Backbreaking And Mind Stifling

There was a photograph in the Columbus Dispatch newspaper of a girl carrying firewood for long miles across a desert somewhere in Africa, and it reminded me of the women in Mali, West Africa whom I saw working, always working to maintain their mud-brick homes and their desert-like fields. (Frankly, I rarely saw Malian men working, perhaps they worked inside where it was cooler, perhaps they did not work.)

With the newspaper photograph as my model I painted this watercolor of a Malian girl gathering firewood to cook her family's evening meal instead of getting an education as all little girls should be able to do. I did not anticipate posting my painting on this website so I did not retain the name of the source photographer. However, just like that photographer probably had hope, I too have hope that my painting speaks in some small way for girls and women in Africa who are doing the backbreaking and mind stifling work to keep life there going.

Caption: Malian Girl Gathers Firewood Instead of an Education

watercolor by Annmarie Throckmorton 1990