If you have been following this you know that we have received the official invitation from the Peace Corps to serve in Botswana beginning in April 2011… and that we quickly, and happily accepted that invitation. Things are settling down a little around here. The giddy feeling and celebrations about being officially invited to serve have subsided somewhat.
We had waited for four months from the time we sent in our medical packet (May 3) until anything happened. We got used to the waiting and tried not to think about it. Then around September I started noticing on the Peace Corps Journals that some people leaving about the time we were, had been medically cleared. Finally we received an email from the medical office stating that everything looked good, except for one form that needed to be redone. That was cause for celebration. Then we received medical clearance a few days later (Sept 24) – more celebration. A few weeks later a call came from the Placement Office with the good news of an invitation on the way – still more celebrating. Then we received the invitation – way more celebrating.
Click here to see our application timeline.
So after four months of silence, everything happened very fast. At the end of the day, except for the waiting, the process has not been that difficult, just lengthy. We never had the nightmare of back-and-forth with the medical office I had heard happened frequently. It all went pretty smoothly. Now we have to wait five more months until we leave, but that will be easier knowing we are definitely going.
The waiting was tough though. When people would ask about the Peace Corps, I got so tired of having to qualify my answers, “…but we aren’t actually in yet… it’s not definite yet… it is still not official yet…”.
Now I can just say that we have been invited and are going to Botswana. Not qualifying, no hedging we really are going to do this.
I knew there was a chance the assignment could change. While still in the four-months-of-silence stage, Tish and I attended a Peace Corps recruiting event that featured six returned Peace Corps volunteers. We asked the six how many of them ended up going somewhere other than where they were nominated — three hands went up.
Changing gears from Eastern Europe to Botswana was interesting. For the last six months we had assumed we would be in Eastern Europe. I was following the blogs of volunteers in Eastern Europe, doing research on Eastern Europe, and telling people it would probably be in Eastern Europe.
I had heard that Peace Corps service in the Eastern European countries is sometimes referred to as the “Posh Corps”, because volunteers have access to better amenities such as more consistent electricity and water, hot water, access to the internet, etc. That might make things more comfortable but that really wasn’t our first consideration. The location of Eastern Europe was appealing. All of our friends were lining up to come visit with side trips to Greece and Italy. Sorry everyone, that ain’t gonna happen.
Serving in Sub-Saharan Africa we have a higher likelihood of experiencing the stereotypical Peace Corps experience. Those are the challenging conditions we expected when we first applied to the Peace Corps, so we are just going back to the mind set we had at the beginning. We were ready to take that on then, and were looking forward to it, and are now again.
Of course, there is no way of knowing what our living conditions will be until we get assigned to a site. This assignment occurs at the end of Pre Service Training, about three months after we arrive in Botswana. We could be assigned to a site in a large town or small village, and the living conditions would vary greatly. The chances are greater that we will be in a small village.
We have talked a lot about this new turn of events. Tish had always wanted to serve in Africa. For me, in the final analysis, taking Eastern Europe and it’s obvious location benefits out of the equation, there is no other place I would rather serve than Africa. I did not want to be in Central Asia with its cold. Though South America offered the chance to become fluent in a language useful on our return, it was not nearly as exotic as Africa. Asia was appealing, but Africa is a continent I have never visited, and probably never would if we did not go now. Also, Botswana needs help, and we want to help. So we are going to get the Peace Corps experience we had originally envisioned, with plenty of challenges and adventures.
It is hard for the Peace Corps to find placements for married couples, even without a medical restriction. We consider ourselves lucky to be able to serve, anywhere. We already had decided to go wherever they placed us. So Botswana it is.
Botswana. Even the name sounds exotic.. Of course I immediately did some research on the country and it looks very interesting. For one thing, friends may want to come visit after all. A third of Botswana is game preserve and you can see all the large animals Africa is famous for — elephants, lions, rhinos, hippos, water buffalo, etc. Botswana borders South Africa which is a modern country with a lot to see and do. World famous Victoria Falls is nearby. So please friends, don’t give up on us, you can visit us when you are in your winter months, and that is the best time to visit Botswana, which is below the equator.
As it stands now, we have officially accepted the invitation and the Peace Corps has confirmed our acceptance. We have put our passport forms in the mail. Next we will work on our updated resumes and Aspiration Statements.
Our Application Status was updated this morning…
