Long Overdue...

I've been absent from my blog for WAY too long!  The past few weeks have been a total whirlwind.  I finally received my shipment (most of it) from Mali, about 1 1/2 months late.  I'm not complaining...there was one point where I didn't think I was going to receive it at all. With everything going on in Mali right now, my pillows and bags didn't seem so important.  Since the coup  in March there is still no central government (outside of the junta) and the islamist rebels in the North have basically taken over an area the size of France and imposed harsh rules.  The images in the Times this week of refugee camps in Bamako are heart breaking.  Something needs to happen, Mali cannot be the next Afghanistan (which it seems like it is going in that direction)!

Here is a blurb from an email I received this morning from my sewing group in Bamako regarding obtaining more threads to finish my pouches (which have almost sold out:)):

"He bough the threads we had but went to see his family and will be back on Monday. It is very difficult to find him by phone as the village is on the area of the rebels.  There is no service..."

A simple, straight to the point email that shows the harsh realities of their daily lives.  Lives that I am honored to be a part of...