The one thing I've noticed ever since finding out my placement is that my life consists entirely of countdowns. Countdowns until my last day of work, the goodbye/birthday extravaganza, my last day in DC, my last day in Ohio, my last day in these United States. Always "this many" days/hours/minutes until "the end". Or is it "the beginning"? Of course, I've always counted down things. The months before christmas, the days until I see my favorites, the hours until post-work drinkies. But I feel like all these countdowns have ended with happy moments/reunions/drunken stumbles home. My countdowns since December, while counting down to what I'm sure will be the most happy, exciting and life changing experience I've ever had, are also counting down to sad and tearful goodbyes, anxiety, nervousness and an overwhelming sense of...overwhelmingness.
So, apologies for the countdowns, but they're going to keep coming. But know that I type/say every single one of them with the greatest mix of happiness/sadness, excitement/anxiousness, braveness/fear. This next month is going to fly by and I know in the blink of an eye I'm going to find myself on a hill in Rwanda, mouth gaping (and camera in hand), and not be able to do anything besides reminding myself to breathe.
Alright, enough of my mindless rambling, onto some exciting news!
My staging (2 day "orientation") will be in Philadelphia on February 23rd!! I'll be flying out of Cleveland that morning and quickly meeting the 30ish people I'll be spending the following 3 months with in pre-service training :) On the 24th we'll be on a bus to NYC and our flight departs JFK at 6:10pm, with a layover in Brussels, then onto Kigali, Rwanda arriving at 7:45pm on February 25th.
It's the little things like this that are making reality set in. I'm really going, I'm really doing this, I'm really fricken excited.
Look out soon for an email from me requesting your contact info, but if you don't want to wait, send it to me now!!
Until next time.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Pays des Mille Collines
December flashed by in a blur of traveling, family, friends, food and more fun than I could have ever hoped for. I loved finally being able to tell everyone where and when I'm going, and hearing their various replies (pretty sure I heard "I'll pray for you" the most though, hmmm). But it made me realize that I haven't really explained very much about where I'm going or what I'll be doing (or at least as much as I know). So here goes:
Rwanda, often known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, is in Central Africa, just south of the equator (luckily at a high elevation so its much cooler than many other equatorial countries) and bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Here's a map for those of you who are lost already..
It's slightly smaller than Massachusetts yet the population is estimated at around 10 million people. Just mull that one over for a bit. I keep hearing/reading/seeing photos about how utterly beautiful and green it is, and clean (it's actually outlawed plastic bags!) Just look at this beauty:
There are three official languages in Rwanda: French, English and Kindyarwanda (Swahili and some other dialects are also spoken). Pretty much everyone speaks Kinyarwanda and French mostly only among the educated. In 2008, Rwanda decided to switch the education system entirely from French to English (hence why many of the current Peace Corps volunteers are teaching English). So the majority of my language training will be in Kinyarwanda and from the looks of it so far, it's not going to be easy. But who doesn't love a challenge right?
Rwanda is known for its coffee, tea and of course, mountain gorillas! However, it's unfortunately also known for the devastating genocide that occurred in 1994, where it's estimated 800,000 lost their lives. I know that this history has permeated into all aspects of Rwandan culture and will be one of the most eye opening and difficult aspects of my service. But I also know all of the effort that has been made in the past 15 years to encourage unity, stability, government transparency, economic prosperity and equality. It's even the first country in the world to have a legislature with over 50% women members!
Peace Corps reopened it's program in Rwanda in January 2009, and I will be the third group of volunteers going back into country (and must say that ever since they reopened their program I'd been hoping to get placed there!). My program is Health, HIV/AIDS and Organizational Capacity Development, and the main purpose is to work with the Government and local/international NGOs to help improve access to and the efficiency of their prevention, treatment and care programs. This will end up taking a lot of different forms and will depend entirely on the site I'm placed at (which I won't know until the 2nd or 3rd month of training).
Ok, I hope that's enough of a "teaser" to get you to come and read more, as there will be so much more to come, folks. As of right now I'm awaiting my staging packet, researching what to pack, taking in as many books and movies on Rwanda as I can, and making wonderful memories with family and friends.
Until next time...
Rwanda, often known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, is in Central Africa, just south of the equator (luckily at a high elevation so its much cooler than many other equatorial countries) and bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Here's a map for those of you who are lost already..
It's slightly smaller than Massachusetts yet the population is estimated at around 10 million people. Just mull that one over for a bit. I keep hearing/reading/seeing photos about how utterly beautiful and green it is, and clean (it's actually outlawed plastic bags!) Just look at this beauty:
There are three official languages in Rwanda: French, English and Kindyarwanda (Swahili and some other dialects are also spoken). Pretty much everyone speaks Kinyarwanda and French mostly only among the educated. In 2008, Rwanda decided to switch the education system entirely from French to English (hence why many of the current Peace Corps volunteers are teaching English). So the majority of my language training will be in Kinyarwanda and from the looks of it so far, it's not going to be easy. But who doesn't love a challenge right?
Rwanda is known for its coffee, tea and of course, mountain gorillas! However, it's unfortunately also known for the devastating genocide that occurred in 1994, where it's estimated 800,000 lost their lives. I know that this history has permeated into all aspects of Rwandan culture and will be one of the most eye opening and difficult aspects of my service. But I also know all of the effort that has been made in the past 15 years to encourage unity, stability, government transparency, economic prosperity and equality. It's even the first country in the world to have a legislature with over 50% women members!
Peace Corps reopened it's program in Rwanda in January 2009, and I will be the third group of volunteers going back into country (and must say that ever since they reopened their program I'd been hoping to get placed there!). My program is Health, HIV/AIDS and Organizational Capacity Development, and the main purpose is to work with the Government and local/international NGOs to help improve access to and the efficiency of their prevention, treatment and care programs. This will end up taking a lot of different forms and will depend entirely on the site I'm placed at (which I won't know until the 2nd or 3rd month of training).
Ok, I hope that's enough of a "teaser" to get you to come and read more, as there will be so much more to come, folks. As of right now I'm awaiting my staging packet, researching what to pack, taking in as many books and movies on Rwanda as I can, and making wonderful memories with family and friends.
Until next time...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
