It’s halfway through my Malian trip and I found myself in the rural village of Lofine. Mali Rising’s team is tucked away under the shade of a huge gnarled tree for the opening of a new school. The ceremony is chaotic, but beautiful. There were traditional dances intertwined through speeches of the village dignitaries as well as the board members of Mali Rising.I slowly lost interest during the painstaking translations from English to Bambara and reverted to studying the faces of those in the large crowd circled around us.