I'm leaving for Ouagadougou on a plane tomorrow.
I've been in Guinea for over six weeks. School is in its fourth week. The entire time, I've been stuck in Dubreka with all the other volunteers (there are 17 of us total now). None of us are able to do the work that we came here to do. We are not allowed to travel overland, anywhere within Guinea. Elections have been delayed countless times (the latest date is November 7th, but we'll see). The US Embassy has been categorical in its insistence that we all stay together in Dubreka. No traveling to our sites. No traveling to Conakry. Just sitting and waiting.
I'm done. Life is too short to sit and wait.
We, as Peace Corps volunteers, have four options on the table right now. We can take Interrupted Service and get a plane ticket to our home of record (no cash-in-lieu). We can seek permanent transfers to other countries. We can sit it out and wait in Dubreka, searching for temporary work here. Or we can take administrative leave without pay... meaning we are still Peace Corps volunteers, but we're not getting paid.
I'm choosing to take leave without pay.
I hope I can come back to Guinea. I honestly have no idea what will happen to this country or the Peace Corps program here. I've said that I'll come back to Guinea when the Peace Corps program is ready to send me to my site and let me teach. No one has any idea when that will be. I can only hope that I can survive on my savings until then.
But for now, I'm a free man. I'm going to hang out in Ouagadougou, then go wherever the wind takes me.
Peace out,Phil