THE DEVIL INSIDE
In Mali it is believed that everyone has a little devil inside them, and in those with disabilities, the devil is bigger and showing on the outside. Due to this belief it can be seen as shameful to be related to someone with a disability, or to produce a 'bigger devil', whilst in Mali I was fortunate enough to work with people that didn't believe this.
Check this Wu-Tang-fan, how could anyone say he has a bigger devil than most?! Sent to Bamako, the capital of Mali by International Service with five others; Sophie, Claire, Dan, Shawana and Sumera. We were sent to work with AMALDEME, a school for children with physical and mental disabilities, also linked to an integrated school. The International Services’ mission -and therefore ours- was to combat poverty and oppression. Our main way of doing this was to work with social integration. Amongst other thing, we planned a 'fete' to celebrate AMALDEME and the work done there. We happened to pick the National Day of Disability Awareness (3rd December) and so the day began with a small seminar discussing the issues surrounding disabilities.
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