Not an Africa in DC topic, but worth a post that I hope readers will reflect on, as symbolically, the following event has resonated in a very poignant manner with me.
Four French hostages, who were seized in Niger, a month after I concluded Peace Corps service there, were released yesterday. When I think of all that has transpired in my life since leaving the Sahel in August 2010, all I can say is that these men went through a very long ordeal. I probably don’t have quite the level of appreciation for my life that the former hostages do now, but it certainly does hammer home to me how precious the here and now is.
In addition to that, two French citizens and nationals were abducted (and subsequently killed) from a restaurant in Niamey that I frequented while in Niger’s capital city.
Africa in DC 
DEFINITE MOMENT FOR REFLECTION