Sunday, August 16, 2009

Goodbye

Dear Followers of my blog,

For the past 14 months I have been posting the emails that i send to my friends and family on this blog in case i missed anyone on the email list that might be following the blog. I have to say that the comments have surprised me at times, i never thought very many people would see it or read it and i never thought it would be people who didn't even know me. I wanted to make one last post for you guys, the parents of other volunteers, other volunteers themselves, "future" RIM volunteers from the group that didn't quite make it ( so sorry we never got to meet guys, we were looking forward to it just as much as you were, but hey now you can be thankful because it would have been pretty miserable to get there only to be evacuated), and any others who read/are reading this.

Thank you for letting me tell you my story, it always feels good to have a story to tell that people want to hear. I will not be posting on this blog any more unless I decide to re-enroll in the peace corps and go somewhere else, but at this moment the chance of that seems pretty remote. I was immensely attached to my family and life in Mauritania and moving straight out of there and into a new community just doesn't feel like something i'm strong enough to handle any time soon. I know that I would be comparing these relationships to the ones i made in Mauritania and its not fair to go into a new community with that outlook. I was very lucky in the two host families that i had in mauritania, both during training and at site I was made to feel welcome and like a member of a family within moments of my arrival. I can't express how much this meant to me and i wouldn't trade these experiences for the world.

To all the prospective Peace Corps Volunteers out there that might be reading this: I know the application process is so drawn out its painful, there are people in my class who had been waiting 2 or 3 years for a placement. Just know that Peace Corps itself, the whole experience, will be long, drawn out, and sometimes discouraging and exhausting, just like the application process, but when you get there, if you have the right attitude, and your open to whatever might happen, i promise it can be the best decision you have ever made in your life.

Finishing Peace Corps, whether you're ready or not, is not like leaving any other job you will ever have. I may have left my heart in Mauritania but the pain of leaving is nothing compared to the joy of the experiences and memories that i brought back with me.

Good luck to everyone applying/transferring/continuing/debating service! I know I'll do Peace Corps again some day, but not until I'm good and ready.

The group of people I served with were all amazing in their own way, and so talented and motivated that even though this feels like the end of something big for us (well, it is) and is also the beginning of something even bigger! Good luck everyone! Especially those that direct transferred and are continuing right now, I admire your strength and dedication.

To the parents of direct transfer folks, I bet you wanted them to come home at least a little bit, but I bet you're just bursting with pride in your awesome child for their decision to continue(Tim's mom, that ones for you!).

To Anyone Else who might be reading this: Does anyone have a job for me? Just kidddddding! I love you all, but I most likely won't write anymore.

Goodbye,

Shelby Perry, RPCV
Health Education Volunteer/Water Sanitation Engineer
Selibaby Mauritania
June 2008 to August 2009

Monday, August 10, 2009

some highlights






oh crap.

10 August 2009

Dear beloved friends and family,

It has been wonderful corresponding with you all through email over the past 13 months, sharing my experiences with you and hearing your reactions has been such a rewarding part of all of this for me. I have missed you all dearly but i never could have done what i have been doing without your support and understanding and love. With that said i would like to give you the latest bit of bad news in a string of bad new-es...after a few security threats came to light on friday (confidential, they can't even tell me) and then suicide bombing in nouakchott on saturday night (that didn't kill anyone but the bomber himself in case you're worried) the United States Peace Corps has decided to suspend the program starting immediatly and continuing indefinitely. What does this mean? First that i am very very sad, we all are, i have cried a great deal all ready and i used up all my phone credit so i can't even call my parents of my host family until i go out and buy more but when i do i will cry some more. As long as we are continuing our career with peace corps we are forbidden from traveling in, passing through, or visiting mauritania at all. I have many options ahead of me, exactly what they are i will find out tomorrow morning in detail but they involve transfering to a different program, completeing my service and leaving, signing up for peace corps response, or interrupting my service, leaving the option to return open if the program reopens. I don't know what i'll do yet but i will know by friday because thats all the time i have to decide. This bomb was dropped on me just about an hour ago and i don't even really know how to process it yet but i will say this, i respect the decision of the peace corps, i will respect their wishes and not return to mauritania, but i want everyone to know completely and truly that this has nothing to do with mauritanians as a people, nor does it have anything to do with muslims, this is because of an outside threat that has been brought to the attention of peace corps. The director of peace corps herself, Jody Olsen, came here to break the news to us and she is a huge supporter of the mauritania program and told us how much our relationships and families mean to us and it was obviously very hard for her to break this news to us, so i can completely respect the peace corps side of things, and i know you all will too.

I know you will all be supportive to me in whatever capacity i choose to continue or discontinue my peace corps service and i hope you all know how much this has meant to me. Start planning my welcome home party, i could be out of here as early as friday and i want to see you all as soon as possible! Ann, tubing? Becky...i'll pay for half your flight up if you can come see me...Mom and Dad call me! i ran out of phone credit...i want to talk to you! Cory...thank you for everything! and i mean everything! all the packages, the harddrives, the phone calls, the support, the everything, you are the best brother imaginable and i know you had more to send and were going to keep supporting me through it all and it was your birthday even when we were talking about it so i just wanted to say thank you and i love you and thank you!

I love you allllllllllllllllllllll with all my heart, see you all so soon i can't even believe it. I have been evacuated. crap.

shelby

Monday, August 3, 2009

J'ai de la chance!

August 3rd, 2009

Hellllllllllllo!

Bet you’re all curious where I’ve been huh? Well okay maybe not but I’m going to tell you anyway! I’m on my little vacay, in Senegal, at a posh establishment enjoying all of the beer and cheese and ice cream Senegal has to offer in the company of 50 of my closest friends on the continent. So what have I done? I feel like a kid at camp…some days we have technical sessions, training activities, and other times we have trips to various attractions in the area including a company that hand weaves famous African art into huge tapestries the likes of which hang in the UN, the Atlanta Airport, and other rich folks home (they cost ~$1000 per square meter) and I vowed someday I’ll come back when I’m rich and buy one. The artist that scales them up or down for the patterns is waiting for me, he has faith, I’ll be back. The tapestries themselves are all woven by local women and though I went on a weekend and was unable to see them weaving, I saw photos of them working on huge looms and it made me think of Birdi (you would have just loved this place, I wish I could have shared it with you! What an amazing place!). We also visited a local artisan’s village but I found them to be way too used to tourists and seriously over priced…they wanted to speak to me in their broken English even though its much easier for both parties involved to do the bargaining in French, they tried to trip me by dropping the price and then when I counter they would ramp it back up and say it all excitedly like it was a fantastic deal for me to pay 2000 more than the price I just turned down, I’m guessing it works for them with tourists but I told them that I wanted to think about it and then peaced out, besides, my friend Dame tells me I should save my money to spend in Mauritania anyway, that’s where I live and work and I owe it to them to inject my money back into that economy, so I held off on purchasing. There was a little drum that tempted me a great deal but I couldn’t get the man below 5000 cfa (roughly $10.00) and I felt like it was a little bit much so I waited and found it from another woman that knows and loves peace corps Mauritania for 2500 cfa so I’m pretty glad I waited.

In the artisans village I met a gentleman named Booboo who spoke a good amount of English but was not exactly fluent and he kept calling me back to show me his wares, I told him I was just there with my friends and I wouldn’t buy anything so I didn’t want to go look and he relented but then called me back over later and asked “excuse me, can we do the friendly?” which I think meant that he wanted to be friends. Just to be sure I asked what he meant and he clarified with “you know…for….possibility.” I’m still not exactly sure what this entails but I said no just to be safe.

Yesterday we were bussed as a group out to a monastery to tour the gardens and watch the service if we wanted, and sample their Besop wine and goat cheese, it was beautiful there! We walked through grapefruit and avocado and cashew orchards, in vine-draped, tree-lined paths around the whole property. After that we boarded the busses again and took a driving tour around Lac Rose, a pink salt lake where men in dugout canoes were scooping salt off the bottom like sand and filling buckets that women carried to piles on their heads. It was really neat to see, especially the goats climbing the 10 or 20 foot high piles of salt. When we came out the other end we continued on to the beach and had a picnic with chicken sandwiches and apples and then swam in the ocean and played Frisbee...it was fantastic. So clearly folks, I’m living a very rough life here and deserve your sympathy! Oh, hey and thank your Mauritanian government because the delay in visa processing for the security team has extended our vacation and we will be spending a long weekend staying on the shore at another beach community where other volunteers have offered to give surfing lessons and huts on the beach sell cold beers. I’m really suffering…seriously.

If all goes according to plan we should all be back in Mauritania by the middle of the month with our noses fitted snugly to the grindstone, trying to catch up on all the work we’re NOT doing right now. I feel like one of those people that join the army picturing the deserts of the middle east and ends up getting stationed in Hawaii...pinch me, this is surely too good to be true!

Okay I’m running out of computer battery but love and happy thoughts too all, I’ll write more when I know!

Shelby

ps. Puppy had 6 puppies...so i'll have that waiting for me when i get back too!