By Adama Traore, Teacher & Health Project Coordinator

The little village Kassela is home to Lareen Mellor Middle School, a Mali Rising school. Adama Samaké is a French teacher at the school, and he has a lot of experience at his job. I interviewed Mr. Samaké to better understand how his village has been preventing the COVID-19 virus.

Mr. Samaké notes that since the outbreak of virus in Mali, many people in Kassela have been very afraid and want to keep everyone safe during this crisis. According to Mr. Samaké, some people of Kassela do not fully believe in the COVID-19 or think it is just like a simple cold that people can catch but it will go away by itself. Mr. Samaké, as a teacher, thinks that it is a true disease and deadly. Wherever he gets a chance to talk to people about the virus in his village, he does all his best trying to get people convinced so that they will change their behaviors and protect themselves.

Despite some outliers, Mr Samaké mentioned that most people are aware of the coronavirus and are taking actions to protect themselves. That is why he was very excited to have hand washing stations from Mali Rising. He feels very proud to be a Mali Rising school teacher and very thankful to Mali Rising for all the things they have been benefiting from. Adama said that there are other hand washing stations in his village bought by some individuals for their own families. But stations like those given by Mali Rising are more useful, because they put them in public places like next the mosque in the village, market, schools, or other meeting places so everyone can benefit from them. 

Adama cares for his community’s life and sensitizes people on COVID-19 so they stay safe. When it comes to putting on face masks and keeping distance from other people, that is the hardest part of it for many people in Kassela. Mr Samaké went on to say that some people say they cannot afford face masks whereas some others thinks it is not that serious.

Mr. Samakéalso mentioned the importance of Mali Rising’s COVID-19 radio lessons that people listened to in Kassela, educating them about the disease. He also mentioned the national TV station has been doing lessons. Together, these strategies allowed many people to know more about COVID-19.  In the end, he said how thankful he is to all the great donors of Mali Rising who think about both their health and education. Thank you, Mali Rising, for thinking about Kassela!

Learn more about our response to COVID-19 in Mali.