I Spoke Too Soon

6. My purse, with everything important that I own inside, was stolen last night.

Enough Already

Because it is too much to go into detail about, I am going to list the horrible things that have happened since my last update:

1. A volunteer was stabbed in her sleep in the jaw, barely missing her jugular.
2. The parent of a volunteer died in her sleep of unknown causes.
3. Two volunteers were hit by motorcycles (of which I was one).
4. A newly-installed volunteer was gored by a bull walking down the street.
5. All of the Timbuktu volunteers (they were the first volunteers to serve there in over 10 years) were evacuated days after their installation due to a perceived threat to Americans in the North.

The list doesn't seem that long when I see it printed out like this, but it has taken it's toll on all of us. Luckily the injured volunteers are doing well, and none are expected to end their service. But I would like the person that put a curse on our program to please remove it. We have had enough trials in two months to last us a lifetime.

In other news the president of Mali has paid for a cloud-seeding project to improve rainfall throughout the country. Cloud-seeding involves shooting chemicals or ice crystals into clouds in order to force them to produce rain. Unfortunately all of the rains came too late to do any good in my village, and most of them didn't have enough volume to have any lasting effects anyway. But the storms did blow the roof off of my porch and uproot the only shade tree in my yard, so I'm very grateful for the effort.

So after all of this good news, it only makes sense to tell you that I am thinking of extending my service by six months. I guess I am a glutton for punishment. Even after all of this nonsense, Peace Corps still seems like the best thing that I could be doing at the moment, and I selfishly want to see my projects finished. This could change, but at the moment I feel good about my decision. So it is still not too late to book that Malian vacation you have always wanted to take. I am wide open after January, and would love to have some guests. I can't guarantee stabbings or bull-gorings, but I could easily arrange for a motorcycle hit-and-run as part of your vacation highlights. Sign up now, as I'm sure spots will fill up fast.