By Ousmane Coulibaly, Operations Coordinator

Unlike American and other Western students who visit tourist sites and play at  beaches during their vacations, in Malimost students help their parents in the field for most of the day. This is especially true in rural areas like the villages we work in.

But the whole summer is not about work. During free afternoons, boys of the same age will gather in groups and organize themselves to play. Many boys will go to play in a local river, or soccer games are often played.

I was recently in Tanima, one of our partner villages and home to Little Heroes Academy II. While I was there, I saw just what the local boys do to express their joy on the occasion of the end of the school year and the closing of the classrooms. The students of the school organized a jumping competition where the boys challenge each other to jump higher and farther into the river than each other. This was followed by rough and tumble swimming in the river for the rest of the afternoon and dramatic underwater swimming contests.

These games allowed the kids to have fun and relax themselves after nine months of intense classes. The games also allow these young boys to show off their masculinity and physical strength, seeing who can jump higher or swim longer underwater. Lastly, the games are most simply a wonderful way for the boys to cool themselves in Mali’s 100 degree heat on a hot June day.

This swimming game has a long tradition as an end-of-year celebration among young boys from the villages settled near a canal or river, which includes our partner villages in Tanima and Sebela. We celebrate the end of the school year along with our students at all our Mali Rising schools!