Well, as many of you know, I've wanted to join the Peace Corps for a loooong time. For those of you asking yourself, "What's the process like?", I can give you a very fuzzy recount of my experience. I actually started the whole application process around November 2004, which included a lengthy online application, two essays, and a lovely interview with a recruiter in the Atlanta office. A few days (or weeks) after my interview, I received a password and ID, in order to check my application status. On November 30, 2004, I received an email, notifying me that my application toolkit was updated: Yeah, I was nominated for the Peace Corps! You ask: "When and where are you going?" I respond: "Hold on Little Miss Missy! Patience, Patience!" (Which is a word you will grow to love and hate during the application process and beyond!)
The next step in the process was going through financial, medical, dental, and legal clearances. Essentially, you'll have to divulge all of your financial obligations (ie. those dreaded student loans you're trying to avoid paying, that huge credit card bill you racked up buying your iPod with all of the accessories, three outfits you bought that made you look like a not-so-perfect replica of a Victoria's Secret model, and the cell phone call last month to your new friends in China at peak airtime, etc. ), complete and painfully detailed medical and dental clearance (from the rare pre-Jesus and the saints hop-scotch disease you had last summer, to the chemical make up of the dirt under your finger nails!), and your legal history (ie. the conviction on your driving record for going 2 miles over the speed limit, because you were rushing home to see who got booted off of this week's episode of America's Next Top Model [ANTM for you hardcore fans]) Boy, I tell you...after going through a Peace Corps application process, you'll know if you've been naughty or nice!
Ok, so it usually takes 9 months to a year to complete the process, but as you can see...I had a doozy of a time in the wanna-be-Peace Corps-applicant waiting room, but alas...here I am! Now I can give you exact dates...because the rest of my application process is in recent history. On February 21st, I sent the lovely Peace Corps Medical Office the information they requested...and after what seemed like months of waiting (ok, I'm exaggerating), I received a phone call from the nurse saying that I AM MEDICALLY CLEARED [March 3rd, 2006]!!!!! YEAH!!! From that point on, everything has moved so quickly.
After the phone call saying that I was cleared, I was forwarded to my extremely friendly Placement Officer [PO]. He reviewed my chart and said that he thought I would be a great candidate for a particular program, and that he would send me to the Africa country desk, and they would send my resume off to whom ever...and I should hear from him soon. Well, a couple of days later [March 6,2006], my PO said that he wanted to send me to some place in Africa (because that's what I requested in my online application)...noting that it's going to be in a country I've already visited and I would be working with a non-governmental organization [NGO] that focuses its efforts on HIV/AIDS prevention. That could only mean one of two places: Tanzania and South Africa. All bets were on South Africa. After comparing the health positions in both places..I'll let you be the judge!
Being as excited as I was (and still am), I called my PO at the beginning of every week, wanting to know if he'd heard any news about my placement. I also harassed my best friends, family members, friends of friends who didn't even know I was applying for Peace Corps, my dog, and random strangers...asking them to place nickel bets on what day I'd receive my invitation. Just when I thought I couldn't wait any longer, I came in to work and checked my email...The Peace Corps has updated my application toolkit on March 27th, 2006...I've been INVITED and my invitation packet is in the mail! I received my invitation packet via FEDex on March 29, 2006...SOUTH AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!! In the packet, I was told that I had ten business days to review my packet and assignment, and accept my invitation. Of course you know I was gonna accept the invitation...even if they were planning to send me to East Hell! I called the Peace Corps "Africa office" on March 31st, and accepted a placement of South Africa. In the packet, we had information about personal property insurance, a general description of my assignment as a "HIV/AIDS Capacity Builder," and a CD rom and Volunteer booklet, which provided information about serving as a PCV in South Africa.
As many of you know...I have been involved in a long distance love affair with South Africa, ever since I participated in a program called International Human Rights Exchange, that took me to Cape Town...and later Durban. Since then, I've become extremely close with my roommie in the program and her entire family, and have visited just about every six months to a year. I've watched her relationship with her then boyfriend blossom into a loving marriage, I was one of the first to receive news of her pregnancy (the same day I arrived in Durban, while chowing on my favorite chicken wrap with peri peri sauce and a side order of chips [french fries for all of you American folk] from Nando's...mmm...are you hungry yet?), I've counted all of her son's glorious fat rolls, and have shared many of the joys and sorrows that life brings! SOUTH AFRICA...HERE I COME!
Again, you say: "Umm...You know that South Africa is a really BIG country, right? WHERE in South Africa are you going...exactly!?" I say: "Little Miss Missy, didn't we review the concept of patience a few paragraphs before?!" Here are the next few steps to getting started on my Peace Corps journey:
Staging: I'm slated to leave for staging (meet with all of the people going to your particular country, for a few days of getting-to-know-you exercises, shots, rules, regulations, etc.) on July 17th, and will fly out to South Africa on July 20th! I've been in contact with a few of the people leaving with my group, and thus far we've come up with: Philidelphia, New York, Miami, D.C. , and Atlanta. Do you think we've covered the whole east coast yet? I'll keep you posted on the whens and wheres of staging.
Pre-Service Training: Once we get in South Africa, we'll complete in-country training, which includes: language courses [and language competency exams], more rules and regulations, cultural training, home stay, safety training, etc. At this point, I'd be a Peace Corps Trainee [PCT]. If I "pass" this portion of the process, I would swear in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer [PCV] on September 20th. This point moving forward gets us back to the "fuzzy" mode...so my goal is to keep you up-to-date on my Peace Corps journey! Y'all come back now, ya here!
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