Members of the team included Dwayne Cartmell, project manager and agricultural communications professor at OSU; Shelly Sitton, agricultural communications professor at OSU; Craig Edwards, agricultural education professor at OSU; Jim Hynes of Sam Houston State University in Texas; Terry Clark, University of Central Oklahoma journalism school chair; Rachel Hubbard, news director at KOSU in Stillwater; Rob McClendon, broadcast manager at Oklahoma Horizon in Stillwater; Sam Knipp, communications vice-president at Oklahoma Farm Bureau; and OSU masters’ students Jeremiah Allen and Lora Young.

The Mali project was made possible because of a grant titled “Nurturing the Fourth Estate: Professional Development for Media Specialists in the Republic of Mali, West Africa.” The grant will provide travel and lodging for the Malians selected for the July internship.

The 10 team members had various responsibilities to tend to before the trip, but during the trip there was a common goal.

“While there, all of us had one main job and that was to learn about Malian culture to better understand what a culture shock it will be to bring these individuals here,” Sitton said.

According to the 2005 United Nations Human Development Index, Mali is ranked as the fourth poorest country in the world. With a population of over 13 million people, Mali’s GNI per capita is $380, according to the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s country report. The Oklahoma team members experienced firsthand what life is like in such a poor economy.

“I was struck by the poverty we encountered yet the fact that the people seemed very happy with their lives,” McClendon said. “No one in Mali can afford to be lazy because there are no social services, so you have to make money even if you’re disabled or you’re young or old – everyone works.”

Mali’s constitution was adopted in 1992 and Mali was declared a democracy. According to Sitton, Mali ranks above the United States in how much freedom they have.  

“Not unlike the United States, they have a lot of pride in their country,” Sitton said. “They are very proud of the fact that they are a democracy.”

Malians are still struggling with freedom of the press, however. The team members involved in this project are planning to show the interns what the media is like in the United States with the free press in play.

During the trip, the team members toured different broadcasting stations and met with different journalists and potential interns for the July exchange. They had a full schedule which included time in the country’s capital, Bamako, and in smaller villages.

Team members were shocked when comparing Malian technology to U.S. technology.

“Some things were similar in that their technology was pretty similar,” Hubbard said. “They actually had good technology. It was very underused technology. Computers were what you would see here 10 to 12 years ago.”

Because of Mali’s high adult illiteracy rate of 81 percent, newspapers are unpopular in Mali. Radio is the most common mode of communication in Mali and everyone seems to have them because they are so inexpensive, McClendon said.

According to McClendon, Mali started broadcasting its first television station three years ago. The team members visited a start up cable network called AfricaCable. McClendon said he could see television replacing radio in the next decade.

In addition to radio and television, internet access is also found in Mali. Even small villages have internet cafes, Sitton said. Sitton also noticed many people using cell phones.

Visiting with the Malian people had a meaningful impact on the team members’ lives. Hubbard found the people to be loving and a lot like us. They were curious about the team members and wanted to share their culture with them.

“They were interested in learning about what the United States is like,” Hubbard said. “It is difficult for many of them to travel to our country because they don’t speak English. Most people can’t afford expensive travel because they are so impoverished.”

Several Malian journalists get the chance to experience life in rural America this summer without worrying about travel expenses, however. Instead of visiting one of the popular tourist areas of the United States, these Malians will be in Stillwater, Okla., learning about American journalism.

The selection process for the summer interns was done via four interview teams who asked the candidates a set of questions to find out more about them. 48 potential participants were interviewed and of those interviewed, 16 got chosen for the internships.

“Because Mali is a French speaking country and these participants will be working in American journalism, their English skills were very important,” McClendon said. “We also wanted to have journalists who had a working knowledge of journalism whether in their country or our country. Our hope is that these people will take what they learn here and implement it when they go back home.”

The selected interns will arrive in the United States at the end of June and leave at the beginning of August. They will experience Independence Day in the United States as part of the cultural experience, Sitton said.

Two of the interns will be stationed at KOSU, while others will be studying at Oklahoma Horizon and OSU. The interns at Oklahoma Horizon will be working together on a 30 minute video about the trip, airing on PBS after they leave the United States. The program will air in the United States and Mali.

The project does not end after the Malians go home this summer, though. A group of Oklahomans will be traveling to Mali again in December to do further work on the project.

“What I appreciate about this project the most is that we are helping people who want to be helped, and they’re excited about coming to the United States,” Sitton said. “And for them, that will be the opportunity of a lifetime.” http://mali.okstate.edu/