Miss Meraleen, I Presume?: Bureau Reconciliation

It is quite amazing how one person’s decision can effect so much. In my case, this decision was made by my newly appointed boss at the Peace Corps Bureau; Assistant Program Country Director (APCD) for the MCD Program. As I wrote in a blog post back in September, the country administration, more commonly known as 'the Bureau' denied my vacation request for this Christmas arguing several reasons that basically boiled down to; I had not been in country long enough to warrant a vacation. Well, given all the work that I’ve been doing in my village since and given that I had a new person to go to, I decided it might be worth asking again. Hence, around Thanksgiving I approached my APCD about going to America for Christmas. He had just visited me in Sagafondo a few days earlier and thus had seen both my work at the mayor’s office and my integration in the village. His first response was “I need to talk to some other people but will get back to you soon”. Three days later he called and sayd “I’m sorry but there is just no way you can go….”.

Well I wasn't just going to sit back and take that. There is a lot of discussion about the morale and trust between volunteers and the bureau, especially in my group since 15 people have decided to terminate their service early and basically quit the Peace Corps. I mentioned to my APCD that “if the bureau wants to know where the issue of bad morale comes from between volunteers and the administration, it is precisely because of decisions like these” and asked him to pass that on to the other senior staff members. Well, low and behold. Five minutes after getting off the phone, my APCD calls me back with a new decision…… I CAN GO!!!!

From absolute devastation, my mood turned to that of triumphant joy in a matter of 30 seconds. With this change a mood also came a change in my entire outlook of the Peace Corps and the people running the Niger Country Office. In letting me go, I feel like they recognize and appreciate the work I’ve been doing, the effort I have put in to integrating into the community and learning the language. In letting me go, I feel like the bureau has assumed their proper role of supporting me as a volunteer here in Niger but also understanding that I will not be happy and successful here unless I can maintain connections with loved ones back home. Finally, I feel like the bureau understood that it is in THEIR best interest to let me go because I will be a much better, dedicated volunteer because I will feel that the bureau has my back covered rather than being thereto act as a Police force.

YAAAAAY! I’m going to America for Christmas! On Wednesday the 17^th I will head to the airport, fly through Casablanca and New York to Boston where I will meet the love of my life. We will then drive to his family in Ohio for Christmas and I will be back in Niger on the 30^th. I’ll still get to celebrate the coming of 2009 six hours before my American friends ;)

Until I return,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!