The Dokotoro Project Steering Committee held its monthly meeting in the beginning of February. It’s been a busy month! Much of the discussion revolved around the soon-to-be-launched fundraising campaign.

Present: Matt, Michelle, Jenna, Zach, Marlow, Aaron, Ruth

Introductions

The group welcomed Aaron Goldblatt to the steering committee. Aaron was in the Butterknife stage (2003–2004) in Sevaré, and now is a medical resident in Santa Rosa, California. We are delighted to have someone with expertise in international medicine on the steering committee.
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The Dokotoro Project continues to make progress–despite the holidays and travel, a lot has happened in the last month! Here’s an update from our monthly Steering Committee meeting held during the first week of January.

First off, we are delighted to welcome Jenna Lohmann to the committee. Jenna will be helping recruit and manage volunteers as our new Volunteer Coordinator. Like several of us, Jenna was a Mali Peace Corps Volunteer, serving as as a water and sanitation volunteer in the Koulikoro region from 2011-2012. She now works as an environmental scientist for a consulting firm in Oakland, California. Welcome Jenna! (To volunteer, drop her a line at jenna@dokotoro.org!)

Translation and Layout

A few issues have come up regarding our plans to produce English and French-language back-translations of the Bambara edition of Where There Is No Doctor. Hesperian staff want to make sure that the information that is published stays up to date, and worry that producing an alternate English-language edition could result in an edition that is hard to keep updated. Regarding the French-language edition, this book is copyrighted (and sold) by the Senegalese NGO ENDA. We received permission to reuse the material in the book via an email from an ENDA staffer, but may need more explicit permission to distribute a new edition of the book in French. So all of this is TBD for now. It is possible that we may produce something, but that it will only be available on request; i.e. not printed or posted publicly on the internet.

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If you’re in the Bay Area, and you’re interested in getting involved in the Dokotoro Project, come to our first Hackathon-style work party on Sunday, January 27 in Oakland.

RSVP to volunteer coordinator Jenna Lohmann at Jenna.lohmann@gmail.com.

When:  Sunday, January 27, Noon – 4:00 pm

Where: Pacific Institute
Preservation Park
654 13th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
Google Maps link

Why: Because we need a LOT of help from volunteers to keep this project moving. We have tasks to match any skill set, for example: proofreading and editing in English and French, formatting Word documents, inserting and manipulating images, researching and contacting potential donors, creating content for the website and Facebook page, etc.

Steering Committee members will be on hand to get you started and answer any questions. Pizza and beverages provided. We may retire to a local pub afterwards for drinks or to watch football, if that’s your thing (the NFL Pro Bowl starts at 4pm Pacific).

We’re hoping to create a convivial atmosphere where we can come together, build community, have fun, and do important work. Please consider joining us!

We have 7 remaining copies of the beautiful 2013 RPCV Calendar, courtesy of our friend and Mali RPCV Anh Ly, whose photo graces the month of July. We’ll send a copy to the first 7 people to make a donation of $25 or more at our FirstGiving page. Make sure not to check the “Anonymous” option, or we won’t get your information.

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/dokotoro/thedokotoroproject

We’re excited to announce a new Downloads page on the Dokotoro Project website! Here, anyone who’s interested can keep track of our work. You can download drafts of the first two chapters that we’ve had translated.

You’ll also find links to the French-language version of Where There is No Doctor, Là Où Il n’y a Pas de Docteur, originally published by the Senegalese NGO ENDA. We are working hard to modernize and update this edition before translating it into Bambara.

During November, our focus was on planning our big Launch Party and Fundraiser, which was by all accounts a big success. After a month off, the Dokotoro Project Steering Committee held its monthly meeting on December 2. Here’s a short wrap-up.

General updates

The group welcomed Zach Matheson to the steering committee. We extended our thanks to Anh Ly, who is leaving the steering committee due to other commitments.

Fundraising update

We raised around $6,000 from the fundraiser, including donations that came in immediately before and after the event. There are a few loose ends, e.g. checks written to the wrong organization, bad credit card numbers, that need to be taken care of. For anyone who gave us an address, you should have already gotten a donor acknowledgment from African Sky, and a personal thank you note from us.

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Our launch party this past weekend was a great success — incredible people, amazing music, lots of food, and over $4,000 raised. It was a wonderful celebration of Malian culture and solidarity. Thanks to everyone who made it possible — and incredibly fun to boot!

We’d like to give a shout out especially to our Host Committee (Matt Heberger, Michelle Chan, Marlow Schindler, Zach Matheson, Anh Ly, Adrienne Fitch-Frankel, Jenny McNulty, Joanna Breslin, Jayma Brown, Mark Randazzo, and Sarah Litke) for gathering such a fun and lively group; there were almost 100 people there. And we offer our deep gratitude to the Mathesons for sharing their beautiful home. I know a lot of us relished hanging out on the terrace and enjoying sweeping bay views on that gorgeous afternoon.

Big thanks to JORM – Josh Austin, Oliver Mok, Rita Largman, Mat Lounibos for playing live jazz during the first half of the party. These folks are a relatively new band, but you’d never guess it. They sounded great! During the second half of the party, Roots of Manding — Karamo Susso, Gordon Helleger, Moussa Camara, and Ben Isaacs — transfixed and mesmerized people. And got some of us dancing.

The libations were plenty good as well. Heartfelt appreciation to Joanna Breslin, for donating more than a case of very good wine; and to Fernando and Martha Amar, for providing delicious beer (their award-winning White House Honey Ale won third place in the SF Homebrewers Guild contest!), tending the bar most of the afternoon, and generally making everyone feel welcome.

Thanks also to Bintou Diarra, proprietor of African Hair Braiding in downtown Oakland for decorations, and for giving a rousing testimonial about the obstacles to health in villages in Mali (despite Matt’s admittedly mediocre translation — sorry!). We encourage Bay Area folks to check out her store at 1936 Broadway for your holiday shopping.

We also had some delish food in the house, thanks to the kind folks at Madecasse Chocolate, which donated delicious samples of their world-class chocolate, manufactured in Madagascar (four times the income impact of Fair Trade). Johnathan Bethony provided outstanding artisan loaves; see how beautiful they are, and check out his super project for a solar-powered bakery in Senegal. We can’t thank enough people, especially Host Committee members, for shopping, chopping, prepping, and cooking.

Also, thanks to Africa and Friends and World Music Meetup Groups, and Northern California Peace Corps Association, for their participation. Special thanks to Will Spargur for taking excellent photos, which can be viewed on flckr.

Finally, i ni cɛ and i ni baaraji to African Sky, our fiscal sponsor, and its director Scott Lacy. Thanks to them, all donations to our project are tax-deductible. They are providing this service completely free of charge, and matching all donations to the Dokotoro Project by 20%. If you missed the fun, but still want to support the project, it’s not too late to make a donation!