By Diana Pastor (MAYA KI’CHE’, CS STAFF)
Mali is a various nation the place Indigenous Peoples have efficiently managed to keep up cultural cohesion, but additionally face a variety of main challenges— most pressingly, the destruction of their cultural heritage and the atmosphere. A lot of Mali’s Indigenous languages and conventional cultural practices just like the Songhoi Holo horè (dance of the possessed) or the Touareg Tinafig script are little identified or appreciated. The presence of Griots (guardians of the phrase and data inside Malian communities) retains some actions alive, however many different cultural practices and touchstones, like conventional musical devices, are disappearing.
Mali can also be a mineral wealthy nation, and mining is threatening the well being and territories of many Indigenous Peoples. Within the face of such challenges, there are people who find themselves working to lift consciousness to the worth and great thing about the nation. One among them is Georges Dougnon (Dogon), Cultural Survival’s new Capability Constructing Program Assistant, who was raised in an atmosphere the place the tradition and values of his Individuals, the Dogon, had been vital. “I discovered that each particular person and each household contributes to the schooling of their kids. Your little one is my little one, your good friend’s father is your father, his mom is your mom,” he says.
For the Dogon, the fitting of the ancestors is sacred, and so is the Ginna (the lineage the place the Elder is the wiseman). Georges’ dad and mom had been farmers and the connection with the land was vital. “I went to highschool, however I additionally went to the college of life, as a result of that’s a part of each little one’s tradition in Dogon Nation,” he says. Georges’ childhood experiences impressed him to pursue a profession in schooling. He taught for over six years in Mali and Italy, the place he additionally accomplished his grasp’s diploma in Governance, Intercultural Relations and the Peace Administration Course of on the College of Siena in Italy. “Training was crucial to me as a result of it allowed me to find greater than my small village, to find the world and to be taught from it,” he says.
After coming back from Italy, Georges created Educ4peace, a company that allows kids and younger folks in his neighborhood to go to highschool. He additionally went to the United Nations to foyer for higher schooling in Mali. He has labored in Kenya and Zambia in neighborhood engagement tasks, and simply earlier than becoming a member of Cultural Survival, Georges labored in Abidjan, Ivory Coast as a advisor.
All photographs courtesy of Georges Dougnon.
Georges connects his ardour for schooling along with his delight in being Indigenous. “It’s a supply of delight for me to determine myself as Dogon and to indicate this by carrying my conventional garments. This similar delight has pushed me to work to safeguard my tradition, its crafts, its artwork, and above all, its cultural heritage. It’s not at all times straightforward to see your folks dealing with such difficulties as terrorism or local weather change. Lots of of households have needed to transfer and depart their land and houses to the massive cities. Villages have been destroyed. However that gained’t cease my dedication to showcasing the richness of my neighborhood and contributing to the resilience of my tradition.”
Georges says he joined Cultural Survival as a result of “it means residing, studying, and contributing to the rights of Indigenous Peoples. I want to be taught extra about Indigenous Peoples and their cultural wealth, but additionally from my colleagues, who’re great folks. I wish to deliver my data as a Dogon and obtain [knowledge] from each individual and each assembly.” Georges names Nelson Mandela and Amadou Hampaté Ba as two of his biggest sources of inspiration. “It was from [Hampaté] that I discovered that the best and greatest faculty is the college of life, that every individual is an inexhaustible supply of information. That’s why we are saying that an outdated man dying is sort of a burning library.” He provides, “I can’t neglect Ablo Ba, my first instructor and my father, who taught me that with a purpose to know the place to go, you’ll want to know the place you’re from.”
