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Article: Djembe Drums, Going for a Song; Sale Offers Mali Goods Left Over From Folklife Festival
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 11, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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About a month ago, Vanessa Adams was sitting in a restaurant in
Bamako, the capital of the West African nation of Mali, when a man
called over from the next table and asked a question: "What's new
with the products?"
Ah. The products. That was a bit of a sore subject.
Adams is a Peace Corps volunteer detailed to Mali's ministry of
handcrafts and tourism, helping to develop a foreign market for
Malian goods. She spent two weeks in Washington last summer, working
in the MarketPlace tent at the Smithsonian's Folklife Festival, where
Mali was a featured culture.
In a fit of extreme optimism, the Malian government had borrowed
$400,000 from the Banque de Malienne Solidarite to purchase and ship ...