BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — In the courtyard of a psychiatric ward in the Malian capital, a small group of patients mime scenes from a village dispute to the rhythm of a djembe, a traditional West African drum .
One patient, Mamadou Diarra, calls out to another in the Bambara language, mockingly: “You don’t know anything! This is simply absurd! »
But both smile and Diarra dances while continuing to throw insults at his fellow performer.
The group participates in koteba, a form of traditional theater practiced by Mali’s largest ethnic group, the Bambara. It mixes drama, song and dance and is usually performed in villages as a way of solving problems and an open space for satire.
But here, at Point G, one of the largest hospitals in Bamako, the koteba is also a way to offer support and a sense of belonging to people receiving psychiatric care.
Mali has fewer than 50 mental health professionals for a population of more than 20 million, according to a 2022 report from the World Health Organization. People with mental illness are often left untreated and excluded from society.
Although the use of koteba as therapy has not been formally studied, Souleymane Coulibaly, a clinical psychologist at Point G Hospital, said the traditional form of theater is particularly well placed to help people in the psychiatric ward resolve their problems.
“Patients who attend the koteba leave the hospital faster than those who refuse to attend the theater session,” he said.
In the courtyard, Diarra was the star and other patients gathered as he spoke.
“I’ve never done theater before. I have never danced. But once I started, God gave me the knowledge of these things,” he said.
Adama Bagayoko, 67, director of the visiting theater troupe, said the weekly performances at Point G provide a rare space where patients feel heard and respected.
“We talk to each other, we dance together, we laugh together,” Bagayoko said. “Touching someone shows that we are equal, listening to them shows that they are important and what they say is important.”
Bagayoko was part of a troupe that brought Koteba to the Point G psychiatric ward in 1983, as mental health workers were looking for a way to use Mali’s cultural practices to help people receiving psychiatric care.
The first performance was so effective that patients asked doctors if the actors could come back the next day, he said.
Since then, patients and actors have gathered for koteba performances every Friday.
Koteba performances at Point G take place in three phases, Bagayoko said. First, the troupe plays music to invite patients into the courtyard. Then the troupe asks what the topic or theme of that day’s performance should be. After the performance, they sit in a circle and give the floor to patients who wish to express themselves.
Because patients feel comfortable, they often tell actors details about their lives that they are not comfortable sharing with family or doctors, which can help doctors get to the heart of any problems they might face, Bagayoko said.
One last Friday, the patients acted out a familiar scene in Mali: a man in a village is accused of theft. The thief screams and claims he didn’t steal anything, while the villagers ask Diarra, who plays the village chief, what punishment he deserves.
“Kill him!” Diarra shouts amidst the screams. But as the angry crowd gathers around the man, he escapes and runs away.
Bagayoko said the troupe performs other themes proposed by patients, including those about women being beaten by their husbands, drug problems and alcoholism.
Point G hospital is just a stone’s throw from Mali’s political stage – the presidential palace and main military base – where a 2020 military coup left the country struggling increase in extremist violence and economic difficulties. Last month, Islamist militants attack Bamako for the first time in almost a decade.
But these issues are far away during koteba’s performances at the hospital, as Diarra and his fellow patients are immersed in the world they create.
“You know what my problem is? That I see things as they are,” Diarra said, laughing during a break.
Bagayoko chimed in, “Okay, we’ll lighten that load for you.”
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