Sogolonbougou

This is a very interesting story narrated by the responsibilities and decisions of two people. The first, Amadou Diarra is an agent for the Service des Eaux et Forets (Forest Service). His job as an agent was to manage the nation’s forests and enforcing the forest protection laws. While enforcing these laws he could either make a tribe/person pay the fine or take a bribe. The next key person is the chief of Sogolonbougou, Djokolo Coulibaly. He also was in a very tough situation. He had to someway figure out how to manage the land available to the village to produce enough crop to keep the villagers fed. In doing so he sometimes had to break some forest service regulations to reach the villages harvest goals, which in return could greatly hurt the tribe if they get caught breaking the laws. Burning of the forest was most commonly the law that the village would break and be fined for. When caught by the authorities the village could either pay roughly $150, the chief could be jailed, or the authorities (Diarra) could be bribed. Since the average income for a Malian was $260, paying the fine would greatly hurt the tribe, sending the chief to jail is out of the question, and in this situation the authorities won’t take a bribe.

This is a very bad situation from the start. Almost every aspect of this situation is bad. The people are poor, the land is of poor quality, and production of foods and materials is getting tougher and tougher.

What are the people of Sogolonbougou to do? They are simply trying to raise enough crop to keep from starving and the Forest Service