Twists and Turns
For reasons I can't explain, I haven't been very good about blogging about my Peace Corps experiences in The Gambia. Sorry! But it feels like time for a quick update because a lot has happened/is happening now and I wanted to let my friends and followers know about my whereabouts.
I decided on Feb 22 to resign from Peace Corps and come home to Colorado to be with and support my mother through her last phase of life. I arrived on Feb 28 and am staying with my sister and her husband in Longmont, CO. I also have a brother, sister-in-law and nephew living nearby in Erie. My mom had an apartment in an Independent Living facility nearby for the past three years. She was assigned to hospice care last fall due to cancer, with an estimated 3-6 months to live. I was able to come home to spend a couple great weeks with her last fall, before she started declining. And I was able to spend 2.5 weeks with her since my return in February. After celebrating her 92nd birthday last Friday, enjoying pizza and cake with family, she started to rapidly decline and passed away peacefully last night. I'm so glad I was able to spend that time with her and other family members. I expected her to be with us for another month or so but am very happy she passed quickly once things got difficult. May she rest in peace.
Leaving The Gambia was really hard. Especially saying goodbye to my host family and village. While I felt like I had accomplished most of what I would be able to accomplish during my two-year stint, the local culture cherishes family and relationships and my departure happened way too quickly to allow for culturally-appropriate closure and send-off. That is my one regret. I have such love and appreciation for the people I lived and worked with in The Gambia. I will never forget them.
Two weeks after I returned to the US, the Peace Corps made the very difficult decision to evacuate all volunteers worldwide and bring them home due to the corona virus. Circumstances are such that Peace Corps couldn't be confident it could obtain adequate treatment or transportation for volunteers if and when the corona virus made its way to their locations, so it decided to bring them home. There are 100+ volunteers in The Gambia who were given the evacuation order last Sunday and instructed to pack and say goodbye to their villages on Monday and travel to the capital on Tuesday for a few days of wrap up before returning to America. I know there are a lot of hearts breaking and a shared sense of bewilderment. I made my decision to come home on my own and it was still bewildering. My heart goes out to all the PCVs going through this unprecedented event. Peace Corps is not shutting down business, just taking a pause. They fully intend to repopulate their posts when it is safe to do so.
And we've all returned to a country experiencing nothing like we could ever imagine. I like to think that our Peace Corps experience will help to bolster our capacity for altruism and taking responsibility, which are so critical now. I honestly don't know what my next step is, and didn't know that even before the corona virus changed everything - and now, oy vey! I hope to visit Oregon some time later this spring. Aside from that, we'll just have to wait and see. I trust that the path - the ongoing adventure - will reveal itself in due time. In the meantime, as they say in The Gambia, Jamma Rek (peace only).
I decided on Feb 22 to resign from Peace Corps and come home to Colorado to be with and support my mother through her last phase of life. I arrived on Feb 28 and am staying with my sister and her husband in Longmont, CO. I also have a brother, sister-in-law and nephew living nearby in Erie. My mom had an apartment in an Independent Living facility nearby for the past three years. She was assigned to hospice care last fall due to cancer, with an estimated 3-6 months to live. I was able to come home to spend a couple great weeks with her last fall, before she started declining. And I was able to spend 2.5 weeks with her since my return in February. After celebrating her 92nd birthday last Friday, enjoying pizza and cake with family, she started to rapidly decline and passed away peacefully last night. I'm so glad I was able to spend that time with her and other family members. I expected her to be with us for another month or so but am very happy she passed quickly once things got difficult. May she rest in peace.
Leaving The Gambia was really hard. Especially saying goodbye to my host family and village. While I felt like I had accomplished most of what I would be able to accomplish during my two-year stint, the local culture cherishes family and relationships and my departure happened way too quickly to allow for culturally-appropriate closure and send-off. That is my one regret. I have such love and appreciation for the people I lived and worked with in The Gambia. I will never forget them.
Two weeks after I returned to the US, the Peace Corps made the very difficult decision to evacuate all volunteers worldwide and bring them home due to the corona virus. Circumstances are such that Peace Corps couldn't be confident it could obtain adequate treatment or transportation for volunteers if and when the corona virus made its way to their locations, so it decided to bring them home. There are 100+ volunteers in The Gambia who were given the evacuation order last Sunday and instructed to pack and say goodbye to their villages on Monday and travel to the capital on Tuesday for a few days of wrap up before returning to America. I know there are a lot of hearts breaking and a shared sense of bewilderment. I made my decision to come home on my own and it was still bewildering. My heart goes out to all the PCVs going through this unprecedented event. Peace Corps is not shutting down business, just taking a pause. They fully intend to repopulate their posts when it is safe to do so.
And we've all returned to a country experiencing nothing like we could ever imagine. I like to think that our Peace Corps experience will help to bolster our capacity for altruism and taking responsibility, which are so critical now. I honestly don't know what my next step is, and didn't know that even before the corona virus changed everything - and now, oy vey! I hope to visit Oregon some time later this spring. Aside from that, we'll just have to wait and see. I trust that the path - the ongoing adventure - will reveal itself in due time. In the meantime, as they say in The Gambia, Jamma Rek (peace only).
Hi K, I'm so sorry about the loss of your mom. Sadly we know too well what it's like. I'm so very happy for the choices you made to both be with her when she was still feeling fairly well, as well as the choice to come back near the end of her long life. Saying what you wanted to say I'm sure was nice for both of you. We will miss her and that generation of our Cobbs. I'm sure she is enjoying the laughs with siblings and your dad that they always had. Love, Nance
ReplyDeleteHi Karen. I'm so sorry to hear about your mom's passing, but so glad that you were able to spend time with her at the end. Thanks for updating your blog and stay in touch. Love, Marcia
ReplyDeleteKaren - thanks so much for sharing this with me and I understand the immense sense of loss of both your Mom and your Gambian family. Cheers - Danelle
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