International

An African adventure
Oklahoma professionals experience Malian culture and media
By Jenni Boutz, Oklahoma City, Okla.

A chance meeting between two Oklahoma State University scholars led to an African adventure that will influence many generations to come.
           
Agricultural education professor Craig Edwards met Mohomodou Boncana, a Fulbright scholar from Mali, Africa, when the two spoke to an international agricultural education class at OSU.
           
A friendship sparked.
           
"We kept in contact, and Mohomodou expressed the need for help in Mali through our conversations," Edwards said. "Because of my past international experience, I started looking for grant opportunities in Africa."
           
The opportunity came in late 2005 through the U.S. Department of State.
           
Edwards, along with agricultural communications faculty Cindy Blackwell, Dwayne Cartmell and Shelly Sitton, applied for and received a citizens exchange program grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
           
"I had never been to the developing world before, and I have truly gained an appreciation for the need to help," said Cartmell, co-director of the Mali project.
           
As a democracy with a free press for less than a decade, Mali has a lack of professional development opportunities for its media specialists, and the OSU faculty focused on this need.
           
"Now that the people of Mali have a say in what happens to their country as a democracy, there is a real need for them to increase their professionalism in journalism," said Rachel Hubbard, KOSU news director. "Journalism allows Malians the opportunity to provide reliable information to the public and is key in a free nation to allow voices to be heard."
           
Hubbard was one of 10 professionals and educators who traveled to Bamako, Mali, in March 2007 for the first phase of the three-phase project.
           
"Visiting a Third World country is a life-changing experience," Sitton said. "Nothing prepares you for the impact on your senses … the sights, the sounds, the smells that assail you."
           
The team included graduate students and representatives from the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, Oklahoma Farm Bureau and the University of Central Oklahoma.
           
The grant team landed in Africa prepared to work.
           
"The main emphasis in this phase was to gain an understanding of the culture and recruit individuals to study in Oklahoma for the second phase," Cartmell said.
           
To learn about the culture, the grant team met with officials at the University of Bamako, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Malian Ministry of Communication. They visited several radio stations, a television station and the country’s only cable network. By discussing the issues and challenges of providing the free press with journalists, they uncovered ways to help Malian media specialists succeed.
           
The group also traveled to a rural village to meet with cotton farmers and visit a rural radio station, one of Mali’s more than 125 radio stations developed in the past decade.
           
In addition, the team conducted a workshop for media specialists and interviewed those who wanted to participate in the grant project’s second phase in the United States.
           
In July 2007, 14 Malians arrived in Oklahoma.
           
"A lot of preparation went into the arrival of the Malians," Sitton said. "We were excited to see them again and looked forward to working with them."
           
While in Stillwater, the Malians participated in on-campus media training and various cultural activities in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. They then worked as interns for two weeks, and each Malian had the opportunity to learn from a professional journalist in his or her area of expertise.
           
"I got an idea of American newsroom life and how to make a good business plan at OSU," said Bandé Moussa Sissoko, journalist at L’ESSOR in Mali. "I think everything I learned can help me in my social and professional activities."
           
Cartmell said the grant team wanted the Malians to take home not only an education but also an experience that would help make them confident in their knowledge and abilities. The emphasis of the second phase was to educate, mentor and provide cultural activities, he said.
           
"My experience with OSU made a big change for me in Mali," said Assoumane Maiga, a Malian project participant. "I had the opportunity to visit museums, towns, a stadium and memorials. I saw how Americans are devoted to their work. Since my return home, I feel like a different person and am more confident in my work."
           
When the internships were completed, the Malian media specialists joined OSU faculty and agricultural communications students for the Agricultural Media Summit in Louisville, Ky., before returning to Africa.
           
"The Malian specialists now have the experience to provide information that could change the lives of many individuals and improve economic, environmental and socioeconomic circumstances in Mali," said Lora Young, an agricultural communications graduate assistant who worked with the grant team.
           
The opportunity changed another graduate student’s post-graduation plans. Jeremiah Allen, agricultural communications graduate student who traveled with the team in March, now plans to participate in international work when he completes his degree.
           
"I felt I really made a difference," Allen said. "I would like to do international work now because I enjoy traveling abroad and can see myself working internationally to make a difference in people’s lives."
           
For the final phase of the program, the grant team returned to Africa in December to check the participants’ progress.
           
"Only time will tell how much our work will impact Mali," Edwards said. "I was excited to see the progress that has occurred."
           
Although the grant program has concluded, OSU faculty continue to pursue additional avenues to help this African nation as well  as other countries across the continent, Cartmell said.

Bancoumana radio station staff share experiences with Rachel Hubbard (left), Rob McClendon and Assoumane Maiga. (Photo by Shelly Sitton)

Amagono Saye (left), Soumaïla Camara, N’Golo Diarra, Gamer Dicko (kneeling) and Aly Koita experience Native American culture. (Photo by Lora Young)

Craig Edwards (right) discusses agriculture with Malian officials. (Photo by Shelly Sitton)