Life after the Peace Corps. The next chapter begins.....

...At My New Home at Heritage Point

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Five Days and counting!

Today is Friday and I'm starting to see some progress in my "to do" piles. I am selling my car to my best friends today and they are going to let me continue to drive it until I leave next week, which will be a big help! I still haven't tackled the packing issue, though I've started to lay out some possible items, but putting them in the duffle bag just seems too final to deal with yet.
I'm very excited about going to my Goddaughter's house tonight for a "sleep over". Cathy, her mother, Arrie and I are going to watch a movie in our pj's and just have some quiet, quality time before I leave (and I'm sure there will be some wine involved for Cathy and me!)
Here are the next FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) that I promised to answer:

2. When do you leave? I suppose I could take this question personally and ask another question – why is everyone so anxious for me to leave? Nevertheless, I guess you've figured out by the countdown that I leave on Wednesday, March 24, at 4 am and fly to Dallas where “staging” begins at noon. I will meet the approximately 40 other volunteers going to Belize, receive the first of a series of immunizations, attend orientation meetings, fill out more paperwork (this is the government, after all!) and get my passport. Our flight leaves the next day at 1 pm, and we arrive in Belize City at 3 pm! After checking in with Immigration and going through Customs, Peace Corps staff will meet us and we will be bused about an hour and a half to the capital city of Belmopan Cayo, where we will stay in a hotel for one week during orientation. At the end of this phase, we will begin six weeks of Community-Based Training with about four other volunteers from our group in each village. The villages are about an hour from Belmopan. Each of us will be placed with a host family and begin training specifically designed for our projects that will include cross-cultural & technical training, health components, safety and security issues, and begin detailed language training in either Kriol, Garifuna, Maya or Spanish. During Pre-Service Training we will begin to develop a better sense of the people and language of Belize, the Peace Corps’ policies and staff, our job descriptions and host country counterparts, and our role as a Volunteer. After the community based training, we will learn where our future site will be and move to our permanent site for 1 ½ weeks of field training. We then return to Belmopan for a final week of training and will be sworn-in as a Volunteer on May 28th.

3. What will you be doing in Belize? I will be in the Business and Organizational Management area, but won’t know where I will be living permanently or what my specific project is until the end of May, when I'm sworn in. The purpose of the Business & Organizational Management area is to help Belizeans achieve a decent standard of living through improved community leadership and sustainable business practices. Volunteers help community groups to effectively manage the need of their communities through enhanced leadership and organizational practices, and help entrepreneurs and microenterprise groups to implement locally appropriate, efficient and profitable business practices.
In addition, I'll be responsible for a project that I will develop independently from the Peace Corps. I've been trying to make some contacts and have several ideas, but ultimately what I am able to do will depend on where I live and what the people need and want. So, I'll just have to keep those ideas in the back of my head until I get settled.
Any guesses what the most frequently asked question is? Stay tuned!

No comments: