Pudsey to Finish Bamako Run 2007








Donations received so far
Oxfam	£883
Wateraid	£1441
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More than three years into the Darfur conflict, the crisis continues on a massive scale. Two million people have been forced to flee their homes and are now living in makeshift shelters in crowded camps or massed on the edge of towns and villages in Darfur and across the border in eastern Chad. <more>
Mali Mali, in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world. This landlocked, former French colony gained its independence in 1960 but has since suffered rebellions, two coups and a 23 year military dictatorship. <more>


	The official name of Mali is the République de Mali.

Capital	Bamako
Population	11.134 million (1996)
Size	1,240,192 square km
Languages	French
Average life expectancy	Male 47 yrs ('96), female 45 yrs ('94)
Currency	West African CFA Franc
Infant deaths per 1,000 births	134 (1996)
Major exports	cotton, gold
Total external debt	US$ 3,020 million
Communications	10 TV sets, 44 radios, and 2 main telephone lines per 1000 people
Climate	mostly hot and dry; semi-tropical in the far south
Time	GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
Adija Ag Boti, a Touareg man from Gao region The largest ethnic group in Mali is the Bambara. Other groups include the Dogons and Touareg people, who practise a traditional way of life. The Touareg, dressed in distinctive indigo robes and turbans, are an ancient nomadic people who still live from what the desert provides. They are famous for their fighting abilities and for their artwork. However, drought and government policies now threaten their way of life. The Dogons are farmers, living on the edges of the inland river delta. Their homeland, the Pays Dogon, has been designated a World Heritage site because of its cultural importance: the Dogon are famous for their artistic abilities and elaborate masks. Tensions between the different ethnic groups have led to a number of civil conflicts in Mali. The present government is working to give local communities decision-making powers to try to avoid future conflicts. Although it cools down a bit towards the end of the year, the temperature in Mali can rise above 40°C (104°F). The humid rainy season is June to September, but they only get this in the South. In the middle part of the country – the semi-desert part called the Sahel – rainfall can vary. In the North there is very little. Winds blowing off the desert between December and February – known as harmattan – cover the cities with a fine layer of dust. Sometimes it seems as if the weather and land are trying to bury Mali under a tonne of sand. Two thirds of the country is now desert or semi-desert. In the recent past, there has been terrible drought and famine. The growing desert is a great worry to people in Mali as once-fertile farmland disappears. Most Malians are very poor and can’t afford to send their children to school: government spending on education is low putting the burden onto parents. This has meant that only about 30 per cent of people can read and write. The average child in Mali will be at school for only 3 years, compared to 11 years in the United Kingdom. And because families usually think it’s more important for boys to get an education than girls, more men than women are literate in Mali today: only 23 per cent of girls can read and write, compared to 39 per cent of men. Mali’s government is now trying to put this right, by making primary school education more affordable for poor people. There are ambitious plans to increase education spending, but the task ahead is huge.
Please send cheques to David Dowden, 15 Greentop Pudsey Leeds LS28 8JW TEL 07906 -066204 dave@pudseytofinish.co.uk Please make cheques payable to Water Aid or Oxfam - (which ever you feel is a more worthwile cause)
We are taking for schools orphanges childrens clothing /shoes, / lots of items for schools pens /pencils/calenders 3 hand cranked sewing machines
The Charities