Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Here we go again...

Later today I depart for Azerbaijan to attempt begin my Peace Corps pre-service training again, but after all that has happened these past few weeks I wont believe it until we land in Baku (capital of Azerbaijan). The process to become a Peace Corps Volunteer is long and tedious. After being nominated for service back in December 2008 I didn't receive word until July 2009. Peace Corps (PC) likes to emphasis patience as a key virtue while serving as a volunteer and you will get plenty of practice in patience during the application process. Before preparing to ship off to Azerbaijan I had my country assignment changed multiple times. Originally I was nominated to teach English somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, but then I was ask to switch to an assignment in Central Asia and would have the chance to leave 2 months earlier. I soon learned my assignment would be Turkmenistan (T-stan) and after a month & 1/2 of preparing I set off to Philly for staging. Just as I began to meet my fellow T-18ers (we would have been the 18th PC volunteer group volunteering in Turkmenistan) we were informed by the PC staff that Turkmenistan had, without explanation, refused us entry to their country. The hotel conference room was silent. Many people had quite their jobs, sold their homes and had made other life altering decisions intending to be serving in Turkmenistan for 2 years. We were then sent home the next day and told to call in later that week in hopes that we could be squeezed into recently departed or upcoming programs. It really was annoying that we weren't given a reason for the cancellation which points to it being a political decision on the part of the Turkmen Government. The decision most likely had to do with recent developments in neighboring Iran or US criticism of education policy in T-stan (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_as/as_turkmenistan_peace_corps). What ever the reason I was extremely disappointed after being dumped by T-stan I held out hope that I could get placed in another country that I had higher in my list. I then received news that I might be placed in the Ukraine, but I had a few serious reservations about this program and after talking with the PC main office they then decided that my concerns were legitimate and decided to send me to Azerbaijan. I was extremely happy with being sent to Azerbaijan since it had been one of my top choices when I first applied to the PC. Now later today (If I can get any sleep) I will fly out to DC and then met with staff and fly off to Azerbaijan and begin a 6 week intensive training.

Azerbaijan is located directly north of Iran, south of Russian, east of Armenia & Georgia and west of the Caspian sea. Azerbaijan population about 8-9 million and they speak Azerbaijani (Also known as Azeri). Azeris are primarily religion is Shia Islam, but the government is secular. Azerbaijani is a turkic language related to both Turkish and Turkmen (the language spoke in Turkmenistan). Azerbaijan gained independence from the USSR in 1991 after decades of Soviet rule. But their Independence was marred by ethnic conflict and war with neighboring Armenia. The war resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties and many refugees (primarily Azeri) and at the end Armenia occupied 20% of Azerbaijan's territory. Both side refused to agree to peace terms and still the boarders are closed and refugees waiting to return home.

I am excited to serve in Azerbaijan, but after recent events I'll just be happy after we land in Baku! Wish me luck!