An Example of the Best and Worst in Mankind...

So to begin with, these past two weeks in Blendio have been rough. After a trip to the Bamako med office for Michele's Bells palsy, we return to our home to realize that someone broke in and ran off with some of our items. Nothing taken was of any great value, but it is more the thought of someone forcing their way into our home that is the trouble. A small hole was punched into the metal shutter of the smallest window so whomever made it into our house could pull off the inside latch. We had returned on a Sunday, a market day in Niena, when we found the house like this. It was the same day we picked up a package sent to us because someone we do not know admires what we are doing here. I want to send a thankyou to Leslie and your family for your thoughts; I am saddened that other unfortunate events have tried to overshadow your kindness.
The worst part of this whole situation was not directly because of our invasion of privacy; Amadou Diallo, the kindest person in our village to us and our jatigi and caretaker, when he heard of the robbery, came to our house alone and was obviously in so much emotional pain he couldn't stand. I brought him a chair and sat next to him in our enclosed front yard and watched him cry - a Malian man and village elder in a country where even mothers are not supposed to show too much emotion in public when a child dies, crying before me, blaming himself for the robbery because he was supposed to be our care-taker, the one watching over us and making us as comfortable as possible in his village... he has been, time and time again, the single kindest person to us this whole stay in Mali, and it seriously pained Michele and I to watch him blame himself over this. And there wasn't much Michele nor I could say to console him. The Peace Corps during Homestay warned us to keep careful watch over our possessions because if anything happened to them, our host family would blame themselves. Anything major or minor that happens to a guest in this country becomes the blame of the host regardless if the host has done everything right.
Amadou has come by our house sparingly since. He seems to be doing better but has been occupied with his family. Several times the past 2 weeks he has travelled to a neighboring village with two of his children for foot problems. With a medical facility just half a kilometer from his house, Michele and I suspect him of travelling 15km to the next village for traditional superstitious medicine and sorcery as cures.
Michele and I came to Africa because we know people here are in need of help. When I first got here and saw how people did not immediately need my help to go about their daily lives, I didn't know what to make of it. Why was I here if people get by just fine on their own? But now that I have lived here a little longer, some of the more subtle things are beginning to pop up at me. I can't do much to tell people to only go to a doctor rather than sorcerer, but it is so ingrained in their culture that they would never heed what I say. What I can do, is influence them through trust. I can live here and become as much a member of the community as I can, do small projects like creating trash pickup and building soak pits to help make them healthier in small increments. This may or may not inspire them that some change is good and to at least keep an open mind about other things that can benefit them in the end...

As for now, Michele's and my pride is still recovering from the robbery. We live just one day at a time, not knowing whether tomorrow will be a lower point or not. At the moment we have decided to stay in Africa because it seems the right thing to do. I want to thank everyone who reads this for all of the kind support you have given. All the little things you have done have made it somewhat easier for Michele and I. Thank you.