soundiata is a Malian-African hero, the greatest and most famous member of the long and distinguished line of the Malinké Clan Keita. Where does the Lion King come in? Well, the name Keita means "Lion."

In 1320 one King of Mali crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil while his brother and successor crossed the Sahara Desert to Mecca. Mansa Aboubakar (also known as Mandé Bakary for short) was a scientific explorer who believed the earth was round. 170 years before Christopher Columbus, he sailed west and reached N.E. Brazil. His brother Mansa Moussa (Mansa = "King") went on the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325, crossing the desert with so much gold and so many camels that the mythical fame of Mali lasted in Europe and the Middle East for 500 years.

The modern Republic of Mali is famous in Africa today for its peaceful transition to democracy, for its culture and music, its textiles and, carvings, its films and world-class musical superstars, and for the personal qualities of its statesmen, notably President Amadou Toumai TOURE (known as ATT) and his predecessor Dr Alpha Oumar KONARE (known as Alpha OK) who is now the President of the Commission of the African Union, in Addis Ababa.

Mali has given the United States so much, especially the music (blues, jazz, reggae, rock 'n roll, rap, even bluegrass all take their roots from West African music) and instruments (the drums and the banjo, and indirectly the guitar all come from Africa). Most famous foods of the south came from West Africa with the slaves: okra and gombo, hush puppies and yams, fried chicken and pepper sauce ... and the same is true of the culture, the language, the legends of Brere Rabbit: in fact, the whole southern way of life has been infused by African tradition.

Africa is where Humanity began.
Africa is where Abraham found God.
Africa is everything and we owe everything to AFRICA.

The Mali exhibition is in partnership with (or in recognition of assistance from):

With the participation of