Today I treated a refugee from Mali, and my heart hurt because I thought of the millions like him in the world.

And I felt very depressed and had the urge to apply again and volunteer with the NGO.

But I have loved ones now who count on me. I won't be only risking my own life and plans. And I am not sure an intention from desperation and despair is wise. I might relapse into the mental state I suffered for years, unable to accept helplessness.

I am sad for anyone who doesn't have the resources I have, the love, the hope and the care. And I wish I could fix it. I wish there was a way to absorb all the hurt in this cruel world.

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LeopoldBloom · M

I used to live there. What part of Mali is he from?

Miram · 31-35, F

@LeopoldBloom He came from the north but that's not necessarily his origin. Why did you live in Mali?

LeopoldBloom · M

@Miram I was in the Peace Corps. I lived about 60 miles south of the capital.

The north is where all the fighting is. I can't imagine why someone would go there unless that's where they were from. Do you happen to know his ethnicity or what his native language is?

Miram · 31-35, F

@LeopoldBloom

If you been in peace corps, i think you are already aware that there were outsider people before the crisis who lived there already, kidnappings happen and people cross to Northern countries from their sub saharan countries through Mali. He seems to speak bobo and bit of Tamazight lingua. I am half touareg. I don't think he is from the north originally.

LeopoldBloom · M

@Miram I was there in the late 1980s. At the time, there was still a great deal of bitterness in the northern part of the country, where after independence, the people in that area attempted to secede and were brutally put down by the central government. Once you get north of Mopti, it feels more like northern than sub-saharan Africa.

Interesting combination, by the way. Bobo are mostly in the southeast while Amazigh or Tuareg are in the north. I was in the southwest which was mostly Bambara with a few Fulani, Senoufo, and Dogons that the Catholic Church had moved there.