Tag Archives: bamako

Happy in Bamako

Posted on March 17, 2014 by brucewhitehouse

After all that’s happened in Mali over the last two years, sometimes we need a reminder that living there can be about something other than uncertainty, fear and violence. That people who dwell there can be–and for the most part, … Continue reading →

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Malian voices united (mostly)

Posted on January 21, 2013 by brucewhitehouse

For outsiders, among the most remarkable aspects of life in Mali is the music, the first of many things I fell in love with while living there in the late 1990s. Western journalists writing about the country’s worsening conflict this … Continue reading →

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An ka wili

Posted on January 1, 2013 by brucewhitehouse

Tiken Jah Fakoly, a well-known reggae artist who’s been based in Bamako’s Niamakoro neighborhood for the past several years, just released a single entitled “An ka wili” or “Let us rise up,” urging Malians to unite against the Islamists who … Continue reading →

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Impatient for action

Posted on December 15, 2012 by brucewhitehouse

The growing consensus regarding international military intervention to address the emergency in Mali is that it is now inevitable. But that doesn’t mean it’s imminent.  Hervé Ladsous, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping and Romano Prodi, the UN’s Special Envoy to the … Continue reading →

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The captain’s back

Posted on December 13, 2012 by brucewhitehouse

After several months of lying low, Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo returned to the limelight this week — in a big way. On Monday evening, December 11, some 20 soldiers acting under Sanogo’s orders went to the home of Prime Minister … Continue reading →

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Living on their feet

Posted on October 7, 2012 by brucewhitehouse

A young girl walks by balancing an enamel basin filled with mangoes on her head. A few minutes later, it’s a teenage boy with a huge rack of sunglasses. Next a mother, with infant daughter strapped to her back, walking … Continue reading →

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To shoot or not to shoot: The perils of street photography in Bamako

Posted on August 15, 2012 by brucewhitehouse

A recent post on the New York Times “Lens” blog reminded me of a constant problem I encountered in Bamako: lots of people didn’t want to be in my photographs. I don’t mean they wouldn’t pose for portraits; people who … Continue reading →

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My own private dojo

Posted on July 17, 2012 by brucewhitehouse

On learning a martial art in Bamako First I should insist that I know next to nothing about martial arts. I began studying aikido, which means “the way of harmony,” only two years ago, and when I got to Bamako … Continue reading →

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Farewell, Bamako

Posted on June 28, 2012 by brucewhitehouse

Last weekend my family and I left Bamako and returned to our home in eastern Pennsylvania. The process of packing up one house, traveling thousands of miles through four airports with two young children and hundreds of pounds of luggage, … Continue reading →

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90 days of disaster

Posted on June 21, 2012 by brucewhitehouse

Several weeks ago I had an e-mail exchange with an acquaintance about events in Mali. I was uneasy about the way the military had suspended the country’s existing political institutions. I wrote, “the junta’s repeated attempts to ‘push the reset … Continue reading →

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