Invited to Eastern Caribbean!!



I am excited to report that I have been invited to serve as a Primary English Literacy volunteer in the Eastern Caribbean leaving around the end of May next year.  This is a 2 year position, about 26 months with 9 weeks of pre-service training (PST).  

My primary project will be working in an elementary school to help improve English skills.  This will be similar and different from my previous Ghana junior high experience teaching math and computers.  I will research possible secondary projects that might work in the region so I have some options once I get settled and understand the unique situation of my village.

While the Eastern Caribbean will have nice tourist resorts and great beaches that will not be where I will spend my time.  Peace Corps is focused on the needs of the local population.  I will have modest living standards but should have water and electricity most of the time.  I’m so looking forward to it.  I will be doing a lot of walking up and down hills as I can expect to be in the interior of the island  (but closer than the 18 hour trip from my site to the beach in Ghana).  And there should be trees (nothing against the flat savannah region I loved in Ghana)!

I now have to complete medical and legal clearance so there is still a lot of work and a chance I might not be accepted, but that is a rather remote possibilities.

Still, unfortunately remote possibilities are possible as has been recently demonstrated.

I applied for this Peace Corps Volunteer position in May while I was still in Ghana.  The application deadline did not close until October.  My interview was this Wednesday.  I was told my deadline to get an invite or rejection was Dec. 1st, but should hear within a couple of weeks.  I would have three days to accept or reject the invitation if it was extended.

 I don't check my emails daily and figure I would be waiting a couple of weeks and so I was completely surprised when I checked my email Saturday morning to see that my invite had been sitting in my inbox for two days.

Even though I’m a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) – I still go through basically the same process – I had to apply, pass the interview and receive an invitation.  Now I have to complete all the medical tasks (not yet sure what they are but glad I have ACA (Obamacare) insurance), and legal tasks.  I have a Peace Corps passport but it expires Feb. 2019 – so as my service is expected to last from May ’17 to July ’19 (and possibly longer if I extend) – I will need to apply for another one.

There is also additional paperwork to give more information about myself so the post can prepare for my pre-service training (PST).

Health


Looking forward to getting medical clearance to serve.  Since I had to medivac from Ghana I’m guessing they will look closely at my medical history.  Luckily – they should have all of it.

Love always,

John

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yam harvesting

Image
Roger and I went to farm to harvest yam on Saturday morning, September 13, 2014.  In Ghana a yam is a root crop that is different from a sweet potato.  We have sweet potatoes here as well. Yam recently harvested Preparing a yam for boiling The yam has a white flesh – softer than a white potato. In this area the yams are planted between April and June.  Harvest continues into December and January depending on the weather and pigs getting into the field. The plant is a vine – which is grown on stakes rather than allowed the spread out.  The plants are placed on a raised bed about 2 feet high.  The beds are surrounded by flat trenches.  This allows the rains to flow around, but not wipe out the yam crop.  Intercropping seems to be common practice with yams planted in the raised bed, soybeans around the edges, and rice in the trenches.  The occasional corn or okra plant is also among the yams – although the bulk of those crop...
Read more

Pito – brewed millet

Image
Corn, rice, and millet are the common grains grown in my region of Ghana. All three are used food, but millet is also used to produce the local brew – pito, or daa in the local language. “N nyu daa” - in Dagaree means “I drink pito.” There are several varieties of millet grown here – a red and white varieties have loose heads. These are used for pito and other foods. There is also a smaller seed variety with a tight head of seeds that is mainly used for porridge. (Don't have a picture of that variety yet.) In all varieties millet grows on a stalk with the grain head at the top of the stalk. White and red millet in the field Two bundles of while millet to be used for seed next season Converting a grain to alcohol is a common practice in various cultures. It provides a way to capture and digest the nutritional value of the grain. In some places, like Germany and the beer brewing monks, the making a beer was a way to preserve the harvest. In Ghana the millet is ...
Read more

Ghana Archery and Travel to Tamale

Image
Ghana Archery Roger and I were walking to see a man in the community early last week and he happened across an arrow head. It was a long thin metal piece that would be attached to then end of a shaft. That got Roger talking about archery and got me thinking about another blog post. He explained how the arrow worked while we walked and promised to show me a bow and arrow when we got back to his house. He talked about the old times when they made poison. The process involved collecting plants and such things and placing them in a pot which is buried for a year. The poison was used on animals and people in the ancient times. That got me thinking about the information that has been and is being lost in the community from the older generation. Yesterday, I was sitting talking with some of the older men and they were talking about how the grandfathers could dig up the roots and such to make medicine for a variety of illnesses. They told me that the knowledge and practice of m...
Read more