Women's Group: Bamako VI

Madame Touré, David, and I rushed out of the office around 2PM today to get to the women's group meeting on the other side of town. We left an hour before the meeting to cross "le pont ancien"/the OLD bridge/the bridge that is hanging on by a thread and is completely closed at night due to its safety hazard.

Traffic, as predicted, got us there exactly an hour later at the stroke of three, when in reality the meeting could not have been more than 12 miles away. Madame Touré was a bit nervous en route; she was worried no one would show up because the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was coming into town and most people in Bamako were going to welcome him at the airport.

Why exactly the Iranian president was in Mali: to seek support for Iran's controversial uranium enrichment program because the rest of the world is against it. Why exactly everyone in Mali wanted to welcome him: I do not know.

No presidential treatment for us, though: only one person was waiting at the meeting spot. Now I was nervous...would any women show up? Another came, then one more, and around 3:45 only 14-15 out of 60 women had shown up. Madame Touré went ahead and started the show.

Meeting was held in an open air school building

She introduced the referral booklets that are used by the project's women's groups to refer other women to community health centers 1) when there are signs of malaria, 2) when pre-natal consultations are needed, or 3) for women to consult doctors on family planning options.

She then whipped out the beads that are used in many countries to follow the natural family planning method. Individuals move a small rubber band through a line of colored beads which marks where the woman is on her cycle. Basically, it helps women keep track of when would be the ideal time to do some baby-making without actually making babies.

Madame Touré explaining the crew how to use "Cycle Beads"

David and Mme. Touré explaining the referral booklets in the foreground,

member breastfeeding child in the background. Ain't no time like the present!

From there, it got heated. On one side, women started fussing about how, in this culture, you can't go around knocking on doors asking women to use family planning methods when their husbands don't approve and might abuse them. On the other side, the argument was brought up that you can inform these same women of injectable and implant options that are easier to hide.

Another woman stood up and croaked that she has an 19 year old daughter at home and can't imagine talking to girls her age about this; in rebuttal yet another member gave her speech about how she's open on the family planning topic with both her 18 and 14 year old sons and that times are 'a changing and so should they.

Women's Association + 1

It went round and round, and then David got up and told these ladies that of the other over 200 women's associations he's dealt with, none were as defiant against, or had trouble with, the idea of referring their fellow Malian women to family planning providers.

Then he turned and asked if I could add something.

At this point, more than 30 women have trickled in (there is no such thing as being too late over here). These femmes are all rowled up and have been fussing loudly. Most of them are over 40 years of age, and here I was a young white thing asked to give my opinion in a foreign language, in a 90% Muslim, modest country during a sex debate.

The meeting was outside so at least I had an excuse for the sweat, but I wiped my forehead and in my most inspiring French tone said that if the 21-year old president of the women's association in Kita (a neighboring town) could mobilize over 700 family planning and pre-natal consultation referrals, then who knew what all of these women, who were "un peu plus vielle"/"a little older" and wiser could do.

They started cracking up; claiming they were all under 20 and what was I talking about saying they're old. Annnnd exhale.