Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa (Senegal)

Ok... so HUGE change of plans. The situation here in Madagascar has changed drastically. In short, the military is no longer taking oders from the president, riots and demonstrations have been taking place every day and places all over Antananarivo have been broken into and burned down due to individuals taking advantage of the situation. Even our "safe place" in Majunga has been tear gased almost every day in the last week due to the crowds of protestors. This is likely the start to a civil war if the proposed negotiations are not successful. Seeing the counry that I love start to collapse into shambles is heart breaking but I still have hope for change. Our group has moved to Nosy Be, a tourist destination island (or heaven as we like to call it) off the west coast of Madagascar. The political situation has little effect here, in fact we spent all day yesterday snorkeling and seeing the AMAZING aqualife here off the coast of Madagascar... clearly no exposure to mutiny and fires. This was part of the schedule but now is the only safe place for the group to be located for what looks like the remainder of the semester. This is all in response to the fact that the State Department has issued a Travel Warning, a step up from what was a travel advisory. This change has caused the Peace Corps and embassy employees to evacuate the country. There are safe places for people to live and be only minorly effected by these problems but the worry is that international flights will be cancelled and evacuation will not be possible at all. That being said, Kenna, another CU student here on the program, and I received news late on Thursday night that CU has a policy that students must cancel their program and be evacuated from the country as soon as a travel warning is issued. With a lot of phone calls and confusion it has been decided that Kenna and I, Nicola, and Michael (University of Peugeot Sound students) are all going to be evacuated and relocated to Senegal to continue with an SIT program very similar to our own. We depart Monday morning from Nosy Be to Tana, Tana to France, and France to Dakar (capitol of Senegal). This has been a very sudden change and a little difficult to take in since the other 12 studens are staying here in Madagascar. After having some time to process the idea, I am stoked to have the opporunity to travel to a completely different country and learn in the structure of the program that I signed up for.
Dakar is the place we will be spending a great amount of the time. It is the most western point of Africa on Cape Vert with a populaion of one million. It is known for its great musical culture and peaceful transition out of colinization. It is going to be quite a voyage but before I left Colorado my family gave me a bracelet that reads "embrace the journey" and I intend to do just that! Veloma tompoko Madagascar, Asalaamaalekum Senegal