Music for Mali

Benefit Gig / Music for Mali

Mali is the 4th poorest country in the world. The average wage is €250 per year. The infant mortality rate in Ireland is 5 deaths per 1000 births, in Mali its 134, the highest in Africa. 25% of children suffer with malnutrition. Only 19% of the population in Mali can read or write, of that figure only 12% are women. The average life expectancy is 49 for men and 51 for women. There about 6 landline telephones, 10 TVs and 40 radios per 1000 people. In Ireland there are approximately 3 doctors per 1000 people. In Mali there are 22,500 per trained doctor. There is one pass machine in the entire country.

I am the organiser and principal fundraiser. The refuge and educational fund are based in, and operated from, Mopti, a small town in the West African State of Mali; the 4th poorest country in the world. Yeredeme, the word means “Help Ourselves” in Bambara the local language, is a centre for very young unmarried mothers previously living on the streets of Mopti. They operate a small restaurant and make and sell jam, dried fruit, meat and Shea Butter, a natural skin cream. Some of the girls are as young as 14 or 15, many were destitute and stories of rape among them were common. Others, due to lack of education, didn’t even understand where their children came from. While there is a very strong tradition of the family as the centre of society in Mali it is a Muslim country and this has a considerable effect on the treatment the girls receive and the way they are perceived by the community at large. There is still enormous social stigma around the girls in some sections of the community and there was considerable local opposition to the project when it opened.

Group of Mali Children

Young Mother and Child

Yeredeme / Help Ourselves 0 Mb Press Release / Music for Mali 0 Mb