I won't go into details here, but yesterday was a very tense day for us. We were very, very worried about the safety of our fellow volunteers in Osh Oblast, as well as our local friends in various areas. Our village is very safe, but the same cannot be said many places in the surrounding region. We spent many hours yesterday waiting for word about when we would be evacuated and for news about how the other volunteers were faring, but could finally relax a bit after 9 p.m. when we heard news that all but one volunteer had been safely eveacuated, and that one had been moved to a safer location. Now there's just three of us waiting to get out of the south, and while we are all safe we are more or less trapped. On top of all this we are hearing terrible news of the violence in the city, and while it is comforting to know that all volunteers are safe, there are still many local friends still in Osh, and we are so scared for them. Its not fair that I should be so certain of my rescue, based only on the place of my birth.
Peace Corps Volunteer "Letters From A Faraway Land" writes: Things are not looking good for southern Kyrgyzstan right now
Waiting
June 13, 2010
Caption: June 15, 2010: Peace Corps Volunteers reach the safety of a helicopter in Osh. All of the Peace Corps volunteers in the southern region have been evacuated safely. Most of the violence has been restricted to the south, and the north remains peaceful. It is anticipated that volunteers will remain in the north. Photo: R Moreno
Things are not looking good for southern Kyrgyzstan right now. At the moment, my site mate and I are sitting at her house, each on our own computers because we've run out of games to play with each other and stuff to talk about and we are way to antsy to watch more TV.
I won't go into details here, but yesterday was a very tense day for us. We were very, very worried about the safety of our fellow volunteers in Osh Oblast, as well as our local friends in various areas. Our village is very safe, but the same cannot be said many places in the surrounding region. We spent many hours yesterday waiting for word about when we would be evacuated and for news about how the other volunteers were faring, but could finally relax a bit after 9 p.m. when we heard news that all but one volunteer had been safely eveacuated, and that one had been moved to a safer location. Now there's just three of us waiting to get out of the south, and while we are all safe we are more or less trapped. On top of all this we are hearing terrible news of the violence in the city, and while it is comforting to know that all volunteers are safe, there are still many local friends still in Osh, and we are so scared for them. Its not fair that I should be so certain of my rescue, based only on the place of my birth.
In any case, I am not at all optomistic about coming back home to Osh once I leave. I hate to admit it, and the feelings of guilt are choking me, but I'm ready to leave the country once I am evacuated from the South. Maybe I'll change my mind later, but right now I'm just done. I love this country, and I feel like leaving willingly is a serious betrayal, but I can't shake the feeling that I just have to get out alltogether.
