PC Wanderlust

How much can one take?

Some more updates:
On December 7, we got a text that the Regional Safety and Security Officer (I think for the East Asia region) is making a visit to Bangladesh. She texted later that day to say she will be in the country for two weeks, visiting various sites and listening to us. Also found out on that day that another one from our group is going home. That makes five now that have left pretty much for security reasons. I talked with a bunch of my friends here in country that day - an extremely rough day. On December 8, my host family told me that one of the schools in Sylhet had received a bomb threat and RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) was investigating. I texted our Safety and Security Officer about it, but she did not send out a text to everyone informing them. This makes me think maybe for the texts she’s sent out in the past about schools receiving bomb threats, maybe those are only ones where PCVs are stationed? Or maybe the office finally realized that telling us about every thing that happens really wears you down! Also on December 8, two explosions happened in Netrakona, where two PCVs live. The blasts happened near the Udichi Office (a cultural academy). According to PC, 35 were injured and 5 were killed, including the suicide bomber. (I think the number has gone up now, but I'm not sure to what.) The PCVs in Netrakona were put on Standfast (meaning they are to stay inside their homes) and everyone else is still on Alert. Those PCVs have since been consolidated to Dhaka. Also got a message that day that there were rumors of bombing in Noga and Nilfamari. PCVs there (don’t know who or how many) are ok. We later got a message asking all PCVs to contact their wardens so that everyone could be accounted for and ok. Apparently a newspaper vendor in a small city near here told the PCVs there that Bush is to blame for all this. In another city in this area, the marketplace has been absolutely empty (which never happens!), and that a vegetable man told his son not to go anywhere because it is too dangerous. Later, we got a follow-up text on the Netrakona bombing - 9:20am a small explosion happened near Udichi, a crowd gathered, then at 10:25 suicide bombers entered the crowd and detonated. 45 were injured and 7 killed, including a bomber. Another text on Dec 8, Nilphamari bomb rumor not true. In upazilla (small village) near Nogaon, there was an explosion night of Dec 7. Rumor was that the bomber was riding a rickshaw and the bomb detonated early. More news, Small explosion in Nilphamari: a boy was injured exploding a cocktail while he was playing with it without knowing what it was. Also Dec 8, bombs detonated in an upazilla in Meherpur district (west of Kustia). No PCVs in that district. I called a good friend here to discuss things and see how she was doing. She and I are both thinking very similar things right now - that we REALLY want to stay, but are not willing to take more risks than we need to. We are both really stubborn and don’t want to quit, but are coming to realize that leaving now would not be quitting. It would not be failing. She said one of her friends pointed out that the only reason she feels like leaving now would be quitting is because she came here thinking she would definitely stay for two years. However, if she had come with a timeline unspecified, it would be a lot easier to say, hey, I’ve put in 4 good months and now it’s time for me to go. I also called another friend from the group that came here one year ago to see how her group is feeling. I wanted to know if our group is just really overreacting to all of this or what. She said that most of them are pretty anxious, but not really as much as us newcomers. She really didn’t seem terribly concerned. She also lives in a very small town way out of the way from anything that’s happened so far. I think anyone who isn't concerned about their safety right now is fooling themselves, really. A lot of us have the same concerns right now - this is not what we signed up for. We signed up for PEACE Corps. I have not decided on anything at this point, but I've been talking with a lot of people and doing a ton of thinking. Like I said, I don't WANT to leave, but if I feel like staying is making compromises to my safety, then that really isn't very smart.
Tomorrow, the regional security officer, our program manager, and our safety and security officer are planning on coming to the city. They want to meet with all the PCVs in this region. I will be very interested to hear what they have to say, and I'm very much looking forward to being able to voice all these concerns and questions.
Thanks to all of you you have called or written. It really means a lot to me to know that I have so many people supporting me in whatever I do. Thank you!

posted by Kathryn @ 12/12/2005 05:17:00 AM