Rough Day

I wanted to write something upbeat about this mad country, but the mad and the bad are all muddled up. Its been a rough day.
The level of kidnappings and direct threats made to certain prominant families have now led to whole families leaving, with very little notice. Families I know. Not just expats. Patriotic Mozambicans who believe (believed?) in the future of their country. Some of the larger companies are pulling their staff out. People I know are going or planning on going by early December. The murder of the boy in Sofala has taken us into new and scary waters.
My empregada's sister lives up North in Inhambane. Apparantly the trouble up there is getting more frequent as we head towards general elections on November 20th. People are forced to travel in protected convoy between towns. A bus was attacked last week, with a dozen fatalities.
In a terribly written article, the South African `Lowvelder' claims that Mozambique is on the brink of civil war. The Club of Mozambique reports that analysts think that a return to war is `highly unlikely'
I don't know if I should be packaging up the things from my grandmother's house, and sending them home now so that I have them safe if we have to make a run for it.
I don't know if I should be sorting the dog's blood tests and sending him home, because imagining leaving him behind is unbearable.
I don't know if I am exaggerating the possible danger because today so many people left.
There's no way of knowing what will happen next.
Tomorrow people across the country will march, hopefully peacefully, to protest against the lack of action to stop the kidnappings.
We can only sit tight and see. All of us. Us expats wonder if we should go. Many locals wonder what we will do. If we go ,what happens to so many jobs?
It feels like we are all waiting to see what happens next.