PC Wanderlust

Tough times

So things have been pretty rough lately. I'm not sure how much national attention this is getting, but there have been bombings and threats of bombings happening all over the country recently. On November 29, improvised bombs exploded in Gazipur near the courthouse there, killing I think 9 people. On December 1, another bomb in Gazipur exploded near the District Commissioner’s office, killing one. The PCVs in Gazipur were consolidated to Dhaka quickly thereafter. Peace Corps put us all on Alert stage, which is the lowest level of security alert. Basically it means that we should keep our eyes and ears open and not do anything stupid, like go to the government buildings in our area. Everyone began getting worried and thinking that we may have to be consolidated. On December 2, a grenade was thrown at the major’s office in Sylhet. It did not detonate for some reason, but apparently a few people were injured when everyone rushed to evacuate the area. On December 3, a bomb was found in a government office in Khulna and a small village near Shirajgonj. I’m not sure if they exploded, but I didn’t hear of any injuries. Also on December 3, Khulna Zilla School and Hobigonj Government Boys School received bomb threat letters. In protest to the grenade in Sylhet, a local hartal for Sylhet only was called for December 4. I stayed out of the center of town, so I didn’t see anything, but I heard there were big protests in the city center. On December 4 (or 3?) Rajbari School received a bomb threat. Police swept the school but I don’t think they actually found anything. December 4 a bomb was found in the market at Kurigram, a very small village, near a mosque. On the night of (I think) December 3, a bomb was found under an empty bus in Gabtoli, Dhaka, but it did not blast. Since this all started, we have been getting five or more text messages a day, usually in the late evening, from our Safety and Security Officer. It’s gotten to the point where we all dread the sound of receiving a message on my phone because you never know what more bad news it is going to bring. Over the weekend, my site mate went to Dhaka and met with our administrative officer (who has taken over some of the safety and security responsibilities). They came up with a plan for each of the divisions to report to each other and relate all of their questions and concerns each day to their wardens, then the wardens can talk to our Security Officer every couple of days, or as needed. The people in my division have definitely had a lot of questions and concerns, so I talked to our administrative officer that day. It was somewhat comforting to talk to him about some things, but in a way also not really. I met later that evening with Craig and Nick to discuss how to go about things. Hearing Craig’s impressions of how the office is dealing with things did not help me feel any better. Basically the office's position is that it is an individual decision about what to do in this kind of situation (essentially whether to leave or not). The admin officer started out our discussion with a little “philosophy” saying that we are all adults and have individual control over everything we do. We must make our own decisions, and we try to use the resources around us to make these decisions. For us, our resources are other PCVs, staff, the US Embassy, our communities here, as well as friends and relatives in the US. So based on all the info we gather from all these resources, we have to make the best decisions we can. But we also have to accept that there is a certain degree of unknowable. He also pointed out that it is an individual choice on whether it is worth it (to stay here and put yourself at risk) and if you decide it isn’t worth it, can you make it worth it? If not, then well…
Basically there are two things which would definitely mean PC pulling its program. The first is if there was a regional outbreak (meaning India, Nepal, Thailand, Burma, and Bangladesh) of Avian Flu spreading person to person. The second is a very obvious security issue – if someone drove a truck bomb into the US Embassy and sent a list of Americans to be killed. To me these answers are unacceptable because they are so obvious. I, and many other volunteers, just want to know when to draw the line. When the risk become too much?
I know there IS a risk in being a PCV, and many of the risks were covered during our pre-service training. We covered such risks as health, theft, accidents, assault, sexual assault, etc. However, I also don’t feel like I was prepared for or warned that the threat of terrorists and bombs. This is not the military, and if someone is really willing to lay down their life for their country, there are certainly other programs to do it with. Before I came to Bangladesh, I decided (mostly as regards to sexual assault, since that was at the top of my list of worries beforehand) that I was NOT willing to risk my life, and if it ever got to the point where I felt endangered, I would leave. But again, where do you draw the line? I know that anywhere you go in the world is dangerous.
Anyway, these are my thoughts at the moment. For now, things aren't really THAT bad, so I am going to stick with it some more and see how things go. I'd really appreciate everyone's thoughts, ideas, support, questions, and encouragement, because I sure do need it right now! Thank you...

posted by Kathryn @ 12/07/2005 06:56:00 AM