New (Peace Corps-related) News

This is a post-dated post to say that (HOORAY!) I finally (FINALLY) got my Peace Corps Re-Assignment. Yes, after months of waiting (and fighting) for a new assignment following my December 2009 evacuation from my Peace Corps post in the Konni region of Niger, after (what seems like) 500 hundred new references submitted affirming I'm not a "looney," after (literally) $800 in new medical testing to affirm that I'm still in health despite having lived in the deep bush of Niger for 5 months (even though I've been back in the states for a year!) and, most especially, that I don't have schistosomaisis, and after countless interviews with countless members of Peace Corps HQ Staff to try and find a "suitable" new placement for someone of my (annoying) qualifications... I finally received my special blue Peace Corps packet on January 11th (01.11.11). Phew. Finally.

So... drum roll... Starting June 2nd, 2011 I will be a Small Business Advisor Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo, West Africa! (Yes, this is GOOD news! Feel free to celebrate with me :) ). Please see the map below if you, like most people, have no idea where the "h" that is.

For those of you who are trying to put two-and-two together, Nigeria is 2 countries to the east (right). Here's a close up of Togo itself:

I don't know where I'll be in Togo specifically until I get through some in-country training. I'll keep you posted.

What this means in the grand-er scheme of things is that I'll still be in Lagos, Nigeria for the Frontier Market Scouts Internship Jan 31st - May 19th and will return to the US for approximately 10 days (May 20th-June 1st) before leaving for my Peace Corps Assignment in Togo. Within those 10 days, its my intention to catch the Monterey Institute graduation weekend celebrations (May 20th-22nd) before returning to Reno for my dad's birthday (May 24th) and subsequent birthday/ departure celebrations and preparations. I'll be flying to an East-Coast US City (TBA at a later date) on June 2nd for the required "Pre-Departure Staging" and then flying to Togo on June 3rd.

Of course, given that its still January, these plans are subject to change... Its still fun to plan though.

In other Peace Corps-related news, the Peace Corps Program in Niger has been suspended indefinitely (as of a few days ago) and all Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) therein have been evacuated as a result of increased security concerns directly linked to the increased presence of Al-Qaeda in the area. For more information, you can check out the BBC who have the full and updated story in the "Africa" section of their website. For those of you who don't know, I was evacuated from my village of Sabon Guida in Niger in mid-November of 2009. In late November, our region of Konni was shut down and our regional team was evacuated to the capital city of Niamey. In early December, I was evacuated from the country completely having accepted the offer of "Interrupted Service" and returned to Reno and then to Monterey to finish my Master's Degree. However, some PCVs in Niger chose to stay and so for the last year or so I've been watching them finish out their service through facebook. Depressing, if you can believe it. In any case, although I am so very sad that all of Peace Corps Niger has been suspended now, in 2011, part of me is finally at peace with the decision I made over a year ago.

And so.... a year later... here I am. Needless to say, at this point, I am cautiously optimistic. (Cat Stevens "Wild World" comes to mind).