2009.08.15: August 15, 2009: Headlines: COS - Mauritania: Blogs - Mauritania: Safety: Personal Web Site: Peace Corps Volunteer "Katie's adventure" writes: Once we arrived in Dakar (Monday), we were informed that Mauritania had officially been evacuated

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Mauritania: Peace Corps Mauritania : Peace Corps Mauritania: Newest Stories: 2009.08.12: August 12, 2009: Headlines: COs - Mauritania: Safety: Peace Corps Press Release: Peace Corps Announces Suspension of Program in Mauritania : 2009.08.15: August 15, 2009: Headlines: COS - Mauritania: Blogs - Mauritania: Safety: Personal Web Site: Peace Corps Volunteer "Katie's adventure" writes: Once we arrived in Dakar (Monday), we were informed that Mauritania had officially been evacuated

By Admin1 (admin) (98.188.147.225) on Sunday, August 16, 2009 - 9:20 am: Edit Post

Peace Corps Volunteer "Katie's adventure" writes: Once we arrived in Dakar (Monday), we were informed that Mauritania had officially been evacuated

Peace Corps Volunteer Katie's adventure writes: Once we arrived in Dakar (Monday), we were informed that Mauritania had officially been evacuated

"Uncle Sam just decided that we deserved to have our mid term conference in scenic Thies instead of Nouakchott. We were assured that this would be no longer than a 10 day trip. In the mean time, there would be a security team to sweep the country to make sure that everything was okay. Mid way through the "vacation", the staff finally admitted what we already knew: we were being consolidated, and there existed a possibility of evacuation. I honestly thought the whole time that we would be allowed to go back to the RIM, but I figured that the northern sites might be shut down. "

Peace Corps Volunteer "Katie's adventure" writes: Once we arrived in Dakar (Monday), we were informed that Mauritania had officially been evacuated

Friday, August 14, 2009

The end of the adventure...

Caption: Children in Gorgol by Peace Corps Volunteer swimfast. Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

I'm not sure what you've all heard or read on the news, but things in Mauritania have unfortunately taken a turn for the worse. After arriving back in country I was able to go back to my home for 2 days to visit my family and drop off gifts that I had brought for them. During that same time I had to unpack all the food I had brought back for Thanksgiving and the year to come so that I could pack my bags for a "free, all expenses paid vacation" from the US government in Senegal.

Uncle Sam just decided that we deserved to have our mid term conference in scenic Thies instead of Nouakchott. We were assured that this would be no longer than a 10 day trip. In the mean time, there would be a security team to sweep the country to make sure that everything was okay. Mid way through the "vacation", the staff finally admitted what we already knew: we were being consolidated, and there existed a possibility of evacuation. I honestly thought the whole time that we would be allowed to go back to the RIM, but I figured that the northern sites might be shut down.

Right at the very end of our supposed "vacation" I received a text from a friend that the French Embassy in Nouakchott had been hit by a suicide bomber. Now it's not out of the ordinary for this friend to try a prank text here and there, so I thought she was kidding. I got back to the center the following morning, only to find out the worst... that it was actually true and we were being transferred to Dakar. Once we arrived in Dakar (Monday), we were informed that Mauritania had officially been evacuated. So that set off a monster roller coaster of emotions for many of the volunteers.

We got all our options presented, I seriously considered a direct transfer to Senegal and I was ready to take it, but then I found out that they didn't want to start that program until February. There were some other programs that I considered (in Senegal and Togo), but long story short... I didn't take the positions. So that's it... the end of a fantastic adventure. I can't believe it's the end, and I'll never be able to explain how hard it is to leave.




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: August, 2009; Peace Corps Mauritania; Directory of Mauritania RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Mauritania RPCVs; Blogs - Mauritania; Safety and Security of Volunteers





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Story Source: Personal Web Site

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Mauritania; Blogs - Mauritania; Safety

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