Early COS

I don’t know if you have heard the news or not, but my training group from Peace Corps has been forced into an early Close of Service (COS). We got notification last week via e-mail that we would now have to be finishing at the end of March instead of the middle of July. The news was bittersweet. Part of me is ready to head back home and be closer to my friends and family but the other part of me would really like to finish what I started here and complete the projects that I was going to give the women that have been working with me.

This past week we had an All Volunteer Conference with Peace Corps to discuss changes being made within Peace Corps Guatemala. The Regional director, the man that oversees the PC countries in Central and South America, came to speak about the decision that was made for my training group to finish early. The decision for my group to end early was a means of reducing the total number of volunteers within the country of Guatemala. They want to reduce the number of volunteers because of the increase security risk Guatemala is to us. They want to better be able to control those that are in country and keep them as safe as possible. We heard the lead up to why these decisions have been made and were better able to understand why such drastic measures were being taken.

The Regional Director stated that the Northern Triangle of Central America, which includes Guatemala, is the second most dangerous place in the world, second only to an active war zone. I must tell you though that violence in Guatemala is fairly concentrated within the capital city and a few other areas. The majority of the country, where a lot of the volunteers are located, is not dangerous. Some volunteers are being relocated that are in these less safe areas. We are fine if we stay in our sites, but that really isn’t feasible or desirable for us to stay in our sites. We need time away to go visit friends and just relax. That is where the problems come into play, how to keep us safe while traveling and out of our sites. For that reason the decision was made to decrease the number of volunteers in country.

We asked the Director if there was any way that our COS date could be pushed back a month or two for us to have time to finish our projects but he informed us that if he was to make an exception for us that he would have to for others and that just wouldn’t work.  My program, Healthy Homes, is designed to spend the last year of service working with community members to help them get projects, having an early COS date really puts a damper on this for us. The process for projects is pretty involved and involves the community at every step, teaching and training them the process of diagnosing and solving problems amongst themselves. The process can’t be rushed because then it loses its sustainable aspect.

At first, I was really bummed that I couldn’t carry out my projects. Through the process I realized that maybe my communities aren’t really ready for projects. After some reflection, I can see that they were not taking as much ownership of the project as I would have hoped. The goal of the project is not to give stuff to the families but to teach them sustainable ways of living, to educate and empower them to help themselves. When our second year of service comes around, we are not required to do project but must evaluate our communities and see if it is a reasonable action to carry out with them. I think I jumped too soon into the idea of doing projects. I don’t think my community was really ready for the work that would have gone behind it. They were really just looking for the handout of a new project. I think this early COS was God’s way of telling me that it wasn’t time for projects here in my site.

I really wanted to do projects because they would be a tangible culmination of my work here. I don’t know if any of you out there have worked in Development, but it can be a challenging because the results don’t always come right away. I have been educating women about how to better their health but the results of my work will take time to develop. I have planted seeds in these people’s lives and pray for them to grow. It’s hard to feel like I am really making the change when I don’t see much fruit for my labor. In Development work, you just have to know you are making a difference and that has to be what keeps you going. It’s a challenge to say the least but I think through this process, God is bringing me back to the basics of my work here. Development work is about investing in people and empowering them to better themselves. I think that I was able to accomplish that, maybe not to the extent that I was hoping for but if I was able to change one person’s life within my time here then I think that makes it all worth it.

Please be in prayer for the women I have been working with as I haven’t notified them yet of the change in plans. I am really hoping that they can understand all that is going on and that they know me well enough to know this was never my intention.

Please also pray for other volunteers that will be COSing early. Pray that we all may be able to finish well.

Also for volunteers that will be relocated. This is the group of volunteers in my program that are a year behind me. Some of their sites were in unsafe areas and they have the choice to relocate or COS. Pray that they may continue on in their work here and they may be able to have smooth transitions. They will be relocated to volunteers sites that are in my group and will be COSing early. There is one that may be coming to my site. She is unsure yet if she wants to relocate or COS.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers

Another note:  If you were planning on sending money to my projects, I will no longer be in need of those funds, so please do not send them.  For those of you that have already sent in money towards my projects, I plan on using them for a smaller alternative project in my community TBD.