At
the Archives Nationales in Bamako, in preparation for the EVENT tomorrow
morning. And that event is of course the Bamako version of the British
Library’s exhibition from Djenné as well as the closing ceremony for the Projects.
The Director of the Archives, M. Diabaté, was supposed to go on holiday,
but has postponed it in favour of staying to be part of this ceremony, which
has gathered a sort of momentum and promises to be well attended : mostly
because a rumour has circulated that Mme Keita, The First Lady of Mali would be
present. Therefore the National Archives has been receiving a hurried, long
needed touch of paint ; the gardens have suddenly seen some long awaited
care and even the flooring has been repaired- so as not have the First Lady
trip over the broken tiles. Yesterday I found out from the Britsih Embassy that
the rumour was in fact false- she was otherwise engaged… However, I kept quiet
about it, in order for the face lift of the National Archives to go ahead. We lesser
mortals will be benefitting after all… and among us will be plenty of
luminaries, including Diankounda Traoré, the ex-president during the transition
period after the coup. He is a personal friend of Mark Saade, the Malian Consul
to the UK who has flown out especially, bearing exciting IT paraphenalia from
my old friend Nicholas Mellor who is setting up a ‘Google Expedition’ at the
exhibition, which will enable the guests to
visit Djenne and the library in a 3-D virtual reality tour tomorrow
morning…
More of this later of course…
Later:
We have lost an Ex- President but gained an Ambassador:
Diankounda Traore has had to rush off on important business in Accra, but Jessica Svardstrom, the new Swedish ambassador will be there, and that is nice!
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