The Precipice of a Major Life Event...

The Precipice of a Major Life Event... 

(modified from orginal post)

I am sitting in the Hampton Inn in Philadelphia going over a few last items before I leave the United States for a couple years.  I have just started my journey as a Peace Corps trainee, and with every successful completion of the next step comes a new title.  First it was Peace Corps nominee, then Peace Corps invitee, and now Peace Corps trainee.  It seems ages ago when I first applied, and it was (2008).  But a family illness postponed my first attempt, and after a year in Hawaii gaining additional skills (working on a goat farm) for life abroad, I re-applied in December 2012.  But the story doesn’t start in 2008. That was when I first acted on my dream.

I had first heard of the Peace Corps in college, and it became something I immediately wanted to do: life abroad in an exotic or foreign location, living a more simple life, but definitely making a difference.  With my natural knack for creativity and problem solving, an appreciation and interest in other cultures, and a desire to help others, I knew that it was something would excel at.  But after college I found myself working at a restaurant that I really loved, and the years went by quickly, much quicker that I realized. It was only after exploring the dining scenes in Chicago and Virginia in the most recent past that I decided that I was really ready for a change, and I pursued the dream that I had put on the shelf years before.

So now I find myself on the precipice of a major life event: 2+ years of living abroad in a third world country.  I am sure that there are poorer countries out there than Guinea (Haiti and Zimbabwe come to mind), but that’s not really important.  What is important is that the country that I have been assigned to needs as much assistance and direction as the country that happens to be on the bottom of the list in any given year.  I should note that Peace Corps volunteers do not get to choose their country of service.  As noted prominently in the Peace Corps application literature and training materials, “Core Expectation #3” is to: ”Serve where the Peace Corps ask you to go, under conditions of hardship, if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service”.

Regardless of which country I have been assigned to, the problems that I may encounter are those that we have all heard about and that exist in our own country to some degree: government corruption and mismanagement, lack of access to effective education, lack of quality health care, and sub optimal farming practices.   (Though it is easy to forget that we are all human and prone to errors in our behavior and judgment.) Combine that with the challenges of integrating into a foreign country and you have a recipe for a difficult and challenging assignment, especially considering that the typical Peace Corps assignment is two short years, (though you can extend your stay in the same location for an additional year.)  Contrast that with the life of a stereotypical missionary who has a lifetime of making a difference in their community.  Two years is not that much time to create long lasting success. 

Most of us newly minted Peace Corps trainees realize that the hard work is yet to come.  First, we must all survive training.  The first day was today, in Philadelphia.  Mostly, today was about orientation and reviewing the Peace Corps mission and core expectations.   Of course, we also spent a good part of the day getting to know one another, as we will be depending on each other a lot over the next two years, especially for emotional support.  Tomorrow, December 2, we fly to Conakry, Guinea to begin training in earnest.  When I say survive training, I am referencing the adjustment that a volunteer goes through in terms of learning a new language, assimilating into a foreign culture and adjusting to a new diet.  All of these can be a shock to a volunteer and some unfortunately don’t make it.  On rare occasions, 100% of an invited class completes their full term.

In the months to come, I will do my best to portray life in Guinea as accurately as I can.  I should mention that because this site is open to public viewing, it will be censored to avoid unintentionally offending anyone or any organization.  For a more complete portrayal of life in Guinea, you can subscribe to my email list that I have created for those not connected to Facebook.  Mostly, this list will differ from Facebook in the pictures I can share (not that any will be offensive, but there are restrictions on what I can post publicly.)

Oh, one last thing I almost forgot.  Tomorrow is my birthday!