Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania - By the Sea

So, I am sitting here at a beautiful beach resort about 17 kilometers away from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Every morning I wake up and see the beach as I walk downstairs to the breakfast buffet. What a great way to start the day.

None of this beauty comes without the emotional stress that me and the other Peace Corps volunteers feel on a daily basis. Questions about if we are going to be able to return to site, return to country, if we will like our new site, how long we will be held here continuously run through our minds. While this is a nice vacation, this isn't the reason that all of us joined Peace Corps. As I sit here and pass the time, I am thinking that I could have all of this and my friends and family close if I just returned to the States. We are definitely losing the momentum as we stay here longer. Don't get me wrong, Peace Corps has been really accommodating to the situation with a great, relaxing resort, air conditioning, food, etc. but it's hard when you don't know what's coming next.

Up until Tuesday things had become much calmer in Kenya, but President Kibaki announced his cabinet on Tuesday afternoon which did not include any of Raila Odinga's party. We had been hearing that Kibaki would agree to a "joint" government, but then made this move to not include any ODM representatives in his cabinet. This made Kisumu erupt in riots and violence again, and one of our volunteers heard that many areas of Kisumu were on fire. So, the situation for western Kenya is not looking very hopeful.

Hearing some of the stories of my fellow volunteers is astounding. One of my colleagues in Migori saw a man get shot right in front of him. Another near the Uganda border witnessed another man shot dead after stealing 2 loaves of bread. Resources such as food, clean water, and medicine are not reaching the western part of Kenya and we read that people may begin dying because of dehydration and lack of food. I am hoping that the situation will resolve itself soon, but I am not so sure of that. There is a safety and security team flying out from Washington to check on the status of Kenya. They are hoping to be able to relocate us to different sites before pulling us out of Kenya. The team from Washington will be looking at the resources, transportation, future safety, and if our job still exists at every site in western Kenya.

This state of limbo is really unsettling and while I am at a relaxing place, I would rather just know what is going to happen to all of us. I think the general consensus of the volunteers here is that we never thought this would happen in Kenya, one of the most stable countries in Africa. While I don't feel like I have experienced a lot of trauma, I definitely have been exposed to things that most Americans may never see or hear in their lifetime. To hear gun shots as you are falling asleep at night, seeing the local shop that you just bought eggs at burn to the ground, tear gas, etc. is crazy. I am fortunate that I didn't have to see as much of some of the other volunteers.

I will say that it was a really eventful plane flight out of Kenya. We took a little 10 seat jumper plane from the gravel runway in Kakamega for a 15 minute ride to Kisumu. There we loaded a chartered plane to Dar es Salaam, and we were able to see the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro as we were flying into Tanzania. I have spent a lot of time on the beach the past few days and am just waiting to hear about the next step. We have heard that they are going to close all of the sites in western Kenya, so I am most likely going to be assigned to a new site. I will update you all more as soon as I know the status. Our country director is coming to fill us in on more details this afternoon.

Hope that you all are doing well and are enjoying being back to school and/or work after the holidays.
Miss you all,
Diana