Khotso!

I am joining the Peace Corps and will be leaving for Lesotho in June! This blog will be my method of keeping all my friends in family in the US updated on my adventure!

First, how I got here. When the time came to figure out my post-undergrad plans, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew what I did not want to do, which was accounting…. in fact, the sound of any 9-5 sounded pretty awful. I wanted to travel around for a year or so, but the logistics of that seemed disheartening. So, being the pensive person he is, my dad suggested I look into the Peace Corps (now that I’m going to Africa, I know he is probably regretting this decision). 

So I went to an information session and decided to apply! I applied April 1st, had my interview April 20th, and was nominated on May 4th to do Business Advising in Africa, expected departure was Early June 2010. After graduating I moved back to Atlanta and began making tons of doctors appointments to begin medical clearance…. which was finally cleared February 2nd. After updating the Peace Corps with my resume and all the volunteering I had been doing with Junior Achievement, they mailed me my Invitation to serve on April 8th. So as you can see, this was a very long process!

I will be a Community Health and Economic Development (CHED) Volunteer. This will entail working with HIV/AIDS issues, food and nutrition, youth, and small business and community development. Although, I won’t know what my actual project will be until I get to my site in August. First I will fly to Philadelphia for Staging (orientation) on June 1st, then on June 3rd I will fly to Maseru, Lesotho. I will then go through 10 weeks of language, cultural, technical, health, and safety training. This training will be split between staying on a compound with all the volunteers and a home-stay.

I will not have very much access to the internet during training, and I’m still unsure what my internet/electricity/running water situation will be at my site.

It will absolutely be an adventure.