I rarely reblog posts, but this one touched my heart. Those who know me are aware that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia, way back when. I’ve followed several blogs of Peace Corps Volunteers serving now, Volunteers who were pulled out of the country last month because of Ebola. This blog brings Ebola a little closer. We must face it and deal with it. But it also captures the meaning of what it is to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. Thank you Nimu for sharing your thoughts. –Curt
Sorry that posting about my evacuation has taken one whole month (how long have I been home?!). The emotional roller coaster has taken the following progression:
- Disbelief and complete shock/feigning normalcy, but then lying awake at night
- Deep realization and reawakening of my love for specific people and aspects of Liberia/trying to savor fleeting moments that seem to occur in 4x fast-forward
- Utter despair over leaving and simultaneous insecurity about my unpreparedness for returning to America/crying to the point of exhaustion
- Total loneliness; this is a tragedy but no one is acting as such to make me feel better/sporadic bursts of tears
- Numbness/eating my feelings in front of a screen
About a week ago, I recognized the possibility that I might not go back to Liberia. With the negative trend in Ebola’s spread, I’m not sure what will happen, and no one really has the answers. It makes me angry…
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Thanks Curt for passing on that post.so much done then undone.
I’ve been following the blog of a young man from California who was teaching math in Gbarnga. He echoed many of the sentiments in Nimu’s blog. He was quite new in country, but many of his emotions were the same.
Here’s a fellow I’ve been following on Twitter, along with the Liberian Observer. I’m sure you probably are reading the Observer — they’ve got an RSS feed.
Interestingly, the observer used one of my Peace Corps pictures of a bush devil this summer for an article on bush devils it did. I’ve been following a volunteer in Gbarnga, as well.
This got to me too. We’ve just sent another contribution to Medecins sans Frontieres, but that’s all we seem able to do at the moment.
I am going through Friends of Liberia, the organization of returned Peace Corps Volunteers from Liberia. Also I am going to donate half of my book revenue. (recognizing it might not be a great deal:)) –Curt
That is generous, I hope it is bountiful.
Me too.
I read the post and some of the links she shared. It can be disheartening to live a place that has become a part of you suddenly. I didn’t imagine ebola would get to Nigeria, but now it has. Kudos to all who are working hard to combat it.
It’s scary, Timi, and particularly so in West Africa at this point. The world needs to pay much closer attention. –Curt