2011.01.17: January 17, 2011: Niger Peace Corps Volunteer "AJ's blog about Niger" writes: There have been kidnappings before, so I thought not a lot of it. Though on the other hand, the kidnappings happened in the capitol for the first time at a place frequented by volunteers and that made me a little uneasy.
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Niger:
Peace Corps Niger :
Peace Corps Niger: Newest Stories:
2011.01.17: January 17, 2011: Peace Corps Suspends Program in Niger; All Volunteers Evacuated Safely :
2011.01.17: January 17, 2011: Niger Peace Corps Volunteer "This Anasara Life" writes: This morning, at 5:30 a.m., I boarded a plane to Morocco and say goodbye to Niger, potentially for forever :
2011.01.17: January 17, 2011: Niger Peace Corps Volunteer "AJ's blog about Niger" writes: There have been kidnappings before, so I thought not a lot of it. Though on the other hand, the kidnappings happened in the capitol for the first time at a place frequented by volunteers and that made me a little uneasy.
Niger Peace Corps Volunteer "AJ's blog about Niger" writes: There have been kidnappings before, so I thought not a lot of it. Though on the other hand, the kidnappings happened in the capitol for the first time at a place frequented by volunteers and that made me a little uneasy.
"But nothing happened for a few days and I breathed a sigh of relief that they wouldn't evacuate Peace Corps while I was on vacation in the states, cuz you know, that'd be pretty annoying. Then on Wednesday the 12th of January, my 25th birthday, I got the news that indeed that is what they were going to do. And that although my fellow volunteers will be pushed to close their service they will have a chance to look for and apply to posts in which they could finish their service. But because I'm in the States, I'm done –they're closing my service 8 months early. I thankfully got ahold of my volunteer friend in Niger who broke into my house for some things I didn't want to loose and who explained what was going on to some of my village friends. For that I am seriously grateful. Hopefully Peace Corps will eventually get those things to me."
Niger Peace Corps Volunteer "AJ's blog about Niger" writes: There have been kidnappings before, so I thought not a lot of it. Though on the other hand, the kidnappings happened in the capitol for the first time at a place frequented by volunteers and that made me a little uneasy.
Monday, January 17, 2011
This Service Has Been Canceled
Caption: Two French citizens who died after being kidnapped from this restaurant in Niamey, the capital of Niger, on Janaury 9, 2011 were probably killed by their captors. French troops were attempting to rescue them when they found the bodies.
This update is about a big change and possibly my last post. My parents' visit went relatively well after losing two days to a state-side snow storm and they are going to write posts about their trip to Niger so that you can get their perspective. When it was time to leave with them for my vacation to America, a kerfuffle with ticketing codes almost got us all stuck in Niger. We got out alright and upon arriving home found out that the very night we left there had been an al Qaida kidnapping of two French men at a bar which many volunteers go to and which is very close to the Niamey hostel. Later the two were killed when the Niger army tried to free them. There have been kidnappings before, so I thought not a lot of it. Though on the other hand, the kidnappings happened in the capitol for the first time at a place frequented by volunteers and that made me a little uneasy.
But nothing happened for a few days and I breathed a sigh of relief that they wouldn't evacuate Peace Corps while I was on vacation in the states, cuz you know, that'd be pretty annoying. Then on Wednesday the 12th of January, my 25th birthday, I got the news that indeed that is what they were going to do. And that although my fellow volunteers will be pushed to close their service they will have a chance to look for and apply to posts in which they could finish their service. But because I'm in the States, I'm done –they're closing my service 8 months early. I thankfully got ahold of my volunteer friend in Niger who broke into my house for some things I didn't want to loose and who explained what was going on to some of my village friends. For that I am seriously grateful. Hopefully Peace Corps will eventually get those things to me.
After that, I scrambled mentally to assess what this meant for me, my service and my village. Were my projects okay? My moringa tree garden project was in a pretty decently well developed. There were improvements I was going to make, and I would have felt better if the health center had done a cooking class or two completely on their own. But, we got far enough into it that they understood how to do every part of the project and were invested enough, I think, to carry on. My text book funding project was not even begun. I feel really bad that the school's hopes were so high and now they have very little resources to get the books –practically speaking, no chance. But on the other hand, besides the principal of the middle school, I wasn't sure that I would be able to get the staff involved in the project. So I'm calling that project a wash. One of the things my dad and I did in Bande was build a bread oven. I was going to develop a cheap and nutritious recipe for bread using squash and moringa and teach it to people –a project that would be both about "income generation" and about malnutrition. There are a lot of projects I wanted to develop in my last 8 months. I was still thinking about an art club, which would have been about the only thing I would have done in my 2 years that would employ my art history degree. I had just started sewing with my friend Murza and was hoping to begin to grow that project into a group. I was going to begin English classes with the teachers at the middle school. I never made an improved (mud covered) cookstove with my neighbors and friends who were interested in learning that.
There were things I wanted to do for myself too, like illustrating a graphic novel, beefing up on my art history and studying for the GRE, re-reading Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings and reading Ulysses. Now I guess I have time for most of that, just instead of in the Peace Corps it will be while sitting un-employed at my parents' house, figuring out the rest of my life.
And I have felt sad about not getting to say goodbye. I had only just begun to feel really comfortable in Bande and just felt like the people I hung out with really were, in some odd way, my friends. I have some of their numbers, but the language barrier was hard enough sitting right next to them; speaking across the wire and several time zones, I'm afraid my frustration will overcome my desire to keep in touch. They don't have a postal address and I think none of them have started emailing yet. I was supposed to have 8 months to figure this out. Now what am I going to do? It is a sudden, crappy probable end to many relationships that, so short a time ago, were all I had on a daily basis.
I think also of all the things I was going to do in my last 8 months. I wanted to get out to see Kelle, a post that has an ostrich farm and some big rocks out in the countryside where monkeys live. During the fasting of Ramadan, my sub-region had planned to meet at one of our posts to sleep all day and at night when there was electricity we'd watch a marathon of West Wing. I was gonna really learn Hausa so I could test at nearly advanced at the end of my service. I was gonna teach our guard at the hostel in Zinder how to harvest moringa leaves from Stephanie's memorial moringa garden. I had more to say to you about Niger, I just had to find those magical words that would explain it all- but that was okay, I had 8 months to do it.
There are just too many loose ends. Too many goodbyes not said. Too many instructions not given. Too many promises not kept. I had thought Niger was Un-evacuable. Peace Corps has been around 50 years this year –and has served uninterrupted in Niger for 49 of them. Al Qaida, al Smaida. I did not think my service would end with me sitting on my bum in America. This sucks.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: January, 2011; Peace Corps Niger; Directory of Niger RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Niger RPCVs; Safety and Security of Volunteers; Evacuation; Blogs - Niger
When this story was posted in January 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
| Support Independent Funding for the Third Goal The Peace Corps has always neglected the third goal, allocating less than 1% of their resources to "bringing the world back home." Senator Dodd addressed this issue in the "Peace Corps for the 21st Century" bill passed by the US Senate and Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter proposed a "Peace Corps Foundation" at no cost to the US government. Both are good approaches but the recent "Comprehensive Assessment Report" didn't address the issue of independent funding for the third goal at all. |
| Memo to Incoming Director Williams PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Personal Web Site
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Niger; Safety; Evacuation; Blogs - Niger
PCOL46494
32