Big Changes

Thanks to a slew of incidents and probably a massive flood of parental concern hitting the levy of Washington that separates us from the States we have been offered IS here in Mauritania. For those of you not in the Peace Corps vernacular that means Interrupted Service. What this really means is the option to just go home and receive at least half the credit of a completed service.

Through many miles of deliberation, my mind wandered and I could not justify taking the offer to return home. Although I have a number of problems here in Mauritania, I don't feel as though I am finished with this place or this place is finished with me. I believe that I could still leave a lasting impact here. I want to be here and that's actually a change I did not see coming. The feeling of ownership has finally hit me here and I can't leave all the good relationships I've built among Mauritanians and American volunteers.

In total we lost 21 volunteers and without the incoming class--a whole different blog--we are reduced to only 47 volunteers at present. It will be a long kinda lonely year, but we have the resolve and fortitude to stick it out.