The Women of Badogo Say Thank You

Sometimes we need to put our quest for a nice tush or flat stomach in perspective. This post is from Jamie Piekarz, an urban warrior making an impact in a far corner of the planet through the organization Arudmo

Here's a thank you from Jamie to all the people at Urbanfitt who contributed goods or donated funds.

"I am recently back from three weeks in Mali. The trip was heart-warming, heart-breaking and most of all, inspiring. Here's a link to pictures taken during my visit and a description of how your donations were used, as decided by the villagers. I want to thank you once again for your kindness. You can’t imagine how incredibly grateful and surprised that the women of Badogo were to know that people miles away would even think about them. This was the greatest gift of all.

The next step for the region I visited is to find a short internship in Canada for the project manager of the woman’s association, Niogo Salimata, a dynamic young woman who is currently completing her Social Work degree and Master’s degree in English in the capital city of Mali, Bamako. By honing her skills in these area she will be better prepared for the advocacy of women’s rights in Mali and helping women in the poorest areas of her country. As well, the organization I was working for, Arudmo (www.arudmo.org), is looking into setting up micro-loans for the women in the villages.

In contrast to other regions in Mali, the women of southern Mali do all the work for their families and community. They collect firewood for cooking, pound the grains for hours on end to prepare food, raise the children, tend the gardens and much more. In the small village of Badogo, where I lived, there was a well that was basically a hole in the ground about 20 feet deep. For four hours a day, the women dropped buckets into the well and hauled them out by hand to water the crops. Your donations allowed the village to purchase a pump for the well (in 2 of the photos above), which will greatly reduce the number of hours and the number of women required to water the crops. As well, money was put towards fixing the broken mills. This will also free up more time for the women and girls who, daily, spend hours beating grains.

The other donations of material goods and medicine will also make the lives of the women there a little bit easier. You cannot imagine how grateful the women of the small village of Badogo are- not only for the gifts but also for the imagination and goodwill you had to think of them and show compassion for their lives. They have all extended their warmest wishes to you and they invite you to visit them whenever you can. You will be welcomed with open arms and loads of warmth and generosity.

If any of you would like to volunteer in the area, please feel free to contact me (Jamie). You will find it an amazing and humbling experience. Jamie.Piekarz@corusent.com"