wtf

some of you may be wondering why im in conakry again so soon. well my friends, i would definitely rather be hanging out in the hut with two of my very best friends ive ever made safe and sound in their huts. however, sometimes life just works out differently than we have planned. here is what happened:

my closest neighbor and best friend here, melissa, who lives only 27kms north of my village, was medically separated from her service and sent home for reasons that are uncomprehensible to me and many of our fellow volunteers, as well as to herself. not only was melissa removed from guinea against her will within 3 days of getting the news, my other really good friend and amazing person, katie, was also forced to leave as well.

all of this came as a complete shock to everyone involved, and at the risk of getting kicked out myself i cannot reveal details in a forum as public as my blog, but just know that it was washington's decision, not the people on the ground, and as we all know, when people disconnected from a situation make a decision without knowing the whole story, or even ever meeting the people involved, the decision is often without justification and made on a "by the book" basis, as well as a "save our behinds" basis instead of a rational, case by case basis which was definitely necessary with these two model, well adjusted peace corps volunteers. a mistake was made here which i believe has hurt many more people than the people who made the final, un appealable decision can ever imagine, especially me, who has lost two of her best friends in a matter of days.

guinea is a hard country to live in, and a hard country in which to serve as a peace corps volunteer. losing two of our best has not helped this program, but this is a strong group and i know that whatever Katie and Melissa do after they get over the shock of such a hasty departure and culture shock of re-entering the first world will make a positive difference in many people's lives. i know they have touched the lives of every person in their villages, as well as each one of their fellow volunteers. You will be missed.