An All Too Familiar Situation…

Training in Ouahigouya was going along pretty well. We were in the process of peer teaching and learning French. I was supposed to begin my local language training, Jula, this week. Then… I found myself in an all too familiar situation.

We (all the stagiares) were called to a community meeting, which normally would not be alarming, but in this case, they started off taking roll… of all 100 people. Then, the Safety & Security Officer of Peace Corps/Burkina Faso walked in and said he had an important announcement. I knew nothing good was coming. They announced that a warden message from the state department was issued for Burkina. You can read the message below:


U.S. Embassy Ouagadougou issued the following Warden Message on June 7:

The U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou is issuing this Warden Message to update U.S. citizens resident in Burkina Faso on the security situation in northern Burkina Faso. This is a further update to the information relayed on June 5, 2010.

The U.S. Embassy has information that Al Qa’ida in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) plans to kidnap an unspecified group of U.S. citizens working on a humanitarian project in a village located in northeastern Burkina Faso near the Mali-Niger-Burkina Faso borders. In addition, the U.S. Embassy has declared the area north of the road stretching from Djibo to Dori off limits to official government travelers unless prior authorization for such travel is expressly given. U.S. citizens are strongly urged to avoid travel to this region.



They continued on to say that we would be evacuated from Ouahigouya to the capital, Ouagadougou immediately. EVACUATED?!?!?!? Again?? Yes! I know! This is a little too much for me (and Ali & Zach, the other Guinea evacuee’s who are with me here) to handle. We all started crying. This says a lot considering that all three of us went through this once before and never cried. It sucks.

We were locked down in a secure place in Ouahigouya for the night… without any of our things. We left straight from training so the most useful (… or useless) thing I had with me was my French Dictionary and a bottle of sunscreen. Damn. So for the next four days I (nor none of the other stagiares) had deodorant, soap, or a toothbrush. It was a long … and smelly 3 hour bus ride to the capital. The Peace Corps drivers were supposed to go around to all of our houses to collect our belongings. I hoped all my things would make it to me, but was prepared for nothing to make it. I’m happy to announce that all my things made it!

I am now living safely and comfortably in a hotel in Ouagadougou for an unknown amount of time. They say that we will continue our training here this week, which looks hopeful for the stagiares. The Peace Corps/Burkina Faso staff and Country Director are highly qualified and competant. They are devoted to our safety and I feel secure in placing my security in their hands. This threat only affects a small region of Burkina Faso, which, obviously, is off limits to all Peace Corps volunteers. I’m hoping this will only be a small bump in the road, and we will be able to continue training as scheduled.

On a brighter note… the staff is throwing us a 4th of July party tomorrow! There will be swimming, hamburgers and cake… a real American holiday hahah. I am looking forward to this!

In other news, this whole situation, obviously, reminded me of Guinea. So, I would like to announce that they, peacefully, held their primary presidential elections yesterday. There were 2 front runners chosen and the main elections are scheduled for a month from now. Hopefully these continue without any problems… inshallah.