Written Sunday December 18th -
On Friday afternoon, Peace Corps Honduras volunteers received a text message from admin telling us that our country director sent out an e-mail and to please take a look at it. At that moment, my power was out in my site, so I text a couple friends to ask if they could tell me what the e-mail said. However, the people I text were not able to check their e-mail at that time, either. Luckily, my power came back on about a half hour later, so I didn’t have to wait too long. BUT, for some reason my internet was being even slower than normal, and would load g-mail. It took another half hour to get the Webpage loaded, and then when it finally was - "fijese que" there was no new e-mail for our country director.
I got onto Facebook and started chatting with a handful of volunteer friends - and it turns out that my training class H-18 (or possibly just the health group from H-18) were not sent this “important” e-mail from admin. So, as all of us were chatting and speculating about what the e-mail could possibly say, the rest of the volunteers were getting the info.
Some of the chisme (gossip) circulating around was that Peace Corps Honduras was going to be shut down, that new volunteers were not going to be allowed into country, that admin was just announcing the new Safety and Security Officer to replace the VERY missed Juan Carlos. Thankfully a few H-18rs have site-mates who received the e-mail and passed it on to the rest of us.
So, at 8:00pm, three hours after our country director sent out the e-mail, us H-18ers finally received it. It was a very stressful few hours. Speculation and wondering eats at your nerves, but some of the speculations were true - it seems that Peace Corps is suspending the incoming of new volunteers to Honduras due to increased security risks in country.
The e-mail said the following:
“Due to ongoing safety and security concerns, Peace Corps has made the difficult decision to implement some important changes to its volunteer program in Central America - specifically Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. As many of you are aware, there have been several incidents in recent months across all three posts that threatened the personal safety of individual Volunteers. Consequently we are immediately implementing a series of actions to help mitigate safety and security risks. Today Peace Corps suspended Honduras’ February 2012 training group. In doing so, we are asking staff to redirect its energies to reinforcing the currently safety and security systems in place and to implementing additional measures in support of the recent policy shifts regarding family home stays and travel.
In the coming days, we will be announcing additional actions as we continue our analysis of the operating environments in Central America. Please rest assured that we are taking these initial measures precisely because safety and security of our volunteers is the agency’s highest priority. Our staff in Washington will be working to provide all of you with the support you may need.
We ask in advance for your patience and understanding as we work through the many details that are associated with the changes we are implementing.”
It has been two weeks since one of our volunteers here was shot in an assault on a bus, and this is the first e-mail that we have receive that really says anything. After two weeks of all of us volunteers e-mailing, texting, and calling each other talking about how we thought Peace Corps Honduras handled the situation with the injured volunteer, and what we thought was going to come of it all, it is nice to see some action being taken.
I see this step as a good one. I certainly did not want them to close Honduras completely, sending us all packing, but Peace Corps needed to do something to show that they were accepting the reality of our situation here in Honduras. I am not aware of any of the specifics of El Salvador nor Guatemala, but I do know that Honduras is more dangerous than both of them, as it is currently the most dangerous country in the world that is not at war.
I was told during our three hours of waiting to read the e-mail, that the new training class that was supposed to arrive in Guatemala in two weeks was cancelled, and I had a feeling that would the same fate we were going to be facing. However, because Honduras is more dangerous, part of me was afraid that we might be facing a larger/worse fate - being sent home.
Who knows, though, they said in the e-mail that in the coming days they will be announcing additional actions. I’m curious to see what that means for us volunteers in Honduras. I also heard a rumor that volunteers from Guatemala and El Salvador were not going to be allowed to travel into Honduras - so does that mean that we are not going to be allowed to travel into those countries either? If that is the case, I will be extremely bummed as my mother will be here in a month and we were fully planning on going to both of those countries.
I’m sure that these “additional actions” are going to include a number of travel restrictions in and out of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, and travel out of your site. Every time those sort of policies get put in place most of us volunteers cringe - yes - we understand why the policies would be implemented, but it just makes us wonder - if we are going to be forced to stay in a little bubble due to the security issues, is it worth trying to keep Honduras open? I know that I am just speculating there, but it would follow the trend of Peace Corps’ normal reaction to situations, so I’m not going to be surprised if we are hit with a bunch of travel restrictions and policies throughout this week.
Like I have said. I do not want to see Honduras get shut down, but then at the same time all of us volunteers are worried about our own personal safety. I, personally, feel very safe in my site, and when I travel to the nearest city to do my grocery shopping, I never feel unsafe. But, traveling to and from San Pedro always puts me a little on edge. And now, after the shooting, I am not in any hurry to travel through La Esperanza, which is always so much easier when I need to go down toward Tegus.
A lot of volunteers have mentioned to me that they think Honduras is going to end up being shut down very soon - and they very well could be right. At this point ,though, I honestly have no idea. It could go either way. But, what ever happens, I don’t think they will be announcing it until after the holiday season. So everyone staying in Honduras - please be cautions when traveling for the holidays, and those of you going back to the States (luckies), I hope that you will all return even with our current circumstances here in Honduras. But, we will all understand if that is not the choice you decide to make.
Updates to come as I receive them.
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