{"id":10324,"date":"2020-06-17T13:49:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T17:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=10324"},"modified":"2020-10-07T10:04:55","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T14:04:55","slug":"home-too-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/home-too-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Too Soon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Erin Schreiber \u201918, serving in the Peace Corps meant fulfilling a childhood ambition. For Marisa Creta \u201919, it brought the honor of representing her country in a new and developing nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when the coronavirus pandemic forced the Peace Corps to evacuate all of its volunteers around the world\u2014a first in the organization\u2019s six-decade history\u2014both of their experiences came to an abrupt and unexpected end. And though both alumnae hope to return to their respective assignments, the uncertainty of if and when that could happen still weighs on their minds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schreiber says that growing up listening to her uncle\u2019s tales of his Peace Corps service (Honduras in the 1990s) planted the seed in her mind about doing something similar. Her involvement with Monmouth\u2019s Peace Corps Volunteer Preparatory Program<\/a> strengthened that conviction and gave her a step up when she applied to the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since January 2019, she had been serving as a community health advisor in a rural village outside Axum, Ethiopia. There, she worked with local officials to improve nutrition, maternal and reproductive health, sanitation, malaria prevention, and basic hygiene for villagers. Like many volunteers, she took on more responsibilities the longer she was there. Last fall, she started assisting the English teacher in the village high school. And she spent much of the last winter planning a camp that she hoped to offer this August. Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) would have taught young Ethiopian women lessons in leadership, agriculture, language, and gender empowerment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was essentially ready to go, says Schreiber. \u201cThe grant had been written, and was about to be submitted. Then the next day I woke up to an email saying I had to evacuate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Erin’s friend, Hani, showing her how to cook a traditional Ethiopian lunch, potato stew with injera. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Erin with the family that hosted her during her Peace Corps training.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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The inside of Erin’s compound in her home village.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Erin and rising senior Rebecca Adekunle, a student in Monmouth’s Peace Corps Volunteer Prep Program. The program arranges for current Monmouth students to visit alumni serving overseas.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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The village in which Erin served. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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The entrance to Erin’s compound.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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One of the homes in Erin’s village: made of rock with a satellite dish on the roof.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Erin’s home village of Debrekal.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Erin’s home village of Debrekal.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Erin’s home village of Debrekal.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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A historical rock church in Tigray.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Erin’s home village of Debrekal<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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A photo from the photo from the malaria campaign Erin planned with fellow Ethiopian health workers. The high school is shown in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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The water pump near Erin’s home.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Erin and her friend, Weyzer.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Axum during the regional holiday called Ashenda, which celebrates girls and women<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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A scenic shot in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Erin at the U.S. Embassy, where she was sworn in to the Peace Corps.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Erin and her host family in Debrekal.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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<\/figure><\/div>
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One of the minibuses that provides local transportation in the region.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>

<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

That was March 15, the day the Peace Corps officially ordered all 7,000-plus volunteers home. By that point, Creta, who had been serving in Kosovo since the previous August, was already in the midst of her evacuation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt became real for us when Italy started shutting down its borders,\u201d says Creta, who served as an English education volunteer in Doganaj, a small village in the Sharr mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 13, she was ordered to stand fast in her village. The following morning, she received orders to report to Pristina, the capital. Under normal circumstances, a Peace Corps volunteer would have months to prepare for his or her departure. \u201cWe had about three hours to pack our bags and get there,\u201d says Creta. That meant an all-too rushed goodbye with her host family. \u201cIt was sad leaving, because I had an amazing relationship with them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borders throughout Europe were quickly being shut down to contain the spread of the virus. Kosovo closed its border on March 14, forcing the cancellation of Creta\u2019s scheduled flight. She and about 60 other volunteers had to be bussed to Tirana, Albania. From there she flew to Istanbul, Turkey, then Washington, D.C., and finally home to New York City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marisa Creta (3rd from left)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Marisa Creta (center)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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<\/figure><\/div>
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<\/figure><\/div>
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<\/figure><\/div>
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<\/figure><\/div>
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<\/figure><\/div>
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Marisa Creta<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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<\/figure><\/div>
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<\/figure><\/div>
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<\/figure><\/div><\/div>

<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Schreiber\u2019s departure was slightly smoother but no less heart-wrenching. She was eight hours away from her village when she received notice to pack everything and immediately head to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia\u2019s capital. From there she would be airlifted out with volunteers who were flying in from other parts of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public transportation being what it is in that region of the world, Schreiber wasn\u2019t able to make it back to her village until the following morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI packed and left that same day,\u201d she says. \u201cI was crying\u2014a lot. I didn\u2019t want to leave. It [the coronavirus] was barely touching Ethiopia. In my mind everything was fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had also grown close with the family she was living with, particularly their two boys, ages 3 and 6. \u201cI felt like they saw me as their big sister. I was part of their family. And they were really upset when I left. They were saying things like, \u2018Well now we have to move. We have to be with Erin. We can\u2019t not be with her.\u2019 So that was really, really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now safely home in Pittsburgh, Schreiber says she hasn\u2019t given up hope that she\u2019ll be able to return to Ethiopia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not ready to let go of going back,\u201d she says. \u201cMaybe I\u2019m being overly hopeful. But I feel like I have a lot of things unfinished. I dedicated two years of my life. I was really just getting into the groove of my work. I was starting to feel like I had some momentum. So I\u2019m really hoping this will all clear up, and that Ethiopia will stay safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt feels like I\u2019m mourning a little bit,\u201d says Schreiber, adding that she hasn\u2019t yet been able to get in touch with her host family to see how they\u2019re doing. \u201cI\u2019m mourning the life that I had there. There\u2019s a lot of people that I\u2019ll possibly never see again in my life. That\u2019s a really hard thing to accept.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creta, who has been in contact with her host family, says the irony of her evacuating a country that had a handful of coronavirus cases to go to what was quickly becoming the epicenter of the outbreak wasn\u2019t lost on her host mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe loves to tell me I should just come \u2018home\u2019 to Kosovo because I\u2019ll be safer there,\u201d says Creta, adding that this has been the most upsetting part of the experience: leaving behind her family and friends during a pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you join the Peace Corps, you know you\u2019re committing to seeing it through,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re placed in a community that has expectations for you. You get to represent America, which is an honor. And then, to be pulled out\u2026. Being a Peace Corps volunteer opened my eyes to the privilege that we have as Americans, and this evacuation experience confirmed it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Schreiber, Creta hopes to return and finish the work she began. She was in the midst of planning two public parks, which would have provided educational play spaces for the children of Doganaj as well as safe gathering places for the their mothers, something that\u2019s sorely needed in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was an amazing 10 months,\u201d says Creta. \u201cBut I committed to being there until summer 2021. So if I can go back, that\u2019s what I want to do.\u201d  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evacuated because of the pandemic, two alumnae Peace Corps volunteers vow to return to their posts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":10332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-back"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"The Back","issue":"Summer 2020","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10324"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11803,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10324\/revisions\/11803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}