My Description of Service, or Every PCV's Validation

Well, I'm getting on a plane here in just about 18 hours and I wanted to post my DOS. After this post, I probably won't update again about Peace Corps, but may put up a general: oh hai, please come to my new blog over at HopeMD, type post.

Anyway, here's my last year and a half, condensed into two pages. The official copy is signed by my country director and kept on file on official letterhead. Ooh, official. Oh, and PS. I totally tested into ADVANCED LOW in my last language interview. I was pretty excited to have actually gone up a level since swear-in, especially because I was so worried I'd actually gotten worse! So there ya go, even someone with novice level in the beginning can finish up in advanced. Go me!


Ok, DOS time:

Elaina Hope ________
Description of Service
 July 2010-November 2011

REPUBLIC OF BENIN, WEST AFRICA

TRAINING
Pre-Service Learning  (July 14 – September 17, 2010)
1 Language (87 hours) Classroom study of French; current level: Advanced Low.
2 Technical Training (118 hours) Overview of Beninese healthcare system, comprehensive training on integrated disease management, maternal health, and infant and child health; 10 hours practice trainings and activities in the community.
3 Cross-Culture (35.15 hours) Discussion on Beninese history, geography and, traditions; professional and social culturally appropriate behavior and communication.
4 Health (22.5 hours) First aid, preventive and symptom oriented medical procedure, diagnosis and treatment.
5 Safety and Security (8.5 hours) Instruction on safety practices in Benin and ways to stay secure at post as well as incident reporting procedures.

In-Service Training (December 2010): An intensive two week training that reviewed strategies for community assessment, funding streams, and provided and introduction to promoting behavior change. Instruction also focused on PD Hearth, a nutritional recuperation program and Life Skills, a Peace Corps resource designed to promote communication skills that will enable healthy decision making.

In-Service Training (May 2011): A five-day training on community mobilization for malaria prevention and organizing populations to become health resources and leaders in their community.

PRIMARY PROJECT: RURAL COMMUNITY HEALTH PROGRAM (RCH)
Population Services International (September 2010-November 2011): Worked primarily with the office of PSI-Djougou assisting the communications director with social marketing and health education programming in the regions of the Atacora and Donga. Assisted with the smooth operation of the office and compiled monthly reports and tracking of impacts on the community in the areas of reproductive health and HIV/AIDS peer education trainings. Accompanied PSI on regional formations, assisting with logistics and documentation of activities and progress as well as the synthesis of gathered information and reporting. Assisted the office staff with learning English and regularly participated in translations of documents and paperwork.
HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health (October 2010-November 2011):  Assisted nurses midwives with the placing of contraceptive devices such as upper arm contraception implants, sexual health consultations, and HIV/AIDS testing and counseling. Participated in discussions of healthy relationships and sexual behavior with community women including condom demonstrations and other family planning options.
Vaccination and Baby Weighing (January 2011): Participated in the facilitation of discussions with community women about healthy nutrition for their newborns and children during baby weighing sessions and weekly vaccinations. Helped nurses and health workers track infants’ progress on growth charts and described healthy meals and options to mothers as well as information about exclusive breastfeeding and malaria prevention.
Pre-Natal Consultation Assistance (September-November 2010): Assisted with Pre-Natal consultation at the maternity center with procedures in conjunction with health workers.

SECONDARY PROJECTS/ACTIVITIES
Peace Corps Volunteer Discussion Day (October 2011): Spent the day talking to high school students in the United States while on vacation, discussing cultural life and development work in Benin and answering questions about the application process, life abroad, and social media while in the Peace Corps.
Running Club (October 2010-September 2011): Had semi-weekly informal running sessions with local kids and adolescents and talked about the importance of regular exercise and nutrition.
English Instruction (March-September 2011): Provided informal lessons of English language instruction with community members and colleagues.
Science, Engineering, and Entrepreneurial Camp (August 2011): Acted as the lead science instructor for a two week course of 60 middle school aged kids. Discussed theory and practice of basic science concepts and designed and implemented several science projects (water rocket, solar water distillation, terrarium, science of sound). Assisted kids with the presentation skills necessary to inform and recreate the projects on their own and oversaw the final community science fair.
Camp GLOW Bohicon (July 2011): Participated in five day empowerment camp for girls as a camp counselor. Facilitated sexual and reproductive health sessions and assisted with the smooth operation of the camp.
Camp Success Djougou (June 2011): Invited girls to participate in the week long girls’ empowerment camp and was a logistics coordinator during the week. Developed and facilitated several sessions, including life skills and women’s rights. Designed sexual and reproductive health sessions and assisted a local midwife with answering questions. Maintained copies and information of projects and progress for sustainability and posterity of future girls’ camps in the region.

It's been fun! I'll miss you all, but be sure to check out my new, med school adventures blog, HopeMD, on wordpress. Thanks everyone!

INVITED!!!

Apparently my heartfelt letter did the trick because after a round of phone tag this afternoon, D called and said he had one last question for me and inquired after my best address. I told him and then he said "well, congratulations because you will be receiving your invitation in the mail!"

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I said "are you serious?!" and he laughed and said that he had to "go to bat" for me against his superiors and fought hard to allow me to be an exception to the rule. He then said "please don't prove me wrong" and I assured him that I would not ET.

And dammit, I really cannot ET now! Haha, not that I was that worried about it, but now I'll let other people down besides myself.

So now I have no idea where I'm going. STILL. I have to wait until I get the official invite package in the mail! He said it would be here soon next week, but could take up to 10 days. Ahhhhh, I guess I can wait 10 more days if i have to!

I am so stoked and thankful that this process is essentially over. I know I have a lot of paperwork stuff to look forward to now, but I am really grateful for the overall smoothness of the process. I got pretty frustrated with the Peace Corps relatively often, but in the end, it's all worked out for the best. Hopefully. I guess I still don't know my country.

Care to make a wager?

I absolutely cannot focus on my work now!
Officially I have 2 presentations, 3 major 15-20 page papers, a biology lab project/paper, and two class exam finals to complete before graduation. And I only have 4 days of college classes left EVER. Finals are the week after and then its senior week and graduation.

OMG I'm going be a Peace Corps volunteer!!!!

Stay tuned for the official country location.
The numbers of Sub-Saharan, francophone Africa countries with health programs leaving in July have increased:

Mali- July 1
Niger- July 7
Benin- July 14
Madagascar- July 19

Who knows?

E

Midnight heart stopper

Just got online to the PC wiki on a whim and saw that Benin has been added to the July time line with staging set for July 6th! That means official invites are out right?! And I suppose the caveat is...if I didn't get one, it means no to Benin for me, yeah?

Probably not necessarily. It could be that another desk has gotten out invites before the health desk...or that the date on the wiki is so super unofficial that no invites are actually out yet. Or maybe everyone who is nominated for a a health extension in July for francophone SSA has found out where they are going, except for me!! Ahhhh...

Ok, moment of crazy has passed.

I think I need to go to bed. Maybe I'll get an email in the morning. The restless applicant syndrome is killing me! I really hope I haven't gotten my hopes up for the birthplace of voodoo just to have them dashed.

Positive thoughts! On that note, just one quick thing: I was thinking that I want to incorporate my PC service into my wedding somehow...and thinking I could maybe use a song or tradition I pick up. I'm probably going to have a bit of an off-beat wedding anyway, that a couple African traditions won't seem out of place...Hmmmm. Okay, good. Now I am sufficiently distracted from RAS. Yay for my fiancé!

*edit*
It seems as if Benin has already been on the wiki and somehow I had just missed it. LOL. Way to go me. Sometimes I really meet those blonde moments head on. haha

E

Welcome to my Peace Corps Blog!

So it might be early, but I wanted to start blogging about the Peace Corps process now that I am officially cleared by medical and dental.

The blog will be a glimpse into my life while a Peace Corps applicant, trainee, and volunteer. I plan on continuously updating until I leave and then periodically while abroad. I want this blog to be link for people to keep in touch with me and to read about my life while I am in Africa.

Ok! Some background is a good idea I suppose!

I have wanted to join the Peace Corps for many years; I think I've been interested in doing overseas volunteer work for about as long as I've been interested in medicine...so since the 9th or 10th grade I guess. I put the idea off for a while because I wanted to go straight to medical school and I didn't want to maintain a super long distance relationship. Now because my boy is so supportive and we are so stable I started to think seriously about applying and finally applied this summer on July 3rd, 2009. Here's a basic outline of the process so far, time line style:

July 3rd, 2009: Application submitted. Spent upwards of 10 hours completing the monster application including two medium sized essays on multiculturalism and motivations for Peace Corps Service. The application is all online and requires three pretty intense recommendations. They advise starting the application process 9-12 months before you want to leave. Since I want to leave in the beginning of July next year, I guess this was perfect timing to wake up and decide to do it!

Mid July, 2009: Interview set up for third week in August at the Boston PC office. Also received addendum forms to help place me in a good fit program.

August 10, 2009: Interview rescheduled due to in office conflict.

August 28, 2009: Interview! Met with recruiter and she typed up my answers while I talked about my motivations for joining, my fears and hopes, my experience with leadership and how I handle stress, etc. I also had to fill out forms about my flexibility with my vegetarianism and my relationship status. All in all, it was not stressful at all! At the end of the interview, she went ahead and gave me my nomination! I am nominated for the health extension position in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa leaving in July 2010!!!

September 5th-ish, 2009: Received official notice of nomination status via online status update!

September 10, 2009: Medical and Dental packet arrived. Set up appointments for medical/dental clearance

September 16, 2009: Medical appointment. Filled out massive amounts of forms, blood tests for all sorts of things

September 30, 2009: Physician signed off on test results, psychiatrist signed off on mental health clearances. Received polio and tetanus shots. Ouch!

October 15, 2009: Dental exam. No cavities. Films sent off to Peace Corps along with entire medical packet! Whew!

October 22, 2009: Get a phone call asking about an irregularity with my medical forms. Need a personal statement explaining the inconsistency. I write one up and fax it the next day.

October 30, 2009: Get an email saying my online application status has been updated. I anxiously log in and see that I a decision has been reached and that I should look for the information in the mail!

November 2, 2009: Receive the letter saying that I am medically cleared for service where persons with an IUD can be properly cared for. I'm not really sure what this means and I hope it doesn't exclude me from going to any countries!

November 6, 2009: Receive a letter stating that I have dental clearance as well! I check the online status and see that I am cleared to the next step, the Placement Office. They will hopefully be getting back to me soon with an official invitation so I can actually know when and where exactly I am going!

So that's that for now. I'll keep y'all in the loop as I find out more. It could be a while before I hear from the placement people. I definitely have a list of the West African countries I'd most like to live in and I have been researching vociferously in my spare time. Stay tuned!

-Elaina