I hab a code

The head cold persists, at least I’ve caught up on sleep being able to relax in between Semaine Régionale events. I got a good turn out of expats to support our girls playing against Gao…but they got killed! I think we only made 2 baskets, both free throws.

While working on the PC computer some volunteers came in wanting to watch a movie and go “She’s doing that again.” “You know…THAT.” “Yes, I’m working!”

There was a bit of a scandal on the court this afternoon. We were about to play Bourem when it was discovered they had brought in ringers from Bamako that morning—guys from the Gao professional team. We refused to play unless they only started players who had been registered since last month. Both Ansongo teams beat them handily. Yay! So we placed 3rd overall. It was more important just for these girls to have left Ansongo and played in a tournament. But what confuses me is that after we got back to Ansongo the girls stopped coming to the court. It’s as if the tournament was enough for them. And then the new jerseys I awarded girls who were coming regularly discouraged others from coming at all even though I told them they’d get a new jersey too if they’d come regularly. Ah, no dice. Incentives just don’t work! How?

Tonight was Ansongo’s theater and arts presentation. They had a “ballet” portraying the water spirits and sacrifices made to them in the past. I am still shocked at the scandalous midriff-showing costumes on the girls. There was a great drama on protecting your daughters from going off and getting unwanted pregnancies—starring Agaichou the bball captain as Bintou, a girl who goes off to make money as a servant in the city to save up for her marriage and gets seduced by her patron’s son, ends up with a child and therefore sent away by her father. Sad. An ensemble song about loving your husband or wife: Hala ir ma waaaaafoku! Ir ma cere diiiii! Ir ma baaaaa cereeeee! Then Safaraou, the tallest of the basketball girls who could really have a future in sports, sang a great solo on respecting and obeying your parents. Some takamba dancing and then a stomp dance. 

When the awards for the week were announced, Ansongo cleaned up in theater and arts so we placed second overall for the week. Gao naturally was first, then Ménaka because of their bball prowess then Bourem. Interesting how the placement reflects the general level of development in the region—Bourem being the most impoverished and with the highest rates of child mortality and malnutrition in all of Mali.