Updates

We finally heard back from Peace Corps Washington about the security review here in El Salvador. In an email sent to all PCVs it was stated: "The team concluded that Peace Corps can continue operations in El Salvador given the current safety and security environment if aggressive risk mitigation measures are taken and enforced."


So what are these "aggressive risk mitigation measures" you ask? Well, first things first, we will never be allowed to travel on buses that cross departments. Therefore, from now on I can only take buses within Morazan. Seeing as El Salvador is the size of Massachusetts, and there are 14 departments, this means that our travel on public transportation is pretty severely limited. For the time being, PC is running a shuttle Monday, Wednesday, Friday every week from each major city to the capital, so that volunteers can get to the capital if they have some official business there, or to transfer to another shuttle and go somewhere else in the country (to visit another PCV, or for personal travel, or whatever). 


Also, all volunteers who are living in determined "unsafe" areas and departments will be relocated. Luckily, most people are safe. All volunteers from San Vicente are being moved, as well as the other southern departments (La Paz, La Libertad, Sonsonate). But there are so few volunteers in those areas it ends up only being 3 or 4 people needing site changes. In the future PC will only be placing volunteers in the "northern corridor" of El Salvador, which is basically northern La Union, Morazan, Chalatenango, and Santa Ana. 


And lastly, the San Salvador office is being closed and moved and the training center is being closed and moved from San Vicente. This is a huge blow to PCVs and to staff. First of all, San Salvador is the only large, modern city in El Salvador. To move the office will mean moving it basically to a pueblo somewhere else. For staff, this is awful. Almost all of PC staff lives in San Salvador and do not want to have to commute hours away from the city for work every day. Rumors have been circulating that about 50% of staff will probably choose to leave when the office is moved (sometime in the next 6 months). 


There are still a lot of unanswered questions and uncertainties, but this is the basic gist of how things will be proceeding. Unfortunately, all of these changes have led to a lot of PCVs making the decision to opt for early Close Of Service (COS). The last possible date to take advantage of the early COS option is April 13, so people are starting to flow out of the country fairly quickly. Some of my best friends are leaving, which is very sad and hard to cope with. PC estimates that there will be about 20 volunteers left at the end of April. When we got here there were 140. My plan is to stay and ride it out, though. These changes won't really affect my day-to-day life, only when I choose to leave Morazan, which is about once a month. The biggest difference for me will be fewer PCVs to talk to on the phone...which is sad but something I can deal with. 


So this week we are heading to Tunco to do a despedida for Ashley and Cory, 2 of my friends who have decided to leave. It will be very sad to see them go, but it is also going to be awesome to get together with all of my friends after almost 2 full months of house arrest! I can't wait to get on the beach and enjoy the sun, sand, ceviche, and salvadoran beer!