Terrorist attacks affect Americans abroad
Maite Uranga
Life in Africa
Everybody knows where they saw or heard about the events of Sept.11.
I was walking back to my village after watching girls play basketball. The Peace Corps car intercepted me and the American in the car straightforwardly said, "I'm sure you heard what happened in the United States today." Many possible scenarios raced through my head and sadly my imagination did not even come close to the horror of the reality.
The American gave me a piece of paper Peace Corps wanted every volunteer to have as confirmation that everyone knew. A brief summary said, "Earlier today the United States experienced apparent terrorist attacks. Other attacks are possible. Peace Corps wants all volunteers to stay where they are."
In retrospect, my reaction was nonchalant and I think that is largely due to the calmness of the Peace Corps representative.
After this five minute encounter, I continued to walk back to my village, making small talk with people and in no real hurry to find out further details. I went to my neighbor's house and played with her children for a while. Eventually I asked the boys next door if I could borrow their radio. I found the BBC frequency.
My life changed. The world as I knew disappeared.
In utter disbelief I listened to "Bush is in Nebraska ... Cheney is in the White House bunkers ... the military is patrolling the East Coast ... Washington is empty ... the World Trade Center is gone ... the Pentagon is on fire ... all airplanes are grounded ... the Mexican and Canadian borders are closed."
Bin Laden emerged very early as the main suspect. Radicals started calling the BBC and Voice of America declaring, "a war on Islam ... the beginning of the next Crusades ... a demand for swift and deliberate action against the Muslim countries harboring bin Laden."
The sun was setting outside my room and I heard the call to the mosque and saw all my neighbors stop to face Mecca and pray. An unease overcame me and I asked myself how well I really knew these people. I arrived in my village only 15 days before Sept. 11. It was pitch black outside and there were no Americans. I closed my door and continued to listen for any piece of information that would tell me the answers. I desperately wanted to talk to my family and friends or any American. I wrote in my journal. I went to sleep that night not knowing what state America and the world would be in when I woke up. More importantly I did not know how my village would react to me, an American who just came into their lives.
The next morning the nightmare on the radio continued and eventually I left the safety of my room. People immediately started asking me if my family and friends lived in New York or Washington. They told me to call my parents and friends and tell them that Toulde was hurt by events in the United States.
The university students and I compared and contrasted the Voice of America and the BBC with French and Senegalese radio. The elders of the community, who most likely could not identify the location of the United States on a world map, expressed their sympathies and gave their prayers. I tried to relay the depressed and heartbroken state of America to my work counterpart's husband and he corrected me and said, "It is the whole world, not just United States."
After my initial fears the first night, I have never felt the slightest bit threatened or unsafe. In some ways I feel more safe in my Muslim village in an Islamic republic than I would in some places in the United States.
On the other hand, I wish I could talk to my family and friends on a more regular basis. I still have yet to read any American magazines or newspapers concerning the attacks. I have only watched television once. Some days I seek out Americans and even if we do not talk about it much there is an understanding between us the Mauritanians cannot understand.
My Mauritanian friends' and neighbors' lives carry on as normal and are really not at all affected by this world changing event.
For me much changed. I realize that my life is in continual flux and may be for the remaining two years I am here. For the first time my daily life is dependent on American diplomacy and international relations. Some days I mentally prepare to stay here for two years and other days I prepare to go back to the United States.
I only know about the United States from the radio, but I have no idea what it is like to live there now. I can never return to the home I left only four and a half months ago.
Maite Uranga graduated from Notre Dame in 2000 as an anthropology and government major. She is currently a Peace Corps volunteer in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Her column appears every other Wednesday.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Wednesday, October 17, 2001
