To my family and friends, Timbuktu is a city of myth and fable. Not many people seemed to know that it is indeed a real place; some did not know that it is in Africa. Only librarians seemed to know that it is a real place, and almost all librarians knew the significance of the place.
In the picture above, mosques in the area are all centuries old.
Timbuktu is a town in Mali, in the North West of Africa. Its current population stands at 45 000 people, according to my self-appointed guide, who introduces himself as Ali Baba. It derives its legendary reputation from the riches the Emperor Mansa Musa displayed in Cairo on his way to Mecca in the 14th Century, and the description of the opulence of the royal court by Leo Africanus from Grenada in Spain who visited Timbuktu in the 16th Century. During the 18th Century, the mystery Timbuktu held for the West resulted in an explorer’s charge. Few returned. René Caillié was the first to do so in 1830. For a very long time however, going to Timbuktu was synonymous with going to the ends of the earth.
Part of its mystery is its isolation, even today. It sits on the edge of the desert where there used to be arteries of the Niger River. It may be less isolated today, but it is still a difficult place to reach. I could only confirm my flight into and out of Timbuktu once in Bamako, Mali’s capital. I left Cape Town late Saturday, 25 November 2006, without having any confirmed bookings for Timbuktu.
Today, Timbuktu is famed for its riches, not of gold, but of manuscripts dating back to when the Sankore Mosque doubled as a University in the 15th Century. It reputedly had up to 25 000 students studying there in the 16th Century.
I decided to go to Timbuktu shortly after I won the LIASA SABINET Online Librarian of the year Award. It was sheer good fortune that the SA Conservationists were to visit Timbuktu again shortly.
Although I go to visit primarily the Ahmad Baba Centre, I do see some of the private family libraries. The South African Timbuktu Manuscripts project came about as a result of the visit by President Thabo Mbeki to Timbuktu in 2001, to the Ahmad Baba Centre which had been working to preserve the manuscripts. I meet up with SA conservationists, Alexio Motsi, Mary Minicka and Ossie Cupido. This is their third visit to Timbuktu. Most of the work they are doing involves the training of Malian personnel in conservation and preservation methods. The work they can do in the current Ahmad Baba Centre is hampered by the lack of a proper conservation laboratory. Hence the Ahmad Baba Centre Building project.
In the picture above, clay bricks lay drying in the sun.Clay bricks and limestone are the materials used to build in Timbuktu, the roads are still sand and many of the houses have maintained the tradition of a ground level floor of sand. This means that the environment is very sandy; together with the heat and Timbuktu’s location on the edge of the desert makes conservation here a challenge. The humidity during the summer months exacerbates matters. Fortunately, I visit during winter.
The first order of business for the SA conservationists is to prevent further deterioration of the manuscripts. The Malians were therefore trained to create customised boxes for each of the manuscripts. The boxes create a micro-climate preventing exposure to the elements. Ossie Cupido, from the National Library, designed a special box to house single leave manuscripts, which can also be used for exhibition purposes.
On this visit the SA team introduces acid free paper in which to fold the manuscript itself. Because of the environment, the standard white gloves had to be discarded as they pick up the dust and become sandpaper for the manuscripts. The acid free paper is made in South Africa by former homeless people, an off-shoot from this project. The leather used to make new covers for the manuscripts is supplied by local craftsman. The project therefore really is a case of Africa helping Africa.
The Ahmad Baba Centre has 25, 000 manuscripts, according to the deputy director of the Centre, Dr Dahama; of which 9,000 had been catalogued and published in 6 volumes by the Al Furqan Foundation. The subjects vary from medicine, physics, mathematics, religion, astronomy and astrology, to jurisprudence and social practice.
Currently they are working on digitizing and cataloguing the collection for uploading to a Website.
I meet Shaied Mathee, researcher from University of Cape Town (UCT), looking at the social issues of the day. He is looking at the fatwas as an indicator for issues of the 16th century. He is also selecting 60 manuscripts for exhibition in South Africa early in 2007.
I also visit five private family collections. The most well organised and established is the Mama Hadeira Memorial Library, Sayyuti Library and the Kati Fondo Library. The Mama Hadeira Library is the family collection of Abdul Kader Hadeira, previous director of the Ahmad Baba Centre. They have 9000 manuscripts in their collection. Imam Sayyuti shows me to where his collection is also being catalogued. The Kati Fondo Library traces its origins back to the Spanish. Three of the family collections are not yet set up into an organised library. The local manuscripts expert, Hamou Mahamane, says there are countless manuscripts in Timbuktu and some families may not even be aware that there are manuscripts hidden in their houses.
There are seven schools in the area. Their education system is based on the French model, with a primary, middle and high school. Unlike in the rest of Mali, I think the literacy rate here is high. I find to my surprise, considering that Mali does not have public libraries, a school library, well organised and set up by a retired teacher at the Second Cycle Yehia Alkaya Ibrahim School. I tell the headmistress that her pupils are very fortunate to have a library. There are many in South Africa that do not. Both the students and teachers use the library and have to pay an annual fee to borrow books.
Of course I also visit the three historic mosques in Timbuktu. The Djenguereber built in 1327, still in use today, but under restoration by UNESCO. The Sankore Mosque already mentioned and right next to the site of the new Ahmad Baba Centre, and finally the Sidi Yahya Mosque built in the 1400. The architecture of the mosques is all in the Soudanese style and built with mud, bricks and limestone. There are also 333 grave sites of revered saints scattered throughout Timbuktu.
As I sit in the courtyard of the Bouctou, the oldest hotel in Timbuktu, I am constantly accosted by Touareg Arabs selling their silverware and camel leather ware, the latter made by the women of the tribe. I also visit the crafts centre where you will find people practicing the various trades and selling their wares.
A private family collection. The family is of Morrocan descent. Testifying to the diversity of Mali's scholars.Dr Shamil Jeppie, historian and head of the UCT Timbuktu Manuscripts Project, says that “Timbuktu is a tough place but a visit there can be very rewarding”
I have to agree wholeheartedly.
Fatima Darries
January 2007
