About
The African Workshop is a UK charity raising money for creative community projects in Bamako, Mali.
We work with several different groups to find creative ways to learn, improve lives and build positive futures.
Street children in Bamako
We are proud to work with in partnership with acclaimed Malian artist Kader Keita.
Kader has worked with ‘street children’ for many years, although he is dismissive of that term, saying: “Streets don’t have children, people do; they are not the responsibility of the street, they are our responsibility.”
Homeless children in Bamako often end up in Government run Aemo Centres (which stands for ‘Association of Education in Open Areas’). These centres can give kids a bed and a meal but they do nothing to help children learn skills and find a path to a positive future.
Kader, with support from the African Workshop and the Mali Association of Culture and Hope, runs residential courses to help these kids learn artistic, creative and life skills. It helps them rebuild their self-esteem and reintegrate themselves into their community. It also helps them find ways to become self supporting.
Growing the project
The African Workshop is helping Kader expand the project, take on more staff, find a larger building and plan more projects for the children who complete the residential course.
We will also bring over British artists, musician and volunteers to run special workshops a couple of times a year.
Pop-up projects in Mali
In a lean-to, woven, patched-up building in another neighbourhood we helped a local band create a space where kids can go and play. They can borrow a football, scribble on bright paper, run round with skipping ropes or chase a Frisbee.
We supported this pop-up community centre in an area called Yiri Madjo for four years. We let kids be kids in one of the poorest cities on the planet, where work usually starts as soon as you can walk and few kids have their own toys.
This project was a great learning experience and we will continue to run one-off workshops and plan more creative pop-up experiences for street kids and poor neighbourhoods. Many people we met through this initiative will now work with Kader.
The aim of all of our work is to let kids be creative, learn problem solving skills and build a bright future.
Scholarships
The African Workshop also offers scholarships to promising students we meet through our projects. We currently have 26 students in full time education.
School fees cost just £4 a month but are beyond the means of many families and young people. We ask donors to commit to a monthly direct debit to help one of our students get a decent shot at school.
Future
This is just the beginning – we’ve have huge, positive plans for the future. But they can only happen with your help and support.
We aim to help Kader grow the project, to help more children and to work with at-risk and street kids across Bamako.
We also plan to open a drop-in community centre, where children who complete the residential course can become tutors and mentors for other young people in a creative environment. We will introduce specialist education practices to encourage creativity and problem-solving skills.
The scholarship project will continue. We will also bring British artists and musicians to Mali to expose the kids to new ideas and opportunities, to share skills and to create some exciting art and music.
Friends, funds donations
All the money raised by the African Workshop goes directly into the project in Mali – there are no paid staff in the UK.
Money is raised through private donations from individuals who want to work with a charity that can tell you exactly where the money is going and who it is helping.
We also sell Malian goods and art created by the children we work with. You can often find us at the Towersey Village festival (although we won’t be there in 2011) and Folk Against Fascism events.
The African Workshop is a registered charity – UK number 1137427.
