She ran away from home to avoid an arranged marriage
"My real dream is to be a soldier, but if I can’t be a soldier I think I’d like to be an accountant working in the Civil Service. I would have to study very hard to enter the army when I’m 18. It is not easy to get into the army because you have to sit a special exam and most of the time it’s the well-off kids who get selected. So I think I probably have more chance of becoming an accountant than a soldier. I could train to be an accountant without paying any bribes."
"For me the year 2000 means a big change, like turning over a new page, and that is very important and exciting. I don’t really know what the year 2000 is celebrating, but my friends say it is Jesus Christ’s anniversary."
Yayé Farna N’Diaya (centre)
Kadiatou Coulibaly (right)
Aminata Sylla (left), age 15, student in Bamako city
"Things are really changing in the relationship between men and women in Mali. For example, if there was a meeting in a village, the men would attend, and even if a woman wanted to, the husband wouldn’t allow it, and the other men wouldn’t accept it. But that’s changing now, and women are beginning to have their voice.
"For me it’s not a question of domination: I don’t want to dominate any man, but I want to be free and independent, and I can only achieve this by working. And yes, I am optimistic that I will get a good job and do what I want to do."
Yayé Farna N’Diaya
(middle), age 13, student in Bamako city
"We’re all optimistic for our futures. We want our freedom and one way of
being free is to work."
Kadiatou Coulibaly (right), age 16, student in
Bamako city
"In my district there is one woman doctor who has become very well known because
she takes such good care of everybody. I admire her so much that I really want to be like
her. I want to study. I want to be someone, so I won’t get married too young. I
really do want to work. I want first to know life, to understand life, and to be able to
make a contribution.
"Mali is going to be a good place to be in the year 2000. If you travel through Mali today you will notice many, many changes, and these are going to go on accelerating, so by the year 2000 there will be great progress in the country."
Moulaye Diarra, age 24, Kereketaba Band’s founder/lead singer
"My dream is to become a very big star. I want to be as big as Salif Keita and the only way to do that is to work very hard, so that is what I’m doing now. Working hard on research and rehearsals in order to develop my own style."
Alou Coulibaly, age 19, Bamako office cleaner and market trader
"As far as the future is concerned, I just want to become rich. I’m saving money in order to set up in business myself as a trader. If I get enough money I would like to go abroad to buy clothes, TVs, things like that, and then bring them back here to sell. This is the way to make good money in Mali."
Fati Wallet Idjirinta, age 9, from Tintihigrene, Gao region
"If someone came to me and asked if I have a wish I would say that my wish is to become an educated woman. If I have an education, I will get a good job and be self-sufficient."
Zikra Wallet Manaou, age 12, from Tintihigrene, Gao region
"When I’m older I would like to travel, to see what life is like in the cities. I like my life in the village, but I’ve never been anywhere else but here. When someone from a city like Gao comes to visit, I see that physically they look much better than people in the village: they’re always well-dressed and good-looking, and they look stronger and fatter because they eat well in the city.
"My biggest wish is to become a literate woman. I hope my life in the village will be better in the future. I hope I will grow much stronger so that I can work very hard and enjoy the benefits of my work. I will do the same work as my own mum does now: I will cultivate my field and my garden, and I will provide well for my family."
Alhousseyni Ag Midi, age 12, from Tintihigrene, Gao region
"When I’m older, I want only to become a man of means, a man who has a lot of animals. Animals give us milk, which is our basic food, and also meat and hide and money. If I had one wish it would be to have many animals: cows, goats, camels, donkeys, and sheep."
Aboubacrine Ag Hamalek, age 12, souvenir seller, Timbuktu
"I’m very proud of being one of the Tamachek people, because we are always the strongest. You might find some Tamacheks who are settling here in the town, but the true Tamacheks are always in the desert. When I grow up I would like to go back to the desert to help my people. Maybe I will be able to teach them things they don’t know, or perhaps I could build a school for them. I want to be a teacher; to be able to teach my people in the desert. I’ve never been anywhere else: only the desert and Timbuktu."
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