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On Tuesday, after just less than a week in Senegal, the new
trainees left for community based training for the first time. This is where
trainees go to live with host families for various lengths of time during their
2 month training, focusing on language and cultural integration. I’ve had
extremely nostalgic feelings this past week, thinking back to my first
experience at CBT, walking into my compound with only enough language skills to
say “Hi” and “I need to go to the bathroom”. My first memory is of my host mom
running at me screaming my Senegalese name (Rama at the time), so excited that
I’d arrived. I distinctly remember this feeling of “what the hell have I signed
up for” running through my mind those first few days. Now looking back on 3 years
here, it’s almost funny how nervous I was.  |
| Top of a mountain! |
The other aspect of my job that I love the most is assisting
with site visits. Throughout this past year, I’ve gone out into the field on
numerous occasions, each for about 1 week at a time, accompanying a staff
member from the health program, visiting current volunteers in their sites.
I’ve visited villages and towns around the entire country, sometimes driving
two hours in one direction just to reach a volunteer’s village, do his/her
visit, and turn around. It’s an exhausting experience, but one of the most
thrilling!
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| Garden project |
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| Discussing projects |
When we arrive in a site, we typically sit with a volunteer and
ask her about her projects, challenges she has at site, new work ideas, etc. We
also meet with representatives of the volunteer’s host family and work
partners. We ask them the same questions about how the volunteer is doing
culturally, how work is going, any challenges they are experiencing, etc. Even
as a 3rd year volunteer, I find site visits incredibly rewarding and
motivating. It is awe-inspiring to travel the country learning about all the
projects different volunteers have taken on. Site visits serve a strong work
purpose because they make me a better mentor to the volunteers when I can
connect people with similar work interests together. They also continue to
renew in me the importance of Peace Corps - I’ve seen incredible projects and
heard testimonies from many people about the value of Peace Corps and how
rewarding it has been working with one or many volunteers.
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| An awesome nutritious porridge project for malnutrition |
This 3rd year of service has really brought my
entire experience full circle. I travel around consulting with first and second
year health volunteers on their successes and challenges at site, and I develop
new trainees into the next group of amazing volunteers. This past year was a
long extra year away from my friends and family, but the rewards certainly
outnumber the challenges.
And now the countdown is on! My official last day is May 19th!
I’ll be flying into Zurich to meet my parents and Aunt Sandy for a visit with
one of our family friends and a tour around Italy. Then I’ll be back in the
USA, preparing to start graduate school in the fall (more on that soon). I have
SO many ambitious travel plans for the summer, but I’m also realizing that I
might need some quiet time at home just reintegrating into life in the USA.
It’s weird to be worried about reintegrating into my own country, but that too
will be a part of this entire experience. I’m looking forward to sharing that
with all of you!
Thanks for reading. Peace & love,
Lindsay
