When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some

This post is dedicated to an unfortunate incident that involved my evacuation from La Mina. On September 3^rd I was asked by Peace Corps to leave the community and on September 28^th I was finally able to return to the community. While the details of the incident are insignificant to my readers, I want them to understand my emotions of being taken from a community. A community that after a year of being here in Panama and having to change sites, was finally feeling like I was getting work done. A community where I felt really loved. I was taken out because of consistent encounters with a young man who was clearly interested in me. The catalyst happened at a birthday party, when he approached me several times very intoxicated. That very same night he broke into another house and grabbed a girl. Peace corps saw it as a threat to my security and removed me.

I know throughout my blog I have complained about Peace Corps in various aspects, however I do want to say that with this security incident, I have been very pleased with how Peace Corps has handled the situation and my comfort. After several meetings with the community and lawyers and prosecutors, I was finally able to return. It was a hard time emotionally because I was not allowed to go back without a solid security plan, nor did I know when I was able to return. Every other day was a guessing game of where I was going to be or needed to be. I called volunteers on very short noticing asking for a place to stay so I didn’t have to be cooped up in a hotel in Panama City the whole time. I am very grateful to have had volunteers here to support me through the process along with the Peace Corps Staff.  Other options were to be placed in another community, but there was no way I was going to go through ANOTHER site change. Or I could have Early Terminated and retuned to the United States. As hard as my service has been here in Panama, I love my people of La Mina and could not think of abandoning them. I used this time to reflect on my service and visit volunteers in parts of the country I had never been.

On another note, I would like to thank all of those who donated to the Eco Stove project! In less than one week I was able to raise all of the necessary funds and now that I have returned to La Mina, we will be on our way to construction. Thank you all so much.