I'm not leaving in 6 days. I woke up this morning to an email from the peace corps country desk officer who left a cryptic message asking me to contact them as there have been a change in my departure plans. I first thing that came to mind was "oh by some miraculous twist of fate they've decided to station me in Fiji instead." I left a voicemail at the number I was requested to call and between then and the 15 minutes it look her to return the call I went through a full range of emotions from fear to relief to sadness. As much as I kid about RIM (Republique Islamique de Mauritanie) being hell...I've had six months to accept it, learn about it, and practice my french. It's a shock to the system to suddenly hear that I'm not going there for now...or ever.
So our visas have not been approved by the RIM embassy meaning we aren't legally able to get on a flight bound there. Our staging (orientation), flight, and training have been cancelled. Peace Corps is hoping things will settle down after the elections in July and we'll be on our way mid-August. In the meantime, they say they have not heard a definite answer from the Mauritanian government so no one's really clear what the chances of us going are. This is all stemming from a military coup that occurred last August; since then there's been a lot of political tension and instability. They're hopeful that all Peace Corps programs will continue since the agency has a long history in the country and this is the first time they've run into this problem.
I'm still letting news of this unexpected delay soak-in. I've quit my job and arranged my travel plans around my Africa departure. Basically all the decisions and plans I've made since last December have been for this program. I guess for now all I can do is wait. They said if this continues into August Peace Corps will start to look into alternative locations for us. Fiji here I come?
