Transparency

The last month of my Peace Corps Service will hopefully be the low point of my service.  Following an investigation into the violation of Peace Corps zero tolerance drug policy, eighteen Peace Corps Volunteers were sent home, abruptly ending approximately one-fifth the volunteers currently in country.  What made this loss even more difficult was the manner in which the investigation was conducted.  Investigators from the Office of Inspector General, previously having served as military investigators in Iraq and Afghanistan, conducted what could be best described as a witch hunt. Volunteers were unable to have legal council or other representation during questioning, were told if they failed to comply with the investigators requests could be federally prosecuted, and were interrogated with open hostility leading many volunteers to tears and anxiety (many of whom were not found in violation of the drug policy).  This process led me to an introspection on whether I could continue my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer, with a loss in trust in the structure in which I found myself working under.  After a large group meeting between volunteers and staff in addition to a one-on-one meeting with the country director of Peace Corps The Gambia, I feel some of that trust has been restored.  Currently efforts are being made to rectify two areas of concern: 1) The manner in which the investigation was conducted and 2) The environment in which drug use became so widespread.  It is in these efforts that I have found myself hopeful that the values to which Peace Corps holds paramount will be upheld here within The Gambia throughout the rest of my service so that volunteers can focus on partnering with the Gambian communities in which they live.  I am thankful that through this valley of my service I have had such amazing support from my Gambian family, my head teacher to whom I hold dear as a brother, and the community of Peace Corps Volunteers who have walked this difficult road alongside me.  Inshallah my next post will be of a more positive nature, but I felt it important to share this experience as best I can with you all.  Know that I hold each of you dear in my heart.