Junior Achievement is coming to Mali

I just came to Bamako for a training on how to be a trainer of trainers for Junior Achievement. JA is a non-profit based in Colorado Springs, CO focused on teaching kids fundamental economics so they are able to fully participate in the global economy. The curricula are focused at the specific age level of the students starting in elementary school through middle and high school. JA currently has operations in over 100 countries and is just now moving to Mali. In fact, Mali will be the very first country in West Africa and the first French speaking developing country that JA will enter. They are doing a pilot program from now through September before expanding to the full program.

Anyhow, getting to where I come in – I came down to Bamako (actually west) for this training. I was supposed to come and learn how to teach other Malians how to be JA instructors. Unfortunately, the trainer was unable to make it for a number of reasons. Only myself and another volunteer, Kathy (she is in Segou with me), had ever taught JA back home in the states and were the only ones with any real experience with the program. This left us as the obvious choice to lead and give this training that I’d come down to participate in… All of this came about the day before the session was to start giving us plenty of time to prepare!

Kathy and I whipped up a quick plan of action and did the best we could with the time and materials available. It wasn’t exactly what everyone had been planning on but, none-the-less, was a successful training.

For now, we are only going to be teaching “our community” which is normally taught to 2nd graders in the US. Of course, the booklet we have is the same used in the states and not exactly applicable to the culture and environment here in Mali, West Africa. We are making some adjustments (such as re-drawing the neighborhood map to reflect the local businesses, buildings, etc.) and working on translating the lesson plans so French speaking Malians will be able to give the course.

Now, I’m back in Bamako (the JA training was down at the Peace Corps training facility of Tubaniso) getting ready for another meeting with my fellow tourism volunteers tomorrow. We are trying to create pre-packaged trainings on various subjects such as customer service for hotels/guides/restaurants, food preparation and sanitation, English teaching, accountancy, etc. The goal is to have these trainings complete to the extent that you could pick up the training packet you’re interested in giving and have everything there to give a training. I’m working on customer service for guides/hotels/restaurants, cultural sensitivity for guides/tourists, responsible philanthropy for tourists, and energy saving practices for hotels/restaurants. Needless to say, I’ve got my hands full – especially with the limited access to resources over here in Mali (limited or no internet, no library resources, and well, that’s about it).

On Monday, I’m jumping on a bus down to Accra, Ghana for a training on importing and exporting artisan goods to places like the US and Europe. Afterwards, I’ll try and meet with a few tourist businesses before taking a little vacation on the beach. The plan is to go down through Burkina to Ghana and then back up by first heading East through Togo and then North through Benin. The entire trip should take about three weeks.

I’ll try and get photos up as soon as I get back and even an update while I’m out traveling around. Till then…