A gentle soft-spoken village girl stormed down the school hallway with fire in her eyes and I was her target. I said, “Good morning,” which would be the only words I’d get out for the whole conversation. She started yelling “Where are you going?” “Why won’t you stay?” “Who will give me advice?” “You promised!” “You promised to teach me.” If I had a tail, it would’ve been so far between my legs.

I was almost a year and a half into my Peace Corps service in Kazakhstan when I received a phone call giving me less than one week to leave my village and stop all projects. I was living and teaching English full time in a small village, as well as working in the school for the deaf in a nearby city. Saltanat, that soft-spoken girl, was one of my top students. She worked with me at the school for the deaf and ran a club at school called conversation club. The club ended up being a group of four girls discussing different topics in English. Each discussion revolved around women’s rights and expectations, a topic not often discussed in a traditional post-Soviet Muslim village. As gentle as Saltanat’s manners were, she held unmovable convictions for moral standards and equality. It may have been surprising to most people to see her yell at me, but she was really the only student to lose an opportunity by me leaving.

There was talk about Peace Corps Kazakhstan getting shut down, but when it came it was a shock to everyone. The leadership made no hint to the political and safety issues going on behind the scenes. The day they announced the program will shut down and all volunteers must leave was less than a week after a big training conference that was held for about 50 volunteers. At no point during this elaborate and expensive conference did they mention hints of shutting down. Yet less than a week later we were told we must leave.

Peace Corps did a terrible job of communicating the true situation to us, both during and at the conclusion of the program. But Peace Corps took care of us. Their medical and safety services were top notch. Peace Corps really got us in there. We were in a place of true need. I can say that Peace Corps provided volunteers with a true opportunity, and I took it.