"We think its a little strange that we are leaving Guinea now when the major day of protests has already happened and everything is calm. It has been a few days since any reports of anything bad have reached me. There is some speculation that because the state department has evacuated nonessential personnel they don't want us to stay either, or that the administration has some inside knowledge as to the state of the government that makes things more dangerous than it is, but the truth is that we really don't know and don't understand why we are leaving. "
Peace Corps Volunteer "zot in guinea" writes: We received word this afternoon that we will be consolidating to Bamako for the next two to four weeks
Consolidation to Bamako
0 comments By potterzot Filed in events, in service October 4th, 2009 @ 12:05 am
Caption: Guinean police arrest a protester in front of the biggest stadium in the capital Conakry during a protest banned by Guinea's ruling junta on September 28. The United States condemned Tuesday the "brazen and inappropriate use of force" by Guinea's ruling junta, after scores were killed in a crackdown on an opposition rally. Photo: AFP/File/Seyllou
We received word this afternoon that we will be consolidating to Bamako for the next two to four weeks. I have Sajay and Caitlin at my house, but they are headed out to (re) pack their stuff for the trip. We think its a little strange that we are leaving Guinea now when the major day of protests has already happened and everything is calm. It has been a few days since any reports of anything bad have reached me.
There is some speculation that because the state department has evacuated nonessential personnel they don't want us to stay either, or that the administration has some inside knowledge as to the state of the government that makes things more dangerous than it is, but the truth is that we really don't know and don't understand why we are leaving.
So, anyway, it is what it is, and we are now thinking about what to pack in our one bag we are allowed to take with us, and the other bag that we will be leaving in our houses to be shipped home in the case that we don't come back to Guinea.
We got a lot done on the world map today, and also spent a lot of time with Michael, who is an American volunteering with a chimpanzee rescue organization at the national park here. He just finished his six months, and so he may be headed into Mali and the rest of West Africa until he heads back to the states in a few months.
Tomorrow we will hopefully finish the map, and maybe have cell phone reseau again. Not sure what is going on with that. And we will go to the internet to post some of these posts and read the news. BBC continues to disappoint.
But we are all fine and despite news and rumors to the contrary, ridiculously safe.
