2011.01.19: January 19, 2011: Niger Peace Corps Volunteer "Down the rabbit hole......Niger" writes: The Call
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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 :
2011.01.19: January 19, 2011: Niger Peace Corps Volunteer "Down the rabbit hole......Niger" writes: The Call
Niger Peace Corps Volunteer "Down the rabbit hole......Niger" writes: The Call
"The CALL had caught me off guard, but what the message said was that the Peace Corps Bureau in Washington had decided to suspend service in Niger indefinitely and all 98 Peace Corps Niger volunteers would be evacuated immediately. I could not believe it. The message did not mention the kidnapping and murder of 2 French men earlier in the week, a random event which occurred in a restaurant in Niger's capital city, Niamey. The restaurant was a popular hang-out for not only Peace Corps volunteers but also for many other ex-patriots who lived and worked in the country and enjoyed mingling with their peers from time to time. Later on it was mentioned that on the day of the kidnapping, there were no Peace Corps volunteers in the restaurant and that was a rare day. In fact, several volunteers later said they had planned to meet there that very evening. This tragic and frightening event was not the only reason Peace Corps made such a drastic decision to suspend service to Niger. Over the past few months, there had apparently been a continuous stream of erratic happenings which posed varying types of threats to non¬-Nigeriens and this most recent occurrence was too much. It was the straw that broke the camel's back and in Niger that is serious."
Niger Peace Corps Volunteer "Down the rabbit hole......Niger" writes: The Call
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The CALL
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.
THE CALL came in the middle of the morning while I was at my village's Case de Sante Integree (CSI) /clinic. It was the first day I felt I could really communicate enough to fulfill my role as a Peace Corps volunteer, but the events of that day and the next ones to follow found me speechless in more ways than one. In spite of extensive language training and the addition of a residential language trainer to our first 2 weeks in our village, my Zarma language skills were less than average. I was to find out on this day that I did not have the words in ZARMA or in English to express to my villagers exactly what THE CALL meant.
It came from my APCD or program director,Soulemayne, who asked that I listen carefully to a message he felt was too long to send via texting. As I listened to the message while standing outside the clinic, all I could think or say was "WOW"! When the message was over, I was silent. My supervisor asked if I had questions. "Does Dave know about this?" He was back at our hut working on plans for his FARM project. "Yes, I've given him the same information," Soulemayne responded. He then told me to go back to our hut and begin to pack, that a driver would pick us up within the next day or 2 and we'd be called with those details once arrangements were made. We'd be flying out of Niger on Friday. This was Wednesday. I could not get back to our hut fast enough to see how Dave was and what he had found out while I was at the clinic. I made an effort to explain why I was leaving to the clinic staff and mentally made a note to have our language trainer assist me with a phone call to my supervisor later in the day when we might have more clarification and information to tell her.
The CALL had caught me off guard, but what the message said was that the Peace Corps Bureau in Washington had decided to suspend service in Niger indefinitely and all 98 Peace Corps Niger volunteers would be evacuated immediately. I could not believe it. The message did not mention the kidnapping and murder of 2 French men earlier in the week, a random event which occurred in a restaurant in Niger's capital city, Niamey. The restaurant was a popular hang-out for not only Peace Corps volunteers but also for many other ex-patriots who lived and worked in the country and enjoyed mingling with their peers from time to time. Later on it was mentioned that on the day of the kidnapping, there were no Peace Corps volunteers in the restaurant and that was a rare day. In fact, several volunteers later said they had planned to meet there that very evening. This tragic and frightening event was not the only reason Peace Corps made such a drastic decision to suspend service to Niger. Over the past few months, there had apparently been a continuous stream of erratic happenings which posed varying types of threats to non¬-Nigeriens and this most recent occurrence was too much. It was the straw that broke the camel's back and in Niger that is serious.
From that point on, Dave and my dream of serving in the Peace Corps took on new meaning and would require much decision making. Initially, we were caught up in the actuality of packing our belongings, giving away items and supplies we could not take with us and wondering what and how we could tell our villagers that we'd been in their village one week and now we were leaving forever. My command of the Zarma language did not get me through those explanations nor did Dave's. Thank goodness we had the help of our language expert, a young Nigerien man, Djibo. He was able to help in communicating what was about to happen and to explain that it was a safety measure to protect volunteers and not something the villagers or the country had done or caused.
We were asked not to phone other volunteers, not to say anything but the minimum, until all arrangements for evacuation to the capital city Peace Corps hostel and then to an undisclosed country away from Niger were in place. What a logistical nightmare that must have been for Peace Corps Niger. Our country director was in the US, on vacation, so she was recalled to the Washington Bureau. The rest of the staff for Peace Corps Niger were put into action to make necessary evacuation arrangements. Though a template was probably in place for this type of evacuation, there were so many details for someone to handle. All we as volunteers could do was to wait for further information about when we'd be picked up and when we'd by flying out of Niamey to some safer place.
Emotions were strained, from sad to frightened, from disappointment to relief that we worked with an organization which put volunteer's safety and security uppermost in their minds. We felt sad because we were leaving the villagers who had so little. One man remarked that first the violence caused by outsiders had ruined the tourist industry in Niger, and now Peace Corps was departing , which left another hole in the heart and lives of the people. Later on we heard that several non-governmental organizations (NGO's) were also leaving. It was a sad time for Niger's people and for its volunteers of all types.
The impact of our evacuation would grow and lives would change because of it.
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 |
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Story Source: Personal Web Site
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Niger; Safety; Evacuation; Blogs - Niger
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