Ups and Downs

I know I've mentioned before about how Peace Corps is such a series of ups and downs emotionally. This week is a case in point. My dad and brother arrived on Tuesday, real exciting, but they were a day late. The reason was that dad had to go to the hospital in Nairobi for a partially collapsed lung. Fortunately he's fine now and made it ok and was well enough to go on the safari.

The safari was just amazing. We went through the Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It was amazing. We were at some point within ten yards of elephants, lions, cheetahs, a leopard, zebras, wildebeasts, and many other amazing animals. We also saw hippos, rhinos, and crocs and farther distances. It was simply amazing. We took hundreds of pictures and I'll post some shortly I'm sure. Then last night we returned to my house.

When we got back, the back door was open. Someone had broken through the lock and also the locks on two of the bedroom doors and a locked cabinet. Basically everything I had of value in the house was taken. Some of my dad's money and mine was taken, about $1000 worth in all, also my bicycle, my laptop (just brought to me from home), luggage, food, and even my photo album full of all the pictures I brought from home. Needless to say I'm pretty upset. Peace Corps has told me that since this isn't my first security incident I may have to change sites. This is pretty shocking. I love Mwanza despite my problems and frankly don't want to leave. Starting over at a new site is also pretty terrifying and I'm not sure I have the strength to go through it all again. Basically right now so much is up in the air and I don't know exactly what I think about it. Who knows, in a month I could still be here, anywhere else in Tanzania, or maybe even back in America. It's so frustrating because I thought my security problems were behind me. And to be honest, there's a good bit of anger that my house is the only one on the school ever broken into because someone sees me and assumes I'm wealthy. I almost feel a little betrayed because I'm here trying to help out and someone still feels justified in stealing from me.

Having said all that, the people at the school and my neighbors, and I should add PC staff, has been really helpful and supportive. And if I have to go through this, I'm glad it's when family's here. The way the people around have been behind me makes me feel particularly bad about the possibility of leaving. By next post maybe I'll know where I'll end up and how I feel about it. Hopefully I can now have a nice relaxing time with my family for a little while.