In Mali, master artist Boubacar Doumbia is passing on the ancient textile techniques used to produce Mali's iconic bogolan mud cloth to the next generation, thereby training young fabric designers.
00:00A centuries-old tradition is being reinvented with bold colors, style, and a mission to empower.
00:14Let's find out why this oddest and time-consuming work means a better future for the young people of Mali.
00:23Here, I do trapping. I wash the fabrics with galama. Then, I bring them inside. They work on it, and then wash them one last time.
00:36Gubakar Dumbia has specialized in natural dyeing techniques for decades. Through him, Malian youth get training on the best way to reimagine this fabric-making tradition.
00:48I came to the Ndomo Center for three months of training. Here, I make designs for clothes and scabs, and then we get our money.
01:01Gubakar is not just a textile designer, but a cultural architect.
01:08His social enterprise, Lendomo, keeps the textile heritage alive while creating economic opportunities for the next generation.
01:17The Ndomo Center, after my studies at the National Institute of Arts, the aim was to promote the natural dyeing techniques that exist in our country.
01:30These techniques were used as a means of expression to create works of art.
01:39Although it is true that this technique was once used to make clothing accessories,
01:45but the design that existed on it was made from symbols, ideograms,
01:53which have been passed down from generation to generation.
01:57On another level, we thought it would be better to do other designs which will somehow please today's world.
02:06The word Ndomo in Wambara, it means knowledge. For me, it means the quest for knowledge or the quest for understanding.
02:16When Bubakar started his social enterprise, this former art teacher was focusing on differently abled people.
02:23But when other youths asked to join in, demands urged, leading him to launch a full workshop-based initiative to train underprivileged young men.
02:35Besides the craft, his students also learned about entrepreneurship, responsibility and solidarity.
02:43This is necessary because after production, it is the integration of young people that interests us.
02:50After production, the products are sold. After selling the products, these young people receive money.
02:57But we must not leave this money in their hands to do with as they wish.
03:03This is why we have developed a management system to ensure that these young people can stay in life.
03:12With this system, all young people during the training create works, and these works are sold, for example, in the store.
03:23After the sale, the amount goes to them.
03:26But we do not accept that all this money is used by young people.
03:32We take a portion of this amount, which we keep at our level here, before the end of the training.
03:39And at the end of the training, this retained fund will constitute a working capital fund for the young people.
03:47Using fermented river mud, bark and leaves, apprentices create Pogolan, Mali's iconic mudcloth.
03:56As they transform raw materials into wearables, this talented team is empowered to dream big.
04:03Even though the future didn't often look rosy for some here.
04:08When a young person has successfully completed training, he is able to build, he is able to have a shelter.
04:17That is to say, he is able to have a roof.
04:21He is able to build for himself, then get married.
04:29He prepares for retirement, so to speak.
04:38And after that, he is able to integrate into life as a moderate citizen.
04:46As soon as a young person manages to have all this, we see that he has succeeded in life.
04:53The training is based on Malian culture, which draws on traditional work habits, based on both collective and individual work responsibility.
05:04My vision for the future is that at the level of this country, we try to organize young people based on positive values.
05:16Instead of young people being trained in entrepreneurship individually, they should do so in the form of solidarity, so that they can succeed in life as role models.
05:31For Boubakar and his apprentices, their mod to master story is proof that tradition is the real innovation.
05:39And together, they are bringing the Malian Bogoland from Segu to the world.
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