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Well, I had all of these great plans for posts on life in Somo – things about sunrises, my kneecaps, coming home to all of my plants being dead after a week of language training in San because no one in my silly family remembered to water them, becoming a Malian farmer (yes, I did harvest peanuts. And eat my weight in them).
Plans have changed a little, though, and as much as I will get to all of those topics, I’ve been thrown on a bit of a different track for a while. Currently, I’m in Bamako for an undisclosed amount of time, resting up and…well…waiting. And eating. I’ve had to leave my site because of a rather disturbing security issue, and am dealing with medical and administrative personnel to get everything straightened out. I’m doing fine, and appreciate the concerns of everyone I’ve heard from.
While I don’t want to go into details about what happened, I will be changing sites, which is why I’m waiting here for a week or so. I have absolutely no idea where I’ll end up, or what I’ll end up doing (doubly difficult because I learned a minority language…There are only about two options for Bomu speaking towns in the first place), but while I’m waiting I’ll be going on a technical exchange with another volunteer who is working on something I might be interested in. Bee-keeping? Eco-tourism? Permaculture? It’s really rather exciting.
So who knows how long it will be before I figure out what I’m actually doing. But despite a really awful situation, the prospect of new and different is always exciting. All will work out for the best.
And, because I wasn’t able to write about any of the things I wanted to write about before publishing this information, I’ll placate myself with a picture from everyone’s favorite holiday:
Sarah George
Bev Henderson-George
Dad said,
November 4, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Your mother had to explain your costume to me. Duh!
Take it from an old horse trader, hope you can parlay that experience into a very attractive new assignment..
Now that I know you are safe, did you reclaim your belongings?
TTFN, Dad.
Sarah George said,
November 4, 2010 at 8:06 pm
You clearly needed to pay more attention to your Disney movies.
I have not gotten my things because I don’t know where I’ll end up and don’t know if I’ll need to move my extra stuff out of the San house as well. And now that I know that I’m safe, my major concern is that I left without washing my dinner dishes. Maybe the mice living in my hut will have cleaned up by the time I get back.
Beth said,
November 11, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Sarah,
I am frightfully worried about you, and even worse I just got your letter, wrote one back and now have no where to send it. I pray that you are really alright and safe.
Lovingly,
Beth Dabel