Thursday, January 29, 2009

Hi! This is Hunter's mom.

Remember the post that Hunter was going to make while he was in Mamou this week??? Well, it won't be coming for some time as Hunter has been literally whisked off to a new site. Hunter had training with all of the PVCs in his group from Monday--Wednesday of this week. Then today he went with the Education Director to Cissela (also spelled Sissela) where they are in need of a math teacher. After weeks of waiting to know if he was to stay or go, things suddenly started to happen at lightening speed. I got a call from Hunter about 10:15 this morning and they were in Dabola on the way back to Sandenia. Hunter was to say his goodbyes, pack up tonight, be ready to roll at 8:00 tomorrow morning, and be prepared to start teaching on Monday morning at the new site. Unfortunately, Hunter's cell phone battery was low, so we didn't get to talk for very long, but here's what I know...

Cissela is a bigger town and actually shows up on a map if you Google it. Though Google will show you the geographic location of Cissela that's about all you can find--Hunter can be the first to put any info about it on Google and Wikipedia! Hunter is pleased that it actually has a gas station and in that gas station is a pop machine that dispenses cold drinks; the village also boasts a fairly nice hotel that hopefully has a generator. The school is small, but the kids do attend consistently and there are other teachers there on a regular basis, so that part was very encouraging. Hunter's hut was without a bed, table, or latrine this morning, but that's supposed to be taken care of before he arrives back at site, so someone may be busy digging as I type!

On the down side...he'll miss the friends he's made while in Sandenia, especially the Andersons and Tourre. There is no electricity or cell phone service. Unless he can find a hillside tree like he did outside Sandenia, phone calls will be limited to every few weeks when he goes to visit another PVC about 50 kilometers away, and it may be March before he has internet access again.

Please keep Hunter in your prayers as he embarks on this newest African adventure. He misses all of you and wishes that there had been more time for phone calls and e-mails before this transfer took place.

2 comments:

Snizow said...

Thanks for the update! Mucha and I are in san diego plotting for june as I type.

Anonymous said...

Hi.

My amazing friend Magda let me know about your blog since I've been considering Peace Corps for years and started talking about wanting to go to Africa during our thesis studio. I am now awaiting the invitation, as I've been going through the process for some time now and spoke with the placement officer the other week. In the past day I read your entire blog while doing little physical therapy sessions for my hip so that I might train again. So far just 26.2m marathons for me, Big Sur being my favorite so far for it's incredible beauty. Just wanted to drop a note and say I appreciate the humor, detail, and honesty in your writing.

Best Regards,
Sarah