I can barely believe it. Soon, all this campaigning will come to a culmination. On election Day, we hope that the people of Mali will choose someone who truly cares about them and wants to fight to improve their lives. July 29th is fast approaching. Our volunteers are spread out. Yeah and his executive team are hitting big cities at home and in neighboring countries where huge populations of Malians reside. We are in a race against time!

THE ARTISANS COMMIT THEIR SUPPORT

One of the biggest commercial areas in Mali is the handicraft market in the capital city of Bamako. Any visitor who comes visits this hub of talent to find everything and anything Malian. We have been great supporters of these talented artists whose livelihood depends on their ability to sell their art, jewelry, and other handicrafts. This past week, the artisans of Bamako came out in numbers to support Yeah and hold an event in the middle of the market.
Yeah’s presidential project includes providing government support for the artist in Mali to grow as they are a vital part of the touristic appeal of the country.

CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH WEST MALI

Our team headed South-west to the region of Kayes. Kayes is the second most populated region in Mali. Over dusty, pot-filled roads, and ten hours later our team was welcomed with great excitement in the very populated commune of Yelimane in Kayes. Yeah met with the village elders and also spoke at a big campaign rally that was held to welcome him.

TEAM SAMAKE SPREADS ITS REACH

Yeah and our team are energized as they campaign even harder. Here’s a snapshot of all our supporters on the campaign trail these last few days:

9 days to go!! Its amazing to watch the excitement surrounding our campaign that continues to build day after day. We are fighting hard against the old corrupt politics that has swallowed Mali since independence. Our resources are dwindling fast as we fight against the politicians whose campaigns are running on stolen money from our country. But we will not give up! Team Samake is fired up to change a nation!!

GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGNING

Our youth volunteers have taken the city and villages by storm. Since public campaigning opened, our teams have been canvassing the markets and populated areas. Their message is simple yet essential. When July 29th comes around, the only man who can change Mali and who has a proven track record is Yeah Samake. Our message for this campaign is : Let us take control of our common destiny. Malians want change. However, many believe they are condemned to poverty and corruption and ineptitude of our leaders is a norm. We are fighting to change that by showing them a better option of a man who did not wait to become a politician to bring change. Schools, Agriculture, Healthcare–these sectors have already seen great changes through Yeah.

If we are to maintain our current energy and campaign we need to raise much needed funds. We need your support and donations. The end is in sight.

Today please invest $100 or what you can so we can bring our message of change to every corner of Mali.

There are several ways you can donate.

• Online donations can be made at www.yeahsamake.com
• Checks can be mailed to YeahForMali, 10412N Oak Circle, Highland, UT 84003
• Direct Deposit to Bank Account:
  Wells Fargo Account number: 9974633167 Name: YEAH FOR MALI, Routing Number: Direct Deposit – 124002971, Wire Transfers – 121000248

Heralded by a host of motorcycles, Yeah received a warm and grandiose welcome in his city of Ouelessebougou. Village chiefs and their council traveled from many kilometres from their villages to come celebrate their candidate for President. Yeah’s ancestor was the founder of Ouelessebougou, his father a respected Muslim leader and next in line as the Chief of the Village and as Mayor of Ouelessebougou for 6 years, Yeah has brought many positive changes like running water, solar panel fields, a major hospital, a high school and reopened a cotton plant. Our people have seen his impact in just the first three years of governance and this grand event was a testament of people’s faith in Yeah’s leadership and what he can bring to all of Mali as President. There was music. There was dancing. Muslim leaders and the leaders of the Christian faith both spoke their support of Yeah. The current Mayor, who is not even from our party, called on his constituents to support Yeah. When Yeah spoke, he encouraged the people that it was time for Malians to take control of their own destiny and choose a leader who could actually bring change. He pointed out that the leaders of old and even the current President have not been able to improve the lives of the 65% of Malians living in the villages and that today more than ever, our people remain uneducated, unemployed, poor and destitute with no end in sight to their misery.

It was amazing to see the support and love the people of Ouelessebougou showered on Yeah. We know that if given the chance Yeah can be the change for good that every Malian needs.

SAMAKE PRESIDENTIAL PLATFORM RELEASED

Yeah presents his Presidential Projects to Members of the media

MEDIA BLITZ

One of the key parts of the campaign during these last weeks before the elections is an opportunity for candidates to share a personal message with voters on National TV. Each candidate gets to share one campaign message each week on National TV. This past week, we had our talented friends Travis Pitcher and his team ( who did our last campaign videos) from Utah jump on the campaign trail in Mali to record and create our messaging for this election.

Our first video played this last Monday on national TV and it was an amazing hit!! Around the country, we had people calling our local team leaders and campaign HQ and signing on to campaign for Yeah in their areas. Why was this video a hit? Most of the candidates had videos showing their candidate simply speaking. Our video highlighted stories of actual beneficiaries that have been impacted by Yeah’s work in the fields of education and agriculture. Take a listen:

TEAM SAMAKE SPREADS ITS REACH

Our team is energized as they campaign even harder in the many distant rural areas of Mali. Here’s a snapshot of all our supporters on the campaign trail this past week:

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT APPROVES SAMAKE CANDIDACY

As May continues, our party leaders including Yeah headed to the remote areas in Mali. Much of Mali’s population resides in these rural villages. There are about 18000+ villages in Mali, many of which are accessible by only dirt roads.

It has been a busy time for Team Samake! In addition to visiting many villages, our efforts have been focused getting  our youth enthused.

VISIT TO BONKORO 

In May, Yeah and his delegation headed to the village of Bonkoro which is in the commune of Beleko. Bonkoro is only accessible by very bumpy dirt roads. While in Bonkoro, Yeah visited with the chief of the village. While in Bonkoro, the villagers gathered in large numbers to hear Yeah discuss his vision and his bold plan for a better Mali.

YEAH4MALI SOCCER CUP 

The youth leaders of our party headed to Senou where they participated in hosting the Yeah Samake football cup. The event marked the opening of 3 weeks of competition between the different football clubs of Senou. Football events are a great way to engage our youth and it gives our youth leaders a chance to share about Yeah’s mission to build a better Mali for all our youth that will provide better opportunities and jobs for them. Currently Mali’s unemployment is a steep 35%+ and there is a lack opportunities for our youth.

Before the match Yeah had an opportunity to share his vision for Mali with the youth of Senou. We are blessed to have such a great team of youth leaders in all the areas of Mali that share our plans on how Yeah can build a better Mali.

YOUTH VOLUNTEERS COMMIT

The highlight of our visits and meetings this past week culminated in a meeting that was held for the youth. Despite the rains, 200+ youth leaders, from the 6 communes of the main city of Bamako, gathered at the party headquarters to hear Yeah speak. Hearing of all that Yeah has done for Mali and the potential of what he can achieve for the youth, they committed to devoting their time and efforts to spread the word about Yeah in their own communities and social groups. This is huge!! The waterfall impact of this could be a wider reach of Yeah’s message to different communities that these youth work and live in.

The reach of our message of service as leadership change is growing. Popular support for Yeah is growing faster than party organization. This month we opened new regional offices in the main city of Segou, Senou and Sirakoro in the Sikasso region.

Additionally, Yeah is constantly on regional and national radio and on TV talking about his platform and sharing his message with the people of Mali.

We are making leaps and bounds reaching the far corners of Mali.  Yeah is one of the only candidates that was actually born and brought up in the rural areas. So he is familiar with the conditions that 80% of Malians have lived in for the last 58 years. He understands what it means to not have enough to eat, what it means to not have a job after graduation, what it means to support a big family. Here is a candidate who understands what a majority of the Malian people are suffering from because he himself has been through all the conditions that besiege ordinary Malians. Here is a Malian who has turned his own community of 55,000+ people and hopes to share its success with all Mali.

I believe he is the man Mali desperately needs.

May is only midway through and we are already off to such a great start.

In May, Yeah visited the neighboring countries of Ghana and Senegal. These two West African countries are home to many voting Malians who work or go to school in these countries.

In the first week of May, Yeah headed down to Accra, Ghana to visit with key Ghanaian government officials and Malian student leaders. Yeah was received by the Vice President of Ghana, H.E Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. During this visit, they exchanged on the need for both Mali and Ghana to collaborate on bigger regional projects in the field of transport, energy, agriculture and especially security.  The speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, the Honorable Aaron Mike Oquaye also hosted Yeah and his delegation at his residence for a special lunch in his honor. It was a great opportunity for Yeah to meet these leaders in Ghana and share his fresh perspectives on regional integration for a brighter future in Africa. Yeah finally met with the leaders of the association of students and trainees. He shared his vision for a successful Mali. We have always believed that Mali’s future lies with its youth and we have encouraged the youth to take a more important role in leadership opportunities within their communities. Yeah emboldened the community of young Malians in Ghana with his vision that with integrity he would turn Mali around into a success story.

A few days later, Yeah went to Senegal. Senegal and Mali have always shared a colonial history which brought a common link between our cultures and food. Mali and Senegal were once integrated as the Federal Republic of Mali. We have a great number of Malians who reside Senegal for business and trade, but also students. Yeah was received by our party supporters in Dakar, Senegal. Since he was only there for an overnight visit, his schedule was jam packed as he met with supporters and Malians tired of the old way of politics. While in Dakar he met with the elders of the Malian community in Senegal and their counselors.  The elder acts as a patriarch and guide that holds and helps individuals of the Malian community. They were amazed and happy to hear of the concrete actions taken by Yeah to help our people and communities in Mali and gave him their blessing for success. Yeah was then welcomed by the union of leaders of the Malian union of truck drivers. He listened to all their concerns and answered their questions. Many of these workers have become a forgotten people running into many troubles with passport and id issues and receiving no help.

Everywhere we go, the complaint remains the same. People are tired of the old style of corrupt leadership. They are tired that their local and central government cannot find a solution and are quick to pass them on.

We can offer them a fresh leadership. One that is based on results and creating efficient government systems that serve our people. There is only one man for that job and that is Yeah!!

This past weekend, we were excited to lead a 10-person strong delegation to share our vision in Segou, one the ten regions of Mali. Through two days, we visited the remote villages of Koila, Maraka Koungo and Konobougou. These events were covered by the national Mali TV Channel, other TV channels, radio and print media.

The Segou region represents 15.06 percent of the electorate with a population of 1,029,000 people, and is located 240km from the main city of Bamako. While the main city is well invested in by the central government, the surrounding villages remain poor and have limited access to quality education, healthcare and running water.

Our team first stopped in the villages of Maraka Koungo and Konobougou. There we met with many villagers and spoke about our party PACP and our hopes for a new Mali run with sound principles and good governance. We also inaugurated the first regional headquarters of the party in the region of Segou. Our party PACP is fast spreading our reach into the different regions of Mali! Yeah, accompanied by his party members, also visited the traditional and religious leaders of Segou.

The high point of our tour was when we visited the remote village of Koila. It was a historic moment as Koila welcomed the first presidential candidate in its history. Koila is a village accessible by its dusty, bumpy roads and is about 2.5 hours from the main city of Segou and a further 4.5 hours from the capital city. The village does not have access to electricity or running water and the villagers reside in mud huts.

As we headed towards the village, hundreds of supporters on motorcycles escorted our delegation to the village. We received gun salutes as our procession rolled in and Yeah waved to his party supporters from the car. The villagers turned out in droves to hear Yeah speak. The village leaders spoke about the challenges that they were facing, especially in the areas of healthcare and education. Currently, the children of Koila do not have a middle school and the mothers of the village do not want their children to walk the deserted rural roads to the nearest village. The result is that many of the children of the village do not have an education greater than the 6^th grade.  As Yeah spoke, he promised the people of Koila that he would work hard to get a middle school built in Koila because he believed that education was their right. He spoke of his commitment to help Koila fulfil their basic needs and related his own story of his life in America, our foundation Empower Mali, and what he was able to accomplish as a Mayor and Ambassador. After the event, we visited the maternity clinic and the main clinic. It was heartbreaking to visit these facilities. These could barely be called functioning. The equipment was basic and almost non-existent. There was one nurse for the main center and a midwife for the maternity center. Both emphasized a deep need for working equipment but especially for medicines. The pharmacy was almost empty. These were local government run facilities that were functioning with nothing because it seemed as if they were forgotten. Their patients had to endure no medicine and minimal preventative care. Yeah spoke emphatically against this and committed to help Koila get the necessary help they needed and especially the medicines for the population.

Koila like so many villages in Mali speak about the harsh realities that face many of our Malian brothers and sisters. Mali should not be condemned to this mediocrity. Mali is not a poor country but rather one that is suffering from bad decisions and bad governance. I truly believe that Yeah can turn this around. Yeah has the ability to make the difference.

It was such a joy to meet and visit the people of Koila, Maraka Koungo and Konobougou!! Great things are happening on the Samake2018 trail. Hope is alive and the people are desperately searching for change. We believe Yeah Samake will be that change.