Timbuktu,
Mali
Sister City since 1991
City Coordinator - Sue Lofgren
This remote city with an
incredibly alluring mystique is not a figment of the
imagination, although its name conjures up thoughts of
legend and a hundred heart stopping adventures. Timbuktu
has been Tempe’s sister city since 1991 when the
affiliation was approved by both city councils. Located on
the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, fourteen kilometers
from the northernmost loop of the Niger River, Timbuktu has
great appeal for tourists, especially those interested in
history. Indeed, tourism is one of the leading industries
of the city and is becoming increasingly important to its
remaining thirty thousand residents. In addition, this
city, dating back to the eleventh century, has always been
and still is an important trading post due to its proximity
to the Niger River.
Over the years the river has changed course several times
leaving Timbuktu "high and dry". There was a great drought
period during the 1980's, which decimated much of the
population of Timbuktu and the surrounding Tuaregs
(nomads). Many of the surviving Tuaregs lost their entire
herds of camels and cattle and became squatters in and
around the city.
Today, water is still very precious to the survival of the
area and must be carried by pails to most homes and
supplied to small vegetable plots by hand irrigation.
Additional wells to provide water for agriculture and
domestic uses are a priority, and the Tempe Sister City
organization has come to its sister city's aid. We have
completed four working wells and have committed to
providing three more wells in the city.
Another great need of Timbuktu that is vital to its
continued survival is the education of the youth. The
schools are working to provide basic education needs for
all, while lack of facilities, teachers and supplies
continue, resulting in elementary grades having up to one
hundred twenty or more children in one classroom.
The official language of Timbuktu is French, but various
other national languages are also spoken. The major
industry today is the production of beautiful Mali cotton
cloth and traditional clothing articles. All farming,
mainly for local food supply and totally dependent on the
Niger River's water supply, is done on the outskirts of the
city near the river and along the flood plain. As a result
of the great drought, livestock production is now limited
to goats, chickens and a few sheep.
The city itself is a web of narrow streets twisting around
two-and-three-story adobe houses with huge ornamental
wooden doors. An integral part of the cultural heritage of
this city, which in the eleventh century was one of the
most famous sites of Islamic scholarship, is the three
famous mosques. The oldest and most famous of which is the
Djingueber Mosque, dating from the early fourteenth century
and providing a magnificent bird’s-eye view of the
town.