So long Niger...Kala Hanfo

So in case some of you did not hear, all Peace Corps Niger Volunteers were evacuated from Niger to Morocco, January 14-17 due to the kidnappings by a terrorist group that occurred in Niamey on January 7th. The two French men were executed in the attempted rescue attempt. Peace Corps made the decision that the country was not safe for volunteers at the time and so the program in Niger is temporarily suspended. Here is more information I randomly found online:

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Niger-Kidnappings-Show-Emboldened-Reach-of-al-Qaida-114127649.html

I received a call on Thursday morning from the security officer telling me that we were being evacuated and to pack all of my stuff. I had only been in my village for a short time and was just beginning to settle in so this came as a huge shock to me. I waited around all day and in the evening they called again to say that there would be a Peace Corps vehicle coming to get me in the morning. The next day we all met in Niamey and then waited until that evening to find out that we would be flying into Morocco the next morning, and to be ready at 4am. Everything happened so quickly I almost felt like we were just going on vacation to Morocco and that we would be back soon. I don’t think I realized until a couple of days ago that we were never going back to Niger.

After we were safely installed in Morocco, we took part in a week long transition conference in which we went through the process of officially COSing (Closing of Service). This means that as of yesterday, we are all now returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Unfortunately, for me and all of the other newbies, this doesn’t really give us many perks. Since there were so many of us the Peace Corps had a hard time placing us in other countries and there just weren’t enough spots available. Some people were able to directly transfer to other countries but most people are going back to the states to re-enroll. Re-enrollment is not the same as reapplying in that it’s quicker and this time we actually get some say in where we go and what we want to do. I have been told that most of the spots will be opening up between March and June so again, I really don’t know what is happening with my life. I have a few places in mind that I am interested in…the difficult part will be waiting around for an indefinite amount of time.

It’s really hard leaving the Peace Corps Niger friends that I have made. We’ve become like a family and it’s daunting to think that I will have to start all over again in a few months without them. I also learned Zarma and will never use that again haha. Stupid al-Qaida. Ay si ba gumo gumo. I ma koy nda si ka koyne.

My plan now is to fly out of Casablanca to Barcelona for a few days on Sunday and then I’m headed to Madrid for a few days after which I will be flying back to Ohio. I am excited to be going back to the states and will be so happy to see my family and friends, however, this is not what I had planned and I was just beginning to come to terms with the fact that I would be living in Niger for 2 years. Things were finally beginning to be set into motion. Oh well, kala suru.

So that is the gist of things…and the good news is that I’ve now been to Morocco and will be in Spain for awhile, and when I come back to Ohio I’m going to go snowboarding for the rest of the winter! (Maybe…we’ll see if I can handle the cold…I’m going to freeze!!!)