Peace Corps Guinea Evacuated

I am writing from Bamako, the capital of Mali, where we have been taken after evacuating Guinea. We (my mom and I) are both safe and very happy to be out of all the chaos of Siguiri. It's been quite a trip for my mom, and honestly, I doubt she will want to come back to Africa, after having a car accident, getting sick, and listening to hours of gunfire outside of my house. But we are safe now, so don't worry.

Here's a little of the story behind why we were evacuated. The labor unions of Guinea called for a general strike to start on the 10th of January, and they asked for the president to step down. Since then, protesters have taken to the streets, and the military has tried to force them back inside. It was violent mostly in the big cities, especially Conakry. In Siguiri, the strike was quiet until last Monday, when the villagers started to protest, burning tires in the street, diverting traffic, and calling for an end to the opression. The military answered with guns, killing two (one an 11 year old boy). My mother and I were trapped in my house downtown listening to close gunfire all day. On Tuesday things started off with 45 minutes of gunfire at dawn right after prayer call, warning everyone to stay inside all day. So we stayed inside most of the day. Wednesday was back to normal, but today, Thursday, the villagers were calling for more protests and a group of men were calling for the death of the police commissioner, who had killed the little boy. Luckily, though, we didn't have to stay in Siguiri for that. Peace Corps showed up at my door at 7am to evacuate the upper region of Guinea. The rest of the volunteers will be evacuated tomorrow and Saturday. Negotiations between the president and the unions are continuing, but we shall see...

Truly, it has been great to feel safe and secure here in Mali. We are hoping to get my mom on a plane sooner than expected so she can safely get back to America. I, on the other hand, will hang out in Mali to decompress and hope for a safe return to Guinea after the violence is over. It's been a rough couple of weeks, but things are fine now and everyone is safe. Thank goodness.

I will have access to email daily, so please feel free to write and expect a response shortly.

I miss you all and hope to talk to you soon.

And please send prayers/happy thoughts to my family and friends in Guinea. They are stuck there in the midst of all of this without Peace Corps to take them to safety. Let us all hope Guinea returns to calm before too many other people are hurt.