Only in Africa

Mali is a difficult place. Strange things happen often that make me wonder if I am on another planet altogether, but sometimes I hear about things that make me happy to be a Peace Corps Mali volunteer, as opposed to being in another country. For example, take this headline from freedomnewspaper.com:

Gambia Detains US Peace Corps Volunteer, and Six Other Environmental Staff

Detainees Accused Of “ Undermining President Jammeh’s” Illegal Sand Mining Activities

You can read the whole story here. 

It seems that a Peace Corps environment volunteer, and the Gambians he was working with, stood up to the wrong illegal sand-mining operation. He accidentally targeted one that was being run by the President! So the President of course had only one option- to arrest the Peace Corps volunteer and his colleagues! If you're not picking up on the absurdity here, I don't know how else to spell it out for you...

Today I'm okay with being in Mali, where I'm not going to be arrested for NOT doing something illegal.