Jan. 4, 07

Dear Sister Ann Mary,
Thank you for your kind words and helpful advice. It's good to get a different perspective and one of a person I admire. I recieved both your card and letter at the same time, and was bouble happy to have both.
I hope you had a nice holiday season. Mine was pleasant and relaxed. A group of PCVs and I went to Ghana to spend Xmas on the beach. Besides the grueling bus to get down there, the trip was really nice. I spent New years in village w/ another PCV from an adjacent village and New Years passed pleasantly, well, with the weather being blessedly cool (almost cold).
Today, however, brought unfortunate news. A close friend here, another PCV(Peace Corep Volunteer) has been forced to Early Terminate (ET) her time here in Burkina. It's a real misfortune, because she's honestly the best volunteer in our class. I relied on her for advice and ideas whenever we talked and I considered her a real friend. For my first year here, she was one of my closest neighbors (120 Km).Her abscence will be strongly felt, not just by me, but the entire class. She love her job on a level I could never achieve and she was excellent at it. I was never jealous of her success, just in awe by it. She was so motivating for me, that she talked me out of leaving and kept me motivated all through my tough 1st year.
Her loss hasn't shaken my resolve to stay, but facing another ten months without her driving force will be different from the 1st.

(A couple of weeks later)

Since first finding out about my friend's unfortunate departure, I've learned new details surrounding the circumstances. Turns out, she was forced to ET by "blackmail" method used by our country Director (CD). The CD had a photo, supposedly, of her on a moto, which is agianst regulations. The photo never actually showed a motorcycle, but was titled "moto". Thes she used to bully the PC into believeing she'd be shamefully administratively seperated from the Peace Corps. Thus, forcing her to ET. This CD, has since attempted, the same tactic w/2 other voluteers. None of which have ET'd, but cause undue harassment and emotional distress.
How does a person deal with an administration that goes out of it's way to persecute it's volunteers, by the means of a neighborhood bully? It's frustratin to try to be motivated to do good work and to go out of your way to do things for the bureau. I don't trust this administration and I know they don't trust me. So how do you bridge a divide when distrust & disrespect is growing between the two? do you shut up, keep your head down and out of the line of fire? Or do you speak up and demand the respect that you deserve and fight back? And maybe a bigger question, why shoul I have to fight against the administraion that should be working with us? Hopefully, Ill have answers in the coming months.
That;s it for now. How you're well. Take care.
Love,
Laura