Date: 15 August, 2004
Location: Maseru, Lesotho
Re: 27 Months
As I just finished my "Description of Service" - the obligatory summary each Peace Corps Volunteer must write at the close of their service - I realize that Peace Corps Washington is only interested in my numbers. So here are my numbers: I read 85 books. I travelled to 9 countries. I memorized 220 countries in alphabetical order. I travelled to all 10 districts of Lesotho. I taught 62 Basotho entrepreneurs basic business skills. I lived in 3 rural villages. My best friends here were 26 and 62. And I served my 27 months.
27 months ago, 27 months seemed like a very long time. 27 months ago, i was saying goodbyes to many of you and heading off toward a life that I could not even visualize in a country that I could barely even pronounce correctly (for those of you STILL struggling, it's le-sue-two). 27 months ago, I faced a tough transition, but I knew I could survive 27 months and that I would see (most of you) again. The 27 months are over, and as a france of reference, 27 months no longer seems that long. Over the past few weeks, I have said goodbye to many people who I will never see again. I am again heading off toward a life that I cannot visualize, only this time, it's the REST of my life, and I return to a country that has changed much in my absence while I have changed much as a person.
Much has happened in two years. I missed being on my home soil while my country went to war; the union of protest against that war; a former president's death; my brother's college graduation; many of my closes friends' weddings; and the final episodes of Friends and Sex in the City. But, in lieu of all that, I have seen much. I was here and felt what is was like to be ahated American abroad during wartime; the 10 year anniversary of South Africa's democracy; the impact of a 40% HIV infection rate; 200 fellow PCVs came or left; incredible lightning storms and snow in Africa; and my 87 year old ntate getting electricity for the first time in his life.
As of midnight tomorrow, I earn the important "R" in "RPCV" (RETURNED Peace Corps Volunteer), thought that is somewhat misleading as I will not "return" to the states until 2 October. For the next 6 weeks, I travel. I need distrance from both Lesotho and america to reflect and prepare, recover and regroup, miss and anticipate. But at the moment, I feell lost and lonely, excited and seeking, proud and overwhelmed. And scared - I am indeed a little scared to travel the next six weeks alone, but I'm just not sure it would be worth doing if I weren't.
I will do my best to update you throughout my travels. But more importantly, i will see many of you soon. I am going directly to my sister's in NYC, then to VA to see my parents and brother, and then I don't know where.
I hopw this finds you well. I so look forward to seeing you are soon.
I DID IT. I'M DONE!! What a 27 months!
Jennifer Ruth
Date: 22 August, 2004
Location: Dar Es Saleem, Tanzania
Re: Seeing A Different Africa
A week on the road, and I mean that quite literally. Of the 7 nights I have been free of Peace Corps, I have spent five of them on buses. 71 hours of bumps and upright sleeping and four border crossings. And the real kicker is that I am still on my way! i'm finding comfort in motin, assuming that by the time I get exhausted, I will be somewhere I want to be, so I decided to shoot straight up to Uganda and then will work my way slowly back down toward my departure on 1 October. It is nice to just wonder about and see the countries unfold through the window. Though flying up would have been a luxury, it is therapeutic to watch the kilometers between me and Lesotho and Peace corps increase. I even got a free mini-safari yesterday - giraffe, zebra, buffalo, npala and elephants were grazing right up next to the road as our bus passed. I am relieved that I am doing this "by myself," though that is somewhat misleading because I have spent the last three days with an extraordinary couple I met from Boston who are travelling the world. It's comforting to have companions who are unrelated to PC and Lesotho - I get to storytell and it sounds so much more exciting and less apathetic than if I were travelling with fellow RPCVs.
I take the final leg of the trip north tomorrow - through Kenya to Kampala, Uganda. I hope to stick around there for a week or two. I have seen so much already - even if it was from the inside of a bus. Zimbabwe was not a sketchy as I expected, though it was a bit eerie that appearances remain so normal and you know from the press that everything is so screwy underneath. The north of Mozambique was absolutely picturesque. The temperature in Malawi was not a warm as I had expected, but the people made up for it. And I love Dar Es Saleem - it is a vibrant, integrated city with little to see but much to soak in.
I hope you are all well.
Jennifer
Date: 10 September, 2004
Location: Batare, Rwanda
Re: Greetings from East Africa
I am two days past my halfway mark, and as is so rarely the case, I actually feel like the timing is perfect. I find taht everyday I am mentally further away from Lesotho and Peace Corps, and the mindshare is transferred to thoughts of coming home.
Thus far, I have experienced 5 magical things: 1) driving through the Tanzanian country-side, Mt. Kilimanjaro and picturesque villages framing my bus window; 2) white-water rafting down the source of the Nile River, including 4 graade 5 rapids; Murchinson Falls where the wide Nile gets sucked through a 6 meter gorge and explodes into mist; 4) meeting mountain gorillas in the Impenetrabel Forest; and 5) hiking in between volcanoes in a thick jungle to view the graves of Dian Fossey and er family of gorillas. Furthermore, everyday I have experienced countless nameless adventures that influence and affect me, and make me feel very alive. Though my agenda is solo, I have met so many people - all extremely diverse (a Celtic Pagan, a gorilla-loving Jew, a British archeologist, Israeli honeymooners, STD-fighting med students, volunteers of every sort, Slovik chocoholik, travellors, wonderers and seekers), but all very generous and good companions.
Currently I am in Rwanda. It's a lush, rolling country that's beauty is marred by it's quiet history. I am battling with myself to see the perople here instead of their ghosts - with every face I see, I wonder how many people they individually murdered 10 years ago. Yesterday I visited two genocide memorials that had served as churches until April 1994 when thousands of Tutsis sought refuge there but were instead slaughtered. The experience was very gruesome, but I think I had to see it with my own eyes. I left not knowing how to feel, and ended up meeting an American couple who were struggling with similar emotions. We analyzed it over too many beers, and still have no answers.
I have two more days here and then I head off to Tanzania. I will keep you posted.
Jennifer