59 Days...

59 Days…

I’ve been home now for almost 2 months now. I haven’t written for several reasons, I suppose. The main one being that I simply didn’t want to complain about something that has become clear to me that most people won’t understand. Everyone… ok; not everyone but many; have at least given me the impression that I should be happy to be home; happy that I’m not in that horrid country being shot at (I will state this many times over; I was no where near the violence! Never even heard a gun shot. Probably a better chance of me being shot in Hunters Point in SF) living without running water and electricity. This; I don’t handle well. I was happy in Kenya. I was happy in my little village helping the people and beginning to make a difference. I miss them. I miss my cat Lola. I even miss my choo (pit latrine); ok, not that much. Kenya will always be this unfinished place in my heart. I will always feel like I deserted it and should have fought harder to get back to it while at the same time I feel lucky that I’ll be able to go back anywhere at all. As many of you may recall when we were being evacuated from Kenya; we were told that we had 4 options during this whole mess.

(1) Direct Transfer – This is where we would leave Kenya and go straight to another country in Africa. The idea of this only appealed to a few; I being one of them. But I inevitably changed my mind. A decision I have wondered for the last 2 months if it was the right one.

(2) Reinstatement – This is where we go home and wait for Kenya to calm down and when/if that happens we could return. Most people opted for this.

(3) Re-enrollment – This is where we return home and re-enter the Peace Corps; not necessarily from the beginning but it might as well be. It’s kind of a smack in the face to be honest; but I’m thinking positively. This is the option I chose.

And finally (4) Completion of Service – This is where you say, “Screw Peace Corps I’m Out!!”; not exactly but you get the point. Surprisingly enough; at least to me, many people took this route.

No one bothered to mention to any of us that there was a chance that we couldn’t be invited back for reinstatement back to Kenya or that there was a chance that we would not be allowed to Re-Enroll. I’ve considered suggesting to my friend that this has happened to that she sue. I think she has a pretty good case; but I am biased.

As for me I’ve been Re-Enrolled; but I don’t know where I’m going. There is an opportunity for me to go to Zambia which would be great but I have to be medically cleared first which might even happen this week. This excites me. But what sucks is; if I don’t get the post in Zambia then I will have to wait until late July to go to another country in Africa. At this point I can’t complain because at least I’m getting to go somewhere.

Things in Kenya continue to flounder. I was excited a few weeks ago to hear that Kofi Annan helped broker a power sharing agreement between Kibaki and Odinga but there doesn’t seem to be any real progress stemming from this agreement; just more conflict. I know the country will eventually calm down but I definitely wouldn’t count on that happening anytime soon; although I still pray that it might.

As for now I continue to work with Diane on her campaign for Judge. At least I can be of use to someone while I’m stressing out over this whole situation. I’ll probably do some traveling; thinking about going to visit Marc & Shanta when they come back to the States in Philly and might go to Portland to visit my Aunt and cousin. That’s about all for now; I’ll try to update my Blog more often but I’m not making any promises. This is all a very depressing situation for me and I don’t really want to discuss it or bore the rest of you with my stories. But if something good happens you all will be the first to hear…or read about it rather. :-)