The Peace Corps is scrambling to get volunteers across the world evacuated to the United States, as countries are closing borders, quarantining infected areas, and canceling flights due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The United States Peace Corps is a program that sends U.S. citizens to interested countries around the world to teach, develop communities and exchange cultures. There were around 70 Peace Corps volunteers living in Kosovo. Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro also have Peace Corps programs that are currently being evacuated.
Peace Corps volunteers in Kosovo say they were notified on March 13 via teleconference that they were ordered to Prishtina to prepare for evacuation; some, who did not have internet access, called other volunteers and were placed on speakerphone to hear the announcement.
“The only real information provided by the call was, ‘Pack your bags, tell your host family, this will end in evacuation, any questions?’” said a current Peace Corps volunteer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he had been told by the Peace Corps not to talk to the media. “Then every answer to our questions was either, ‘We don’t know at this time,’ or ‘We are waiting on Washington [D.C.].’”
All international organizations have their own protocol for their staff under these circumstances. However, total evacuation is usually only done as a very last resort. Most agencies in Kosovo say they are still running full operations with the majority of staff working from home and only essential staff in the office.
Dinka Živalj, spokesperson for the European Union Office in Kosovo, told K2.0: “The EU Office/EU Special Representative in Kosovo ensures full business continuity. Given the circumstances, the majority of its staff are teleworking. A small number of essential staff is working from the office, in shifts.”
EULEX spokesperson, Ioanna Lachanna, told K2.0: “EULEX has undertaken a series of preventive measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, protect the health of its staff and the communities, and maintain its operational capability to the extent possible. Most of our staff members are teleworking from home. All of our staff members are asked to limit their social interaction to the absolute minimum and to practice respiratory and hand hygiene.”
The United Nations Kosovo Team (UNKT) told K2.0 that it has a Business Contingency Plan, where staff members are working from home and only vital staff are in the office to maintain operations.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) told K2.0, “USAID as part of the U.S. Embassy is currently on a telework arrangement and is likewise following the guidelines issued by the Government of Kosovo.”
The U.S. Embassy Prishtina told K2.0 that all staff in Kosovo are teleworking and following Kosovo government advice concerning the COVID-19 outbreak.
K2.0 reached out to the U.S. Embassy about the Peace Corps evacuation and was referred to the main statement issued by Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington D.C. Additionally the Embassy noted that, “it was a global decision, not localized, and not one taken lightly but centered about an abundance of caution. We look forward to welcoming the Peace Corps Volunteers back to Kosovo once the organization deems it safe for them to return worldwide.”
K2.0 tried to reach the Peace Corps headquarters in Washington D.C directly for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
The scramble to leave
On March 13, the government in Kosovo announced the country’s first two cases of COVID-19. The same day, the two villages where those infected people had traveled were put under strict quarantine.
A Peace Corps volunteer was living in one of the villages. According to a volunteer, Peace Corps Kosovo rushed a transport vehicle to the volunteer in the village at 1 a.m. to pick her up before the quarantine entered into practical effect.
Other volunteers were left to their own devices to get to the capital, since Kosovo has also suspended all intercity public transportation as of March 13.
“Everyone is just doing what they can to get to the consolidation site,” the volunteer said after he was told to leave. “There are no busses, not a lot of taxis, so some people’s host families are just cramming as many volunteers as they can into their personal vehicles and driving them to Prishtina.”
As of March 16, the Kosovo government has also closed its borders to foreign nationals and suspended incoming airline flights, except for military and aid transports. Many other countries have also suspended flights or closed borders to deal with COVID-19.
The U.S. has currently banned all flights from the European Union, while the State Department has advised all Americans to return to the U.S. or to stay in lockdown in their country of residence.
“We haven’t been told exactly how we’re getting out of the country yet, either,” the volunteer said. “We may get a chartered flight, or the U.S. military may provide a flight. It’s total chaos.”
In a message to volunteers, Peace Corps said that they would pay for the cost of the airline tickets but volunteers must leave on those flights or possibly lose their right to stay in their host countries.
The U.S. Embassy told K2.0 that the volunteers have now left Kosovo on a commercial flight and that they have returned to the U.S.
Volunteers will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days upon their return to the United States.K
Feature image: Atdhe Mulla / K2.0.
Hello, As an evacuated PCV from Kosovo, I didn't like the picture that was painted over how the evacuation took place. The article paints it as a chaotic situation, when it actually wasn't. Throughout the evacuation process I completely trusted Peace Corps with the decisions they made and it was clear that our safety was their priority. Even though there was a lot of waiting it was due to the closures of borders and airports, i.e the fallout from the pandemic. This just resulted in a prolonged evacuation procedure that was not chaotic, but unclear about the timeline of when we would return to the United States. It was never ever in question that we were not getting home. So, personally I felt safe and supported by Peace Corps throughout the entire process. Finally, some details in this article were missing, but also some of the information is completely inaccurate about volunteers getting to a meeting point.
I strongly agree with Anthony and Celina’s above sentiments. As a Peace Corps Kosovo volunteer who was also evacuated, portraying the evacuation as “total chaos” is extremely misleading. Our staff in Kosovo and Washington DC were working around the clock to be transparent and provide us with information as it was available. The above timeline from Celina is accurate, and although plans fell through during this process (because of situations outside of the control of Peace Corps) our staff was incredibly supportive and worked diligently to get us all home safe during this pandemic.
As someone that was a PCV in Kosovo and knows first hand that when Josey was contacting us to make sure we were safe and well, her using our emotions and words to write an article was not shared. In the future, regardless of the situation state that you are a journalist. It is unethical to fool or mislead people. You should also indicate that you are planning to publish or broadcast material from the interview, even if you are freelance and don't yet know where or how it will be published. I strongly suggest retracting this article and use this as a learning moment to writing ethical, worthwhile articles that are not misleading and do not misrepresent how Peace Corps handled this situation.
Here’s an accurate timeline, as I was actually a part of this evacuation as a kosovo Peace Corps volunteer. About the evacuation: PC Kosovo consolidated all PCVs on Saturday March 14 The original plan to evacuate PCVs through a private charter flight on Sunday March 15th did not materialize. PC Kosovo decided on Tuesday March 17 to explore alternative travel options for PCVs through commercial flights. This was done in coordination with PC Washington EMA leadership and with approval of Embassy leadership. A decision was made to travel to Tirana and fly Turkish Airways to Istanbul and onwards to US. PCVs travelled to Tirana on Wednesday March 18 during the day By bus and a group of 55 departed Tirana on March 19, and a group of 6 travelled out today, March 20, accompanied by a PC Staff member. Currently 55 PCVs have arrived in Washington/ New York and will be travelling to their home of records in the next few days. And Peace Corps staff, both Americans and locals, were of incredible help with this whole difficult process. We were greatly supported to the capacity that they could of given us.