Forecast of the next few months

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Staging


Great group of people at staging and on to Ethiopia

After all the applications, medical tasks, and packing for an international flight there is one last step before getting to Ethiopia: Staging.

All the applicants heading to a country as a training group meet in a US location for a type of orientation. It is a time to meet your cohort face to face, sign some papers, and receive some initial training. It is also one last time before the international flight to commit to sticking it out to the best of your ability for the next 27 months.

From a logistic perspective staging is a way to make sure everyone gets on the same plane with everything they need. In our case that will be a straight flight from DC to Addis Ababa of something like 15 hours.

Arrival in airport - Ethiopia

At the hotel

First week of Pre-service training


Checking in to hotel
After arriving in the country of service Peace Corps gives the trainees some time to get acclimated. We’ll get three days in Ethiopia in a hotel and I’ll hopefully have recovered from jet lag by the end of those three days. This period helps easing into the culture. I’ll remember to sit on my left hand (which is considered impolite to use) when eating and learn the greetings and such before moving to a family home.


During this period we will get a medical review and likely some safety and security briefings. I understand that there will also be interviews about our expectations and needs to help with site placement. Language will be a big deal so I think they will want to narrow down the region so we can begin language training as soon as possible.

Homestay


 During training we will be staying with a family to learn more about the culture, normal family life, and practice language skills. We will have a room with a locked door. My homestay in Ghana and Dominica were wonderful experiences while the homestay couple on St. Lucia was something else.

I understand that language training will take up a lot of time in the morning and then technical training in the afternoon five days a week. Some training will be common with the health and agriculture volunteers and some will be differentiated. We will start with three villages around a training center and some people will be selected to finish training in the north.

Although this will be my third pre-service training and some things will be review this will be my first time as an agriculture volunteer and my first in Ethiopia, so I’ll have a lot to learn.

Site announcement


 Although the language group assigned will give an indication of our region fairly early we will not know our site until rather late in the 12 week training period. Site announcement is one of those special ceremonies when the trainees meet our counterparts. This is the person we will be most closely working with, at least in our first few months and who will help with our transition into the community when we arrive.

We should also get to travel to see the community during this time. During the trip with the help of my counterpart I’ll also be taking most of my stuff from homestay to my site so that it will be easier to travel on my own after swearing in.

Swearing in


Sometime in April we will have our language exam and, presuming all goes well with the rest of training, we will swear in as volunteers. Peace Corps will provide some remedial language training if needed as well as language lessons at site. I’m going to work very hard at the language…

After we swear in we will travel to our site hopefully for the next 24 months. During the first three months we are encouraged to stay at site and get well integrated into the community. A lot of this time will be just learning the routine, the people, and what they are doing and have tried in the past. I’m not one to come in telling people this way or that way is best. Eventually, I hope to be able to bring up some ideas and information that the local farmers, mothers, and others might consider as they decide what is best and what they want to do…

By the time this is published I will be in Ethiopia. I want to thank my family and friends for their support and Peace Corps for the opportunity. Exactly what will happen in this next step to Ethiopia remains to be seen and reported when I get bandwidth and time.

Love always,
John

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