Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The End of Michelle in Mali

It is with great sadness that I find myself having to tell you all that I am no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. Instead, I am a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), meaning I have officially completed my Peace Corps service.

As many of you know, Mali experienced a coup d'état about 3 weeks ago - a mere 5 weeks before the next democratic presidential elections were to have occurred. I have a lot to say about this coup, and I hope to write a future post about it, but right now I'll just say that due to the political instability caused by the coup, and the instability in the north of Mali which was enabled by the coup, Peace Corps Mali evacuated the country last Sunday, after 41 years of uninterrupted service. It is an extremely sad time for all of us.

This blog post is for 3 purposes:
1. To let you all know that I am safe.
2. To let you know I am no longer a PCV in Mali.
3. To let you know that this blog isn't finished!! I had a bunch of blogs ready to go when the coup happened - I just hadn't had time to post them yet. I still have some of my story to share. I will post these blogs in the next few weeks once I'm back on my feet somewhere, and I'll also write a little bit about the coup d'état and what's been happening in my life since then. 

Thanks so much for sticking with me and I hope to see you back here over the next few weeks!

Love,
Michelle