(Halloween 2010 with the new volunteers and a watermelon!)
As time comes to a close in my village, I think back to the last 26 months I have spent in Burkina, all the flat tires, crying babies, RICE, and miss pronunciation of my name, and I think to my self, what a great time it was. I know my service wasn’t what I thought it would be, but on the other hand, I had no idea what I was getting my self into.
My French/Moore isn’t as strong as I wanted it to be in the end, I defently didn’t do all the projects I wanted to, but I know that I did make a difference to my community. I am fully integrated into a culture unlike my own and I am flourishing. I could have done nothing for my entire 2 years and everyone would have still loved me. I know most people outside Peace Corps would think this too, but there are a few volunteers who do A LOT more than I did in their two years and their villages were not as grateful. Visiting villagers and living with them are completely different. Each person has a completely different service. We each made it how we wanted it to, and for the most part we all finished what we started.
Now that I set a date for departure, I informed my village, they have been making me feel like a millionaire, asking me to not leave, or to take back their children, threatening to hide me from Peace Corps, so I can’t leave, and it’s such a sweet gesture. I know that staying in village would be great for me, but in the long run it may hurt my village, changing it up will be good for them, they can get a new perspective on things.
With that being said, I am leaving my village the 13th of this coming up month. It’s going to be super hard. There is another volunteer replacing me in Jan.
Since I know its going to be hard to leave I decided to stay in Burkina for another year! I am making a 13 month commitment to another area where I would be working with a NGO in a larger village. More details on the job later.
I will be home for Christmas and looking forward to seeing you all. Thanks for the support these past two years.
*AUDREY*
