Mali's traditional theater gives psychiatric patients the stage

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — In the courtyard of a psychiatric ward in Mali’s capital, a small group of patients acts out scenes of a village dispute to the beat of a djembe, a traditional West African drum.

One patient, Mamadou Diarra, cries out to another in the Bambara language, mocking: “You don’t know anything! Just nonsense!”

But both break into smiles, and Diarra dances as he continues launching insults at his fellow performer.

The group is taking part in koteba, a traditional form of theater practiced by Mali's largest ethnic group, the Bambara. It mixes acting, singing and dancing and is usually performed in villages as an outlet to work through problems and an open space for satire.

But here at Point G, one of the largest hospitals in Bamako, koteba is also a way of offering support and a sense of community 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 by the World Health Organization. People with mental illnesses are often left without treatment and excluded from society.

Though the use of koteba as therapy hasn't been formally studied, Souleymane Coulibaly, a clinical psychologist at the Point G hospital, said the traditional form of theater is uniquely positioned to help people in the psychiatric ward work through their problems.

“Patients who attend koteba leave the hospital more quickly 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 any kind of theater before. I’ve never danced. But once I started, God gave me the knowledge of these things,” he said.

Adama Bagayoko, 67, the director of the visiting theater troupe, said the weekly performances at Point G are a rare space where patients feel heard and respected.

“We talk to each other, we dance together, we laugh together,” Bagayoko said. “To touch someone shows that we are equal, to listen 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 looked for a way to use Mali’s cultural practices to help people receiving psychiatric care.

The first performance was so effective that patients asked the doctors if the actors could return the next day, he said.

Patients and actors have been meeting for koteba performances every Friday since then.

The koteba performances at Point G unfold 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 any patients who wish to speak.

Because the patients feel at ease, they often tell the actors details about their lives they are not comfortable sharing with their family or doctors, which can help doctors get to the core of any issue they might be dealing with, Bagayoko said.

On a recent Friday, the patients acted out a familiar scene in Mali: A man in a village is accused of stealing. The thief screams and claims he hasn’t stolen anything, while the villagers ask Diarra, playing the village chief, what punishment he deserves.

“Kill him!” Diarra yells amid the screams. But as the angry mob gathers around the man, he escapes and flees.

Bagayoko said the troupe performs other themes proposed by patients including those about women beaten by their husbands, drug problems and alcoholism.

The hospital at Point G is only a short walk from Mali’s political stage — the presidential palace and main military base — where a 2020 military coup has left the country struggling with increased extremist violence and economic hardship. Last month, Islamic militants attacked Bamako for the first time in almost a decade.

But those problems are far away during the koteba 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 for what they are,” Diarra said, laughing, during a break.

Bagayoko chimed in: “Okay, we’ll lighten that load for you.”

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Adama Bagayoko, director of the theater troupe that has been performing with patients at the psychiatric ward of the Point G hospital, stands in the hospital's courtyard in Bamako, Mali, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo)

Mamadou Diarra, right, dances with other patients at Bamako's Point G hospital psychiatric ward in the hospital's courtyard in Bamako, Mali, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo)

Patients at Bamako's Point G psychiatric ward act out scenes at the psychiatric ward of the Point G hospital in Bamako, Mali, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo)

Patients at Bamako's Point G psychiatric ward play instruments in the hospital's courtyard in Bamako, Mali, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo)

Patients at Bamako's Point G psychiatric ward act out scenes at the psychiatric ward of the Point G hospital in Bamako, Mali, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The fabric roof over the home of baseball's Tampa Bay Rays was ripped to shreds after Hurricane Milton came ashore in Florida on Wednesday night, bringing wind gusts exceeding 100 mph and flooding parts of the state.

It was not immediately clear if there was damage inside Tropicana Field, located in St. Petersburg. Television images showed the swaths that serve as the domed building’s roof were completely tattered, giving a clear line of sight to the lights that were on inside the stadium.

The Rays’ stadium was not being used as a shelter, but the Tampa Bay Times reported that it was being used as “a staging site for workers” who were brought to the area to deal with the storm’s aftermath. The Rays had previously announced that they were “working with state and local emergency management partners ... to aid efforts for debris removal.”

The stadium opened in 1990 and initially cost $138 million. It was due to be replaced in time for the 2026 season with a $1.3 billion ballpark.

An NBA preseason game in Orlando between the Magic and the New Orleans Pelicans, scheduled for Friday, was canceled even before Milton hit the state. The game will not be rescheduled.

Orlando was playing at San Antonio on Wednesday night and was scheduled to return to central Florida on Thursday. Those plans are now in flux because of the storm, which made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida. It forced the airports in Orlando and Tampa to close and it wasn't clear when it would be safe for the Magic to return home.

“There's always things bigger than the game of basketball and that's what we have to keep our perspective on,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Knowing that there's families and homes and situations that are going through a tough time right now, we need to be mindful of that and conscious of it.”

The Magic-Pelicans game is the second NBA preseason matchup to be affected by Milton. A game scheduled for Thursday in Miami between the Heat and Atlanta Hawks was postponed until Oct. 16 because of storm concerns. Also called off earlier this week: a rescheduled NHL preseason game on Friday in Tampa between the Lightning and Predators — one that was originally set to be played last month and was postponed because of Hurricane Helene.

“Stay safe Florida!” former Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos, who is entering his first season with Nashville, posted on social media Wednesday. “Thinking about all the amazing people in the Tampa area right now.”

Countless college and high school events in Florida also have been canceled or postponed because of the storm.

For now, two planned exhibitions by Simone Biles and other Olympic gymnasts — part of the “Gold Over America Tour," the acronym not coincidentally spelling out GOAT in a nod to Biles' status as the consensus Greatest Of All-Time in the sport — this weekend are still on. The tour is scheduled to come to Sunrise, the home of the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, on Friday and then move to Orlando on Saturday.

Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida, which is north of Miami, is scheduled to resume live racing on Friday. Saturday's college football game with Cincinnati going to Orlando to face UCF is still on, and the Memphis-South Florida game in Tampa was rescheduled earlier this week to be played Saturday.

UCF and USF officials have both said further decisions will be made, if necessary, after the storm damage is evaluated.

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Wind-driven rain soaks a street in downtown Tampa, Fla., during the passage of Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Chris Nation, of Commerce, Ga., climbs a tree and gestures while hanging out with coworkers outside the hotel where they are riding out Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. Nation, who works for a towing company, was deployed with colleagues to Florida to aid in the aftermath of the storm. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Max Watts, of Buford, Ga., walks in the parking lot to check on a trailer parked outside the hotel where he is riding out Hurricane Milton with coworkers, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. Watts, who works for a towing company, was deployed with colleagues to Florida to aid in the aftermath of the storm. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Tourists exit the Disney Springs entertainment complex before the arrival of Hurricane Milton Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)