Many years ago, when my son was young, we sponsored a little girl from Mali through Save the Children. We sent a monthly donation and corresponded with her. It took a long time for letters to go back and forth, but we were faithful writers, and so was she. We put her picture up on the refrigerator: a lovely little girl of about 7 (her actual birth date was unknown) with bright eyes and a sweet smile. That was her first picture. The next year, a new photograph came. In it, she looked much older and was no longer smiling. She looked tired. And then, shortly after we got that picture, we got a letter from Save the Children saying that she had been dropped from the program because her parents were not abiding by their part of the contract. I think about her whenever I hear about Mali, which is often, these days.
A National Geographic senior writer who has traveled throughout northern Africa explains the three major causes of the current crisis in Mali (video): http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/culture-places-news/mali-crisis-gwin2-vin/
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