If you want to see the power of cooperation, just take a look at the Malian community of Timbuktu (pictured) and Dr. Abdel Kader Haidara (pictured), who came together to save nearly 400,000 ancient African texts in the face of Islamic terrorist group Ansar Dine. Of his decision to mobilize his people to save their legacy after Ansar Dine took over, Haidara says, I went to some buildings, administrative offices which were pillaged. I saw lots of important administrative papers all over the town and that really, really shocked me and I thought automatically of the manuscripts because those manuscripts are also made of paper. He and his community ended up moving hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts in metal boxes and ultimately transporting them out of the country to Belgium, where some of them can now be viewed at the Timbuktu Renaissance exhibit in Brussels. Of the exhibit, Haidara explains what can be seen, We chose these manuscripts to show the different subjects in the texts. Here you see two that speak of astronomy. Look at the designs here, Haidara tells RFI as he walks through the display cases. And here is a manuscript that is about mathematics. You see the calculations, the results. And here is one that speaks about human rights. And heres one about philosophy. Excellent work, Haidara and the wider Malian community. Can you imagine all of that knowledge going down the drain? Read more about the ancient texts and our history here: #africaisthebeginning, #africaisthesource, #africastandup https://face2faceafrica/article/timbuktu-ancient-texts
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:00:01 +0000
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