movin on uuuup....

After all of my contemplating and worrying about what the right thing to do was, the decision was taken out of my hands and made for me. I met with my Country Director and expressed my concern about my transportation situation. I had heard rumors that PC might be able to give volunteer satellite phones to use if they have absolutely no cell reception in case of emergency. After listening to my argument as to why Owen my site mate and I needed a satellite phone my (which was a very good one at that) I was denied! My Country director calmly sat back in his chair and said “frankly Gloria, I don’t see communication as being the problem, it’s your transportation that is the issue and we are going to move you.” That was it! I don’t really think anyone person is to blame in this situation, My village or course eager to get a volunteer may have told PC what they wanted to hear and may have suggested that we have transport in and out of the village more than we really do , in order to comply with PC standards. Then there is PC staff who go out and do site visits, they take PC transport and have drivers, they don’t have to ride on public transport so they have no way of knowing what the actual transport is like and how often it runs.
After my accident I will honestly say I was scared to leave and/or return to site. I don’t have the greatest luck when it comes to transport in general, Africa or the US for that matter so I was very worried! So, that being said, a HUGE weight was lifted off my shoulders but I still felt really guilty about leaving my village. I moved to my banking town Dioila which is 47K North of my old village and on the main road. My mode of transportation now is a big charter bus that goes back and forth between here and Bamako daily… WORLDS BETTER! There is an French NGO working here in Dioila so rode with them once to visit my village already and hope to get the chance to go back a few times a month.
Even as I am getting settled in my new home and working on getting my work in order, I still think about whether this move was the right decision or not… it wasn’t until two days ago that my moving was confirmed as a GREAT idea. I was at the family of my village counterpart (Adama, the matron at the hospital), when they told me that on Saturday the bus from Dioila to Senou (my old village) crashed on its way injuring 22 people and killing 1 or 2. They were a little fuzzy on the details, since Senou doesn’t get cell reception; Adama sent word to her family that she wasn’t going to be able to come into town because the hospital was full of patients. I thank my lucky stars that the last accident wasn’t very bad and I came out unscathed. I really hope that this new accident will alert somebody that there is a problem on this road and with this transportation, so that hopefully more people don’t have to get hurt. I also thank everyone who says they have prayed for me while I have been here… God or Allah, or whoever you pray to had definitely heard your prayers!