Help Build a Future for IDP Women & Children

At this time I am glad to report the government has not closed the Faladje IDP Camp and ATEG is continuing our activities to help the women and children at the camp.

We have also provided skills training to another group of IDPs who are located in another area of Bamako. ATEG helped establish an agricultural program for over 50 IDP women of KOLA. We drilled a borehole and installed a solar powered pump to draw water to irrigate the crops. We took a sample of the borehole water to send it for analyses at the National Water Laboratory. The result of the water analyses came back to us with a satisfactory response which guarantees that the water is good to drink and to use for both animal and agriculture use. We did it because, we anticipate that women will be not only using the borehole for agricultural purposes but they will also use it for consumption. The beneficiaries are very thankful that the project allowed them to have potable water to drink and that will guarantee them better health and less  water born diseases.

After we fenced in the area we organized with the local Agriculture Service a two day training session on improved agricultural practices. More than 50 women participated and learned about many practices including the use of organic manure and techniques how to fight farming pests.

This project has resulted in the women now having a bountiful garden which provides both food for their families as well as income from selling the crops at local markets.  

For the past 6 years ATEG has been providing assistance to marginalized women and children in Bamako, Mali. Mali is one of the world’s poorest countries and geopolitical events have compounded the suffering. Our focus has been on the internally displaced persons (IDP) driven from their homes in the Mopti Region of Central Mali by jihadi terrorists. A large number of them have been living in the Faladje IDP Camp, which was built on an active garbage dump.

Over the past few years ATEGs has improved the lives of hundreds of women through our Skills Training Program and changed the lives of children, turning them from street beggars into students through our Childhood Education Program. However, the events of September17 have put the future of these programs and these people into jeopardy.

On that day jihadi terrorists attacked the national airport in Bamako and lit the president’s plane on fire, as well as attacking the Police Training Academy. The Malian government determined that some of these terrorists had infiltrated the Faladje IDP Camp and may have been involved in the attack. They therefore decided to close the camp and relocate the IDPs back to Mopti, where they had fled a dozen years ago. This despite the fact that it is still an active terrorist area which is as dangerous as when they left.

At this time the government has not yet set a date for the camp to be closed, but it will be soon. Our Women’s Cooperative is attempting to gauge how many of its members will agree to go to Mopti and how many will stay in Bamako. Some may live with relatives and others with “host families.” If enough choose to stay, ATEG plans to disassemble their Faladje work facility and reassemble it at a site in Bamako. If this is not possible, we will help them rent a place in Bamako to work in. About half of the schoolchildren are continuing their education in the same school, and some have transferred to schools in other sections of Bamako.

Many of the international NGOs who had been working at Faladje, including the Red Cross have suspended their operations. The women have reached out to ATEG and asked that we not abandon them. These women have endured unspeakable hardships. ATEG programs have given them, and their children hope for their future. We need your help to keep these dreams alive.

Although ATEGs programs at the Faladje Camp may be forced to close, we intend to keep providing skills training to IDP women remaining in Bamako and education to Bamako’s street children. We are also continuing to operate the ATEG/Rotary Children’s Clinic which offers free medical care. This is offered not only at the clinic but also off-site at IDP Camps, orphanages and schools. Your support has enabled us to provide these women and children with achance for a better life.