Summer Homecoming: When Mali’s Diaspora Braves Hardship to Return

Summer in Mali is never a smooth ride. This year, the backdrop is even darker: armed group attacks are intensifying, and shortages of fuel, electricity, and water shape daily life. Yet at Bamako’s airports, family reunions continue. For the Malian diaspora in France — whether you’re in Paris, Lyon, or Marseille — going home for the holidays is not a luxury; it’s a visceral necessity. Every summer, the same ritual unfolds: pack the bags, prepare the gifts, board the plane with a mix of joy and apprehension. Conversations among expats before departure circle the same questions: “Did you hear what happened in Gao?” “How will you manage the electricity at your mother’s house?” But no one seriously considers canceling. To give up your holiday in Mali would be to give up a part of yourself. This is not recklessness. It is a form of quiet resistance. The Malian diaspora knows the country is going through an unprecedented security and economic crisis. But it also knows that it is precisely in such times that one’s presence matters most. Families wait, villages wait, and the tradition of “vacation back home” remains a pillar of Malian identity, even thousands of miles away. Of course, the difficulties are real. Long lines at gas stations, power cuts that interrupt evening gatherings, dangerous roads. But those who return have learned to adapt. They bring power banks, jerrycans of fuel bought at inflated prices, and a good dose of patience. Because at the end of the journey lies the wa