Guinea is Evacuated

Well all you all, it’s official. Peace Corps Washington has suspended the Guinea program. I, along with all other volunteers and staff have been holding out on this small little thread of hope that the program will continue but this morning as of 9 am Greenwich time word dropped that due to political and safety reasons the program is thus far suspended.

What is next now? Well I have several options. First off I could COS (close of service) where I would leave the Peace Corps, with full benefits and move back in with mom and dad and find a “real” job. YIKES, a 8-6 job, I don’t think so! I could COS and then re-in role into the Corps. This would mean I would have to go through the 3 months of training again and make a 27 months service commitment. Or I could direct transfer, where I would just transfer into a new Peace Corps country. There is some flexibility with COS dates for the end of the service in the new country.

What will I do? Still don’t know. By Sunday October 25 all Guinea volunteers will have either COSed or transferred, so I don’t have a lot of time to decide. Six days if you are counting. I am kind of playing it by ear at this moment in time. I want to keep my options open. I am really interested in one country’s Small Enterprise Development program but I don’t want to have false hope or jinx myself by saying anything prematurely. So I will wait for the list of countries that want to receive us Peace Corps Guinea evacuees and then read out my options.

So what am I doing now? There are papers upon papers to write. There are resumes to be updated, aspiration statement to be redone, description of services to be had, quarterly reports to finish, not to mention the epic list of my stuff that needs to be qualified and quantified by memory of prices and locations around my house so Peace Corps can pack it up to ship to my next location or give away to my friends and family in Guinea. Then there is medical clearance, fun fun! But wait; there are over 90 of us here so try doing all that with 90 people. It’s going to get crazy quick I’m sure.

How am I feeling? That answer changes every 10 minutes it seems. There are extreme highs (i.e. being with friends in Mali) and extreme lows (realizing your not going back to Guinea). The news of evacuation was not unexpected by any means, I knew it was coming with all of the political unrest that has been surfacing in Conakry but there was always that small thread of hope you hold on to. Well that thread was cut clean. Now, I’m so busy just trying to plan for the next stage of my life, not knowing where that may take me. Once I get a chance to sit and realize what has happened and why my life plans have changed it will all become so real, now I’m just floating in a stage of survival. Find a new home! Once that stage is done, then it will hit I’m sure.

But I am enjoying my remaining few days with some of my closest friends and people who have become my family, enjoying the electricity and running water while I still have it (don’t know if I’ll have that in my new country) and even getting a milkshake now and again poolside at the American club (I know it sure is rough being a “refugee”) and in a weird way, I am looking forward to what the world has to offer for me.