Saturday 22 June 2013

Mali 21

Yesterday we completed our mission... almost. It was the final distribution day at Sogoniko, where we assisted another 90 households with items to help them during their displacement. The 265 households that we have worked with in this way represent thousands of individuals (just yesterday, one household had 40 members, one 35, another 34 and another 29!).

We were ably assisted by seven great assistants from Sogoniko Corps, including the Corps Officers, Lts Joall and Ella (who incidentally complete five years service today and are promoted to |Captain).

It was hot (so what's new) and there were a few obstacles to overcome (not least of which was a lack of power at the Corps), but we got there in the end. I think the hardest part was recognising the number of displaced people that we haven't been able to help. In Bamako alone there are 9000 households that are looking after displaced people, totaly between 75,000 and 77, 000 individuals that need help either to stay, or eventually return home to the north.

From now until Thursday when I start the long journey home (I don't actually arrive in Adelaide until late Sunday night - via Paris, London and Dubai) we still have much work to do. There is some remaining stock that we need to sort, there are reports to write and there is the never ending bookkeeping to finalise.

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