I have accepted the invitation from the Peace Corps to serve in the tiny West African nation of Togo. Amazing that after nearly two years of a long and arduous application process I had 10 days to respond to this invitation!
So to Togo I go.
I will be a CHAP. Get used to acronyms folks 'cause the PC is an avid user of them! Community Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention worker. Pretty much just what I had hoped for. I am headed to a French speaking country and working in the Health/AIDS realm. Both of those things please me greatly. My departure date is June 4, 2008. Right around the corner. I will head to Washington, D.C. for an intense two-day orientation (including shots though I can't imagine I haven't already had all I need after my Around the World trip) and then they ship us off to Africa! I will head there with a group of other volunteers bound for the region and upon arrival will be placed with a Host Family and begin the next official phase: TRAINING.
Training, from what I am told, will be very intense. Long days full of language education (French and the language of the village I will eventually be placed in) as well as health, safety and of course technical training related to my specific work. Assuming I pass the training period (not everyone does) which lasts 11 weeks I will then be sworn in as a VOLUNTEER. That's the next phase. The one that lasts TWO YEARSSSSS...
Hard to say at this point what will come next. I do not know what village/town I will end up in. I am told to expect very modest living conditions: no running water or electricity, an outdoor latrine, possibly shared. What I am really crossing my fingers for is an actual SIT-DOWN contraption, i.e. "toilet" and not a hole in the ground. The hole in the ground was cool for bragging purposes for a few months of backpacking through Africa and India. As most of you know I have colorful stories surrounding these squat-and-go holes in the ground but I think I'm done with that business if I can help it! I feel so strongly about this in fact that I have determined that if arrive to my new house and find a hole I will have to begin one of my very first projects right away...the building of the toilet.
I am quite overwhelmed to put it mildly at the moment. Most of you know that I have struggled in the last few weeks/months with a decision about where to take my future...grad school, study abroad in France or the Peace Corps. It has not been an easy decision and I don't think I will ever feel 100% about any of them. So I am just diving in, eyes and heart wide open and praying to land in a good place. Your prayers, or well wishes, whatever it is you "do" will be most appreciated. This will very likely be the HARDES THING I WILL EVER DO.
I will write again soon with more thoughts and details as they come to me.
Thanks for riding along.
