King's Kids and a Sotrama adventure

 This weekend I attended a big event and I got to see the Bamako Kids perform several of their choreographies.  It was a 50th anniversary celebration for the AGEMPEM - this is the organization in which all of the protestant churches and missions in Mali associate together in cooperation.  They held this special evening for the children to celebrate and show their different songs, dances, and skits. 

 The event was held at a soccer stadium, which as you can see is pretty huge.   Actually we were right next to the stadium in a big building that is a basketball arena (bottom photo).  This all was built in 2001 to host the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament in 2002.  I read that the stadium can hold 55,000 people, and like many well-constructed things here, it was built by the Chinese.  I don't know how many people can fit in to the basketball arena, but we were an impressive sized group even if we didn't even half fill it.  Besides me I only saw 1 other white person.

 

To get there I had taken a taxi.  As it is pretty far away the taxi rate was higher than most trips in town, so I decided to save some money and take a Sotrama to get back home.  A Sotrama is a brightly green painted public transportation mini-bus.  Its like a big van that they have taken all the comfortable seats out of and then attached skinny planks of wood around the edges so that as many people as possible can cram inside.  Lots of these green vehicles go by when you are walking or waiting along a main road, and the money collector shouts the name of the neighborhood it is headed to.  I could not at all understand what the guy was shouting because apparently the Sotrama money collectors learn their shouting at the same place as auctioneers, it is incomprehensible.  I had to ask the guy where it was going even though he was shouting the name of the place, and when he told me I still didn't understand, so he asked me where I wanted to go.  I told him and he said "get on."  I got on hoping that everything would be ok.

 When you ride in one of these you are wedged between people, so if it is hot you will soon be getting their sweat on you.  It is cool season so I thought it would be ok.  I was positioned near the door though, so sometimes when ladies were climbing in or out they used my knee as a handle to help them. There was also a little girl on the lap of the woman next to me who thought I was an armrest.  Some of the ladies started arguing with the guy who collects money, they all seemed pretty angry and I didn't really understand what it was all about, but after a few minutes they all started laughing.  It wasn't too sweaty, but the dust is pretty nasty these days.
The price for the Sotrama ride was only 1/10th the price of a taxi, but it took me over an hour to get home compared to the 20 or so minutes it would have taken in a taxi.  It was an adventure and its good to have those now and then.