The Beginning of the End

“Well, here at last, dear friends, on the shores of the Sea comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-earth. Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; 

for not all tears are an evil.”

~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Yesterday I returned from my COS (Close of Service) Conference. To be completely honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to this conference. I’m not good at goodbyes, and knowing that this conference is beginning the process of saying goodbye to the other 30 or so volunteers I have come to know over these two years made me dread its arrival. 

The conference started at our Lome Peace Corps offices, where we had a career panel session with RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) working in Togo. We had TB tests. There was an administration session to go over our final volunteer allowances/reimbursements, and our cash in lieu payments, if not taking a Peace Corps flight booking to go directly home from Togo. 

Then the conference moved to a beautiful hotel a little outside of Lome. It was the nicest hotel I’ve stayed at in Togo. We were on the beach with a pool, air conditioning, hot water in every room, and amazing meals with real tableware and cloth napkins! Funny that those things probably don’t seem special at any hotels in America, but after being a PCV in West Africa for two years, they have become luxuries to us. 

The rest of the COS Conference sessions were about preparing us for the future, specifically, our job searches and continuing education. We had sessions on revising our resumes, how to properly explain our accomplishments in resumes and cover letters, how to search for federal government jobs that we can apply for with our noncompetitive eligibility, and interview tips, etc. It was an overwhelming experience for me. We talked about how when you are finished with your Peace Corps service, "the world is your oyster” and there are so many different directions you can take. I’ve always been a very indecisive person. I wish this wasn't the case, because choosing one path is not going to be easy. The great thing about being in my generation, though, is that we tend to not stay on one path for the rest of our lives and believe there is no shame in leaving one path for another. Keeping that in mind will make planning my future much less stressful. 

 

Certificate ceremony with US Ambassador Whitehead,
 and representatives from the Togo Ministries of Health and Agriculture.

I had a wonderful time reconnecting with friends and volunteers whom I haven’t seen in a long time. We have all been so busy and wrapped up in our work, so it was great fun to be together again, and to have the chance to say goodbye to a couple of people who are COSing early. On our last night at the hotel we had a candlelight ceremony that was very emotional. I’m usually pretty reserved and save crying for when I’m alone, but I couldn’t hold back the tears. Thinking about how much we have grown together these past two years and all that we have endured, it was very difficult for for everyone to comprehend that we will soon be saying our final goodbyes.  Hopefully, I will be able to keep it together better when COS week arrives the first week of August. 

I am back in Kpalime now and the countdown has begun. The packing and sorting have already started. My last big activity is my English Camp at school next week. There is only a little less than 8 weeks until I say goodbye to Kpalime and return to Lome for COS week. Then I will leave Lome on August 8th to begin my epic COS vacation trip, before finally heading home.