Leaving tomorrow!

Welcome to my blog! This blog will detail my 2-year Ugandan adventure! If you're not aware by now, I have joined the Peace Corps and am leaving tomorrow - first orientation and then officially leaving the country on Friday, Feb. 13th. I will serve 2 years, returning in April 2011.

It's been a long process, getting into the Peace Corps (I will always refer to as "PC" from this point forward). I applied back in October 2007, interviewed with a recruiter, received a nomination (originally for October 2008), went through many medical exams and paperwork, waited, waited some more, finally heard from my Placement Officer in late August, who told me I wouldn't be leaving in October for Burkina Faso as I had hoped, but instead would receive an invite for February 2009. At this point, she couldn't tell me the country (they really keep you in suspense until the very last moment). I then received my invite in the mail a few days later...for Uganda and to be a Business Advisor in the Economic Development program. I was happily surprised. Although I had been really hoping for Francophone in order to learn French and in the hopes of having a career in African microfinance ("MF"), I know that Uganda is very involved in microfinance; in fact, it's flooded with MFIs (microfinance institutions). I am not exactly sure what I will be doing as Business Advisor (it's a fairly new program), but I have found some blogs of current PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) who are in the economic development program, and many of them are involved with "income-generating activities" projects, which is microfinance-related. So that's a good sign.

The last few months have been a whirlwind. I seriously wonder where the last 4 months have gone. I found out at the end of August that I wasn't leaving until February, left my microcredit job in Philly at the beginning of October, moved home to Harrisburg, PA and started a new consulting job (international microfinance, social enterprise, SROI, small business, etc), which I just left a couple weeks ago. I worked from home, for those of you who didn't know, but I was kept busy by the work, which I thoroughly enjoyed (and thank my friend - and microfinance mentor - Drew, for giving me the great job opportunity) and meanwhile, filling up most of my time - which is a good thing - for the four months before I departed. Before I knew it, it was winter, and I hadn't done much to prepare for Uganda, except taken a big trip to REI. In the last two weeks, I've crammed in all the necessary things - packing, shopping, cleaning and organizing my room, throwing out stuff I no longer need, visiting friends, family, doing all the other little things you don't think about until the last minute...and taking the GMATs (only just a week ago)...and attending President Obama's inauguration!

This past weekend, my sister came home, and my family spent the weekend together, which was nice. My friends and I also went out downtown Friday night for a last big get-together; it was the first time in years that all 7 of us girls were home and out together! As for today, I am finishing up packing, going through my room, running out for the very last things I forgot and saying the last goodbyes to my friends. Later today, I will say my goodbye to my mom, which I expect will one of the hardest things I will ever have to do. Tomorrow, my Dad and I will go to my sister's in Philly, go out to a nice dinner and stay over as I then have to be at a hotel in downtown Philly by 1:30 for "staging" (or orientation). There, my entire group meets one another, meets some PC staff, fills out the last of the paperwork and talks about what the first few days of what life will be like in Uganda. We then leave Philly on Friday morning and take a bus to JFK, where our flight leaves around 6 PM on Friday evening. We fly from there to Belgium, to Rwanda and finally to Uganda, arriving there around 11 PM (Ugandan time) on Saturday night.

As for what my life will be like in Uganda, I am not exactly sure. Below, I have answered a series of questions that I am asked quite often by people. Hopefully, it will provide you with more background on the PC and the next two years. I am very excited to leave and am glad it's finally here. It's been hard saying goodbye, but I'm also really ready to move!

Please check back for updates. As I note in my answers below, I don't know yet how often I will have internet, but I hope to update it each time I get to a computer that has internet access. I may send an e-mail from time to time, if something of major significance occurs, but I do hope to stick to the blog as I think constant e-mails are too much, and I don't want to flood your mailboxes. This way, you can check it whenever you think of it or whenever you have time. I apologize in advance if I make grammatical or spelling errors or the otherwise. I may not always be typing on a traditional American keyboard and may not have always have adequate time to proofread and spell check. I will also try to keep this blog as politically correct as possible as I have a wide variety of people I've sent this blog out to - friends, family, acquaintances and professional colleagues and contacts. The PC also keeps a tab on all the volunteers' blog; I've even heard stories about volunteers being kicked out due to situations w/ their blogs so I will be very careful about what I write here.

Please write me letters and/or e-mails - I still want to know what is going on in your life! If you do send me a letter, number it, so I know if one got lost somewhere. And I will always write you a letter back so if I never acknowledge that you sent me one, please send me an e-mail, letting me know that you mailed one awhile back and never heard from me - it really may have gotten lost somewhere in transit. Check to the right of this post for details on how to send letters to achieve the highest success rate of getting to me. I also posted some links about Uganda, Africa and the Peace Corps if anyone wants to learn more. And always feel free to ask me questions in e-mails or comments on the blog postings. I will respond! I hope to also post pictures at some point; however, from hearing from other PCVs' experiences, this is rather difficult to do. Most of the computers in internet cafes in Africa have 1990s-like internet so I may just have to upload them to a CD and send home to my sister to upload to my webshots (for future reference, website is: http://community.webshots.com/user/ElleS1376). This website is only for pictures of my various international travels, starting with my study abroad semester in Denmark. So I will add all future Ugandan pics there. I also posted the link on the right-side of the page, with the other notes.

And of course, if you ever want to take a big trip and experience something new, you're more than welcome to visit me in Uganda! I really hope some of you do. As of now, I'm almost certain my father and sister will make it there. Also, my good friend, Steph, may be attending a wedding in South Africa next summer, which will hopefully mean a stop in Uganda! I have another friend who will be doing some work in Rwanda, which is right next door to Uganda, so hopefully I will be able to see them as well.

Fortunately, besides potential family/friend visits, I do also have a fair amount of contacts in Uganda. For one, about four months ago, I found out that a friend of a friend of my uncle has been living in Uganda for the last ten years, working at an HIV/AIDS organization in Kampala. Even more ironic, he was in the PC years ago, and he now works closely with the PCD (Peace Corps Director - each country has one) and has two PCVs working for him currently. We've communicated via e-mail a few times thus far, and I hope to meet up with him when we arrive in the capital for the first few days. He also just had a son, not too long ago, so I look forward to meeting the baby as well! I also have some microfinance contacts in Uganda, thanks to some colleagues and also the Grameen Foundation, where I used to work. I'm not sure when, or even if, I'll be able to meet with any of them, but I hope to definitely try to do so at some point in the next two years! It's not that large of a country so I think I'll be able to visit some.

I apologize for this posting being so long. Congrats if you actually got through it all! But it's more of a post of the last five to six months; future ones will not be this long!

*One last note: I am trying to keep this blog as protected as possible. I will not use my last name anywhere on this site. So please never write my last name, and if you do have the same last name as me, and decide to write a comment, please do not use your last name. I am trying to prevent this from showing up in Google searches under my name. Thank you.

Common Questions Asked to Me (in no particular order):
*What will I miss the most while being gone? - Besides the norm of family and friends, I think I will really miss (as stupid as this may sound) having a large, comfy bed in a big, clean house. As most of you know, I am a clean freak and don't like touching things that are dirty, but I have been really working on not worrying so much about things like that. But I will certainly miss having a big clean bed, free of bugs and what other else may be climbing through my bed. Other than that, I will really miss having a real, clean bathroom. I've used latrines and squatting holes before in Nicaragua and Egypt, but I was never a pro at them. Also, I will really, really miss reading/watching/hearing the news everyday! Most of you know that I check cnn.com at least 20x/day (that is no exaggeration). I read Economist weekly and love watching NBC evening news. I will really miss all of that. But overall, the experience of living in Africa for an extended amount of time and gaining experience towards my microfinance career is much more important to me.

*What will I be doing in Uganda? - My title is "Business Adivsor" in the Economic Development Program. In my training group, there are the Economic Development Program Volunteers (Business Advising and NGO Development) and the teachers. Most of the other volunteers in Uganda are health (AIDS projects) volunteers. I don't know exactly what I will be doing yet. I will find out my job assignment about half-way through training (about a month after I arrive there). I hope that it is microfinance related since that's what I've been working in and will be my career.

*How long will I be there? - 26 months: 2 months of training and 24 months of actual service.

*What will I learn in training? - language skills, how to take care of ourselves health-wise, how to prepare food safely there...and far more, I'm sure!

*What language will I learn? - Not sure. English and Luganda are the 2 official languages in Uganda. But Swahili and many other tribal languages are spoken there, as well. I will find out in training regarding which language group I'm in. Which language I learn in training is most likely the language I will be speaking for the next two years (so I will able to narrow down the part of the country I will be living in once I know which language I'll be learning).

*Will I have e-mail access? - Yes, but I don't know how often. For the first two months, I will be in training and will probably have e-mail access. After that, it all depends on where I am placed for the next two years. I know some volunteers who have internet in their town and others who have to travel hours for it. I will update as soon as I know!

*Will I have a cell phone? - Yes. From the recent correspondence we received from the PC, it sounds like we get a cell phone within the first week. Once I know my number, I will post it on here.

*Will I have running water, indoor plumbing, electricity? - I don't know. Again, I know volunteers who have all of the aforementioned amenities and others who have none. I'll tell you all about it when I find out what my housing situation will be like for the two years!

*What will my housing be like? - Again, I'm not sure. Maybe a hut, but more likely, a cement (slightly larger) house.

*Will I be living in a rural or more urban area? - Once again, not sure. Probably rural, however.

*Will I be able to come home at all? - Yes. From what I understand, I have 2 days of vacation per month of service, but they can be used ahead of time, i.e. I don't have to take off two days each month. So essentially, I have 48 days of vacation. And the term, "vacation," in the PC is used loosely, I believe. Visiting a fellow PCV doesn't have to count as "vacation" - it can be considered PC "business" so I think most vacation time is out-of-country travel and if I have family/friends come for extended amounts of time, where I can't work. A lot of PCVs do come home for a couple (or few) weeks about half-way through the two years. But I'm not sure I will. Many also travel to Europe to meet up with family or friends. I think I prefer that. I'm almost certain that I will want to leave the continent of Africa at some point during the two years, but flights to Europe are cheaper (and shorter), and I will be home in the U.S. in two years for a long time, probably (although I do think I want to live abroad for at least some of my career) so I'm not sure I see the need to come home during the two years as long as I can go somewhere else and visit with family and/or friends.