The hardest month of my service

Where to even begin where the last month has taken us here in PC Mauritania. Let me start off with an apology for the fact that this blog post is all over the place. Trying to describe what has been happening in a mere few paragraphs is nearly impossible but I knew that many of you were concerned and confused about what was going on here so I tried my best…

As I left off in my last email, the new class of trainees had been postponed at the beginning of June, only a few weeks before training was supposed to start (and something that all of the volunteers here were all looking forward to helping with). A few weeks later the decision was made to completely cancel the training class, putting an end to any of our hopes that the COSing (close of service) volunteers will be replaced anytime in the next 6 months.

Following that announcement, in a completely unrelated event, an American was killed in our capital Nouakchott. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claim responsibility for killing the victim because of his "Christianizing activities" in a country where preaching anything but Islam is against the law. We have been assured that in spite of this tragic event there is no increased threat against Americans and I want to make it clear that I feel completely and absolutely safe.

Due to all of this, PC Washington has decided to offer any volunteers who wish to take it an “Interrupted Service” in which they go home now and have the choice of becoming an RPCV (returned PCV) or try to apply for another 2 year PC program. With the current extremely low moral due following all these events, it was not a huge surprise that many of the volunteers have decided to leave and take the benefits that come with IS (you get full COSing benefits as opposed to receiving none if you terminate your service early for any other reason).

Personally, I knew that by leaving I would be letting down way too many people including my center girls, my regionmates, all my PCV friends here, and the future prospects for the PC program here in Mauritania. Although it would have been a lot easier just to go, I don’t feel like my work here is done. In total we have lost about a 1/3 of the volunteers in my class plus the entire COSing class before us, going from about 120 volunteers a month ago to 40. Im in desperate need of this trip home to relax and reenergize myself for this next year of service… see you all in a few short weeks!