Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Crew of 2011 is Outstanding

These have been the worst of times for the Crew of 2011 and yet each individual member appears still to be thriving, We must applaud all crew members who elected to come home. Certainly that was a poignant decision as they had to give up their personal goals, dreams, missions, and say good by to their good friends. We trust they all arrived in the States safely and we know everyone will feel fortunate to have them around the holiday table.

We must embrace those crew members who made the decision to stay. They too weighed their decisions and are willing to adjust to any new conditions to stay working with the people of Niger

As friends and family of the Crew of 2011, we can only feel proud. We would love to hear from you if your crew member arrived in the States safely or if the crew member is staying in Niger. Will shares with us that many people are being relocated and that everyone is looking forward to January to being together in the training camp. November reminded John and I to hold on to our faith, trust the cautious nature of the Peace Corp, and be grateful that our children are adult enough to make their own decisions.

Warmest regards

Patty and John

PS: The word on the Niger street is that everyone is loving the holiday cards!
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6 comments:

  1. Elizabeth has arrived at home safely. All best to the volunteers, whatever decisions they have come to.

    With great admiration for each of you,

    Marcia

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  2. Audrey has decided to stay. I'm very proud of her, even though of course part of me wishes she were coming home!

    I ran across a blog of someone from our group, Katie, and she posted that she is home safely. It was interesting and yet difficult to read her post about her decision. http://katiecrocker.wordpress.com/

    They are all heroes to me.

    Sarah

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  3. Happy Holidays to all. Katelyn is back in her village. She reports her kitten is still alive after her absence during Thanksgiving, She also has a chicken that just laid 3 eggs. All of our Christmas packages have arrived. She sounds better than she did just a couple of weeks ago. She is finding it hard dealing with so many of the crew leaving to go home. She is looking forward to being with everyone in January.

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  4. A very happy holiday and new year to all. Spoke with Emily at length this weekend. She has returned to her post and hopes there are no further incidents or interruptions. She too struggled a lot with the loss of so many of her stage mates. They grew close quickly and invested a lot in each other, and she wonders if their paths will ever cross again. There is also some anger/sadness about the impact on the people of Niger. She frequently commented that they were a "bad @@@" stage and is also looking forward to seeing everyone together again in January. Things in her village are going well and her health remains good. She has been spending time with her mayor, visited a number of schools including a trade school and meets with some women's groups which include a grain bank and a credit union. She will be able to identify which of her project ideas are feasible in January.

    Ironically Washington is getting snow like she never saw there and she would have had a terrible time getting home for the holidays! I am comforted by the fact that a couple days celebrating with her peace corps friends in Niger will be a lot more festive than sleeping on the airport floor with strangers!

    The very best to all of you and to all your children ... they are doing what the holdidays are all about ... bringing light into the world.

    stacy

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  5. Hi, My daughter is in the group that went to Niger in October, then was transferred to Madagascar.

    I am thinking of getting a Stana card, because of a recommendation on this blog. Is there someone who wants a referral? Please let me know. I would be happy to do so. If possible, I need to get information by December 24th. I am going to set up the account by then, to be able to make a family call to my daughter. You can contact me at lthieme@sbcglobal.net

    Thanks,
    Louise Thieme

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  6. Happy new year!!!
    Feliz año nuevo!!
    Bonne Année!!!

    Pablo from Argentina
    http://albumdeestampillas.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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