My recent visit to Tabankort, Gao Region

It is always a great experience when you undertake a field trip. You get to meet with people in these communities and get an appreciation for their cultural diversity.

I just returned from a field visit to Tabankort, in the commune of Telemsi, Cercle of Bourem in the region of Gao. I enjoyed a one-hour flight by helicopter.

Located at 200 km from Gao town, Tabankort is a well in the region of Gao, with an average elevation of 1,309 feet above sea level. The location is sparsely populated with 3 people per mile2. The nearest town larger than 50,000 inhabitants takes about 3:56 hour by local transportation. The place where residents have no access to drinking water or medical facility. The only existing Ecole Fondamentale was damaged during the 2012 crisis excluding and marginalizing children from educational opportunities.

I met and exchanged views with the Tabankort residents, but more importantly I shared smile with them. Arabic is widely spoken there and fortunately, I can utter some words in their language and our conversation went surprisingly well.

Great news for the residents as the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, will shortly start up two community-based projects aimed at revamping a school and building medical facility early next month.

Kudos to MINUSMA for providing hope to the populations in northern Mali for a better future!