Neighbors house collapsed!

Monday July 18, 2011 House Collapse! Just the other day, we had another one of those horrible Malian thunderstorms we've come to know here. There was a LOT of water running down the mountain and down the end of our wall here. A little while after the storm had subsided, there was a pretty loud noise from outside our wall. At first, we thought it might have been another rock explosion from the men that are chipping away at a large stone slab on the side of the hill just beyond our base. But we could see no residual smoke, and we could see no one out there working. Then we heard a second explosion, or maybe I should say 'implosion'. I saw a little cloud of dust rising just beyond our east wall, and we soon learned what was the cause of the noise. Two walls of the house of one of our nearest neighbors had collapsed. It was made of mud brick and apparently there was a leak that had deteriorated the structure. By the time we'd learned what had happened, there were already several neighbors helping pick out belongings and salvaging what could be saved. A speedy response for a neighbor in distress. No one was seriously injured, thank God, but it is quite a loss to that family, as you can imagine. The man living there owns a grinding mill that was attached to this house, a newer construction but still of mud brick. Our cooks go there to have the millet grain ground into flour for breakfast porridge, or for “ko” for dinner. Ko is the millet version of what we knew as “nsima” in Zambia. It would remind you of (slightly green) cornmeal mush that you might be familiar with in Pennsylvania, or a thick version of grits, for you southerners. Since the incident, I've heard the grinder still working everyday. Thankfully his business wasn't ruined as a result of it, and he still has a means of income. The next day Paul went over to offer the use of our wheelbarrows and man labor to help clean up the debris. They thanked him for offering, but there wasn't much more to do. He, servant that he is, stayed to help by himself, and came back a while later. We will keep our ears open to hear what else we might do to help.