Who Are Missionaries? (by Thom)

I'm a numbers guy. I like statistics and breaking things down to groups and subsets. With that in mind, I thought it might be interesting to know a few statistics about C&MA missionaries in Mali.
There are 20 missionary units currently assigned to Mali. Of those, 14 are couples and the other 6 are single women, making a total of 34 missionaries in Mali. However, 6 of those couples are on furlough now leaving us with 22 missionaries currently in country.
Missionaries to Mali are a diverse group. We have Americans, a Canadian, a couple where the husband is Chilean and the wife is Costa Rican, Dutch, German, and there's also a short term worker here from Switzerland.
Many of our American missionaries are from a close proximity in the US. We have two families from the same town in Iowa and 3 families and 2 singles from Ohio.
Our work here has grown a lot in the last few years. This is mostly because of the hospital. Of the 20 missionary units 10 of them work at the hospital. That number is likely to keep growing in the next few years as I know more people will be coming soon to join the team.
The hospital opened in 2006 and changed the dynamic of our field quite a bit. Of the 20 missionary units twelve of them have been in Mali for five years or less. However, not all of them are new to Africa. We have recently received missionaries transferring to Mali from Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Niger, and Gabon. Especially Gabon. Two current families have moved here from Gabon and they won't be the last. (The mission has a well-established hospital there and the former missionaries to Gabon offer a great perspective on the new work here).
Many of the missionaries here are new, but the others have quite the tenure here. Of the 8 units that have been in Mali more than 5 years, five of them have been here at least twenty years.
Geographically in Mali we're pretty concentrated. All but 5 of the missionaries currently in Mali live in Koutiala. Two live in a small village and three of us (Amanda, myself and another lady) live in the capital city of Bamako.
It's an interesting group and one we've enjoyed being a part of. I hope this was interesting and maybe helped you feel a little closer to us here in Mali.