Sini Sanuman

The following people are founders or staff of Sini Sanuman,
and all remain active volunteers for Project Stop Excision.

Siaka Traoré, President and Founder
(223) 222 54 50 and (223) 602 14 11, BP E 3885, Bamako, Mali
Siaka_Traorefr@yahoo.fr, SiniSanuman@yahoo.fr (in French)
Siaka Traoré is the founder and president of Sini Sanuman, the sister organization to Healthy Tomorrow, based in Bamako Mali. He has worked as an advocate for Project Stop Excision since 1999. He has organized countless discussions and meetings on his own initiative. Siaka has been a major organizer and he collected the first signatures on the Pledge Against Excision; mobilized friends and associates to collect signatures; identified the first exciser that a relationship was built with; and he continues to meet and educate excisers. Siaka oversees outreach to religious leaders, and he was primarily responsible for influencing Ousmane Cherif Haidara, the leading Muslim preacher in Mali, in favor of the movement. He has met with numerous government officials, and recently enlisted the help of the Director of Justice and the Attorney General of Mali.

Aliou Bah
AlouBafr@yahoo.fr
Aliou Bah did his thesis on female genital cutting. He has worked in the field for 5 years, doing trainings and coordinating youth efforts for AMSOPT (the Malian Association for the Promotion of Good and Reorientation of Bad Traditional Practices), one of our fellow organizations in the movement. A psychologist and educator, he has played a leading role from the beginning of the Pledge, and is a dedicated volunteer who has given countless hours to gaining signatures and converts in the anti-FGC alliance. He has been instrumental in getting city halls to sign on to our program, and has led various meetings and trainings for Sini Sanuman. He has also helped write proposals.

Sadio Sylla Mme. Diallo, Treasurer
Sadio Sylla Mme. Diallo is the treasurer of Sini Sanuman. A nurse who works at a local health center in Bamako, she gathers signatures and speaks with her patients. She has also reached out to the religious community, and she is seeking help from other major Muslim authorities generally resistant to change. She was one of the main inspirations for the Pledge Against Excision, and was at the founding meeting where the idea was born.

Amadou Togo
Amadou Togo, a botanist who was distressed when his family had one of his daughters excised against his wishes, has been campaigning in the cause for a number of years, with his primary group, Holistic Development Africa. He helped set up the non-profit Sini Sanuman and has been essentially focused on contact and mobilization in his native Dogon country, where Sini Sanuman held a meeting to train signature gatherers.

Kadidiatou Maiga
Kadidiatou Maiga, a jurist by training, has helped with contacts with Muslim women and getting signatures from other people.

Susan McLucas, Secretary General
Susan McLucas is secretary general of Sini Sanuman, and director of Project Stop Excision. When in Mali, she coordinates the various activities of different players. She has been the main person doing the artistic work, getting songs written and recorded and getting them played on the radio and TV. She talks to everyone she sees about the project and invites everyone to participate. She also does fund-raising.

Bety Dramé
Bety Dramé is a clerk at a court in Bamako, and is in charge of outreach to schools.

Oumou Mme Diarra
Oumou Mme Diarra is a dressmaker and mother, and she has helped organize Hamdallaye, her neighborhood.

These people, just mentioned, are on the Board of Sini Sanuman. The following people are also key players in the coalition to promote the Pledge Against Excision.

Djeneba Daou, a volunteer health worker at Asacoba health center, has gotten her center to collaborate with the project, collecting signatures and talking to patients. She also invites people to sign outside of the center. One of the men she invited to sign said he couldn't, being a devout Muslim, but after hearing Haidara at Friday prayers one day, he came looking for Djeneba saying he wanted to sign now.

Kaniba Baguya Madame Sacko, a homemaker and member of Susan's host family in Mali, is a major advocate and signature campaigner. She has people who call her up saying they think someone is thinking of excising a girl and that she has to come and talk them out of it, which she does. She has now convinced 7 excisers to stop and some of them have become involved with us in talking to other excisers.

Elie Démbelé began his involvement running a telephone cabin where he invited customers to sign. He has since become a major advocate for Project Stop Excision, gaining signatures and new volunteers who have also become important in our work.

Samou Robert Koné works as a metalworker and has talked to many people about what we're doing. He founded two Project Stop Excision clubs and has convinced four excisers to stop.

Jeremie Kone works at the courthouse in Tomia, an outlying area near Sikasso, where he talked to his colleagues and mobilized action. They collected a few hundred signatures and put a play on, that was broadcast on national TV. The chief doctor for the area did a survey and found one exciser whom they convinced to stop, with financial help from World Vision.

Boubacar Coulibaly lives in Koulikoro, an outlying area not far from Bamako, where he has founded six clubs. They regularly give us lots of signatures and he recently organized a convention bringing all the clubs together; they invited big personalities, like the Police Commissioner, and made plans about how best to coordinate work in their area.

Judge Madame Bah Aminata Traore: women's coordinator for Amnesty International.

Madame Sidibe Kadidiatou Maiga: director of AMSOPT (an important local group in the movement, and the Malian affiliate of the Inter-Africa Committee on Traditional Practices Harmful to the Health of Women and Children).

Madame Urbaine: director of APAF Muso Dambe (Support for the Promotion of Maids/Dignity of Women).