This unfathomable situation

It’s nice to know I’m still missed. For those of you still in Guyana, I miss you too. In fact I played cards this weekend for the first time since returning to the states and it just wasn’t the same. But how could it be? After all, the cards weren’t sticking to my fingers due to the Diet (insect repellant), a few rounds of Banks beers weren’t scattered over the table, strangers weren’t coming up to us asking for money or giving us advice on how to play our hand, and the stereo wasn’t at full volume. Oh, I almost forgot, I wasn’t sweating my b*lls off in a plastic lawn chair.

Thanks for the great email.

Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2002 21:31:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: “hidden”
Subject: Gone but not forgotten, Guy 10.1
To: [email protected]

Just tonight, some of us had a chance to get together. Of course your name got brought up and we again rehashed the circumstances surrounding this unfathomable situation. This is my first time at a computer since swearing in, and by the time you reply, I’ll be back in the bush, and won’t see a computer again for at least six weeks.

I wish this whole thing didn’t happen, and I peruse all the information on your website with the same level of shock and dismay I had when I first found out you were sent home (I found out about a week after you left the country… information doesn’t get to me very quickly). I just remember our discussion over Chinese food (remember? It was like we were seniors who had just graduated from high school, still hanging out in town… :) ) thinking that we’ll all enjoy a nice chuckle over this many times over the next two years, and beyond.

I hate knowing that you are missing everything going on here because of Earl the SOB (he hasn’t been winning many friends since you’ve left anyway, from what I hear) and his unilateral decision to deprive you of a really great experience. It’s so frustrating to have to be nice to him, just so I stay off the “radar”. I just want to tell him to f- off every time I see him, and I don’t even see him all that often.

On another note, the crime situation in Georgetown and on the East Coast is horrifying so you should feel a bit lucky to be where it’s safe. The rate of violent crimes here is truly fearsome… Four people were shot on one volunteer’s street about two weeks back. The volunteers in G-town don’t feel very safe here, and I am feeling very lucky that I don’t live here in town.

Well, I’m getting along in the bush just fine. The school is an absolute zoo (the students don’t learn and the teachers don’t teach). Hey, if it were a good school, I wouldn’t be there, right? :) One volunteer near me got dengue fever, but is now OK; although he and another volunteer were robbed just a few weeks ago, but I suppose they are both OK now.

I hate to sound so somber, because I am guessing that you are getting over this, but I just wanted to tell you that the folks down here aren’t going to forget you any time soon. I might sound like an old man (or as the Guyanese say a “Big” man) but please don’t forget that everything happens for a reason.