WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009 - (Page 25)

Opinion BICYCLE! BAMENDA! ORANGE! Peace Corps evacuations are almost as old as the Peace Corps. But that doesn’t make them any easier. by Clare Shepherd A Alyssa Moles fter a 1985 airport bombing in Libya caused Peace Corps leaders in Cameroon to worry for the safety of their volunteers, RPCV Robin Ingenthron found himself “consolidated” with all other volunteers, listening to the Peace Corps staff member establish the code in the event of an evacuation. “‘Bicycle’ meant stay put but be on guard. ‘Mommy wagon’ meant we should gather our things and proceed to evacuation in an orderly fashion. ‘Airplane’ would mean to flee our home village immediately,” said Ingenthron. “Suddenly she raised her voice in dramatic fashion and said ‘Now! Imagine! You are listening to the radio, and you hear me come on and say these words: “Bicycle! Bamenda! Orange!! What do you think to yourself?’ Silence in the room. Then I said out loud, ‘Oh s , I should have paid attention to you.’” The past few months has seen two large-scale Peace Corps program evacuations. In September of 2008, Peace Corps evacuated all 113 Bolivia volunteers in the wake of political turmoil. Again, in March of 2009, Peace Corps evacuated its volunteers in Madagascar due to anti-government protests and looting. The decision whether or not to evacuate volunteers in the face of possible danger is made by the Peace Corps Director, with the advice of country directors and relevant U.S. ambassadors. At times, a U.S. ambassador will order all Americans employed by the U.S. government to leave a country, necessitating an evacuation. Peace Corps evacuations are almost as old as the Peace Corps, and are a part the history of many instances of political turmoil. Peace Corps Chad evacuation 2006. a boat ferries Peace Corps volunteers from dougia, Chad across the Chari River to Cameroon. evacuated seven nations involved in the Six Day War in 1967. Volunteers were evacuated from Uganda in 1972 when Idi Amin took power. In 2001, 311 volunteers were evacuated from Central Asia before the start of the war in Afghanistan. Volunteers are also sometimes evacuated due to natural conditions. For instance, Honduras volunteers were forced to leave in 1998 due to Hurricane Mitch. The process of evacuation is often traumatic, taking volunteers away from their communities and projects without the chance to tie up loose ends or say goodbye. PRE-EVACUATION Peace Corps country directors often develop an emergency action plan at the first sign of trouble, and Peace Corps recommends that they routinely drill the volunteers. Plans often involve the use of radio or phones to alert volunteers (a Nigeria volunteer remembers knowing he had to evacuate when he got a call in the middle of the night saying simply, “the balloon is up”). In Bolivia, Peace Corps initiated plans 20 times in the months leading up to the evacuation. Usually, the plans involved staying on site and calling headquarters, but twice the Peace Corps “consolidated” volunteers—the last step before evacuation, moving all volunteers to a single location. EVACUATING Of course, when it comes time to evacuate, things don’t always go as planned. One Nigeria RPCV who served at the start of the Biafran War remembers volunteers nervously listening to Voice of America broadcasts on their short waves, waiting for word from Peace Corps. “There were repeated announcements Choose a premier program for graduate social work education at the School of Social Service Administration. Your SSA experience will benefit you and the communities you influence for a lifetime. SSA combines innovative initiatives in aging, community organizing, family support, and community schools with outstanding programs in clinical social work, social policy, and social service administration. Full- and part-time programs are available. SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION Online Application for Autumn 2010 opens September 1, 2009. Application Deadlines are December 15, 2009, January 15, 2010 and April 1, 2010. Application Fees Waived and Tuition Scholarships Available for Peace Corps Alums. Over 90% of master’s students receive scholarships. 100% of doctoral students receive full funding. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO www.ssa.uchicago.edu 866.213.6794 WorldView 2 http://www.ssa.uchicago.edu

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009

WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009
Contents
More Peace Corps Campaign: Better and Bolder!
Africa Rural Connect
Readers Write
You Too Can Be Bill Gates
Taking Peace Corps Back into the Field
Come for the Information, Stay for the Dancing
A “Green” Community Rising
Microfinance Pioneer Receives 2009 Shriver Award
The Colombia Project
A Voice for the Unheard
Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Microfinance Podcasts
Selected Microfinance Resources
Bicycle! Bamenda! Orange!
Luck and Fame
A Step in the Right Direction
Bringing What She Loves
Letter from Botswana: First Tongues of the Kalahari
Letter from Tanzania: Homo Sapien in Africa
In the Beginning (There Was John)
The Peace Corps Community Making a Difference
Community News
Advertiser Index

WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009

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