To Staging and Beyond!

So this will probably be my last post for a bit, as I'm taking off early tomorrow morning for Brussels and Cameroon with the 54 other people in my 'stage' or cohort, but I wanted to update everyone on my progress so far. With my staging event today in Philly, I officially transitioned from being a Peace Corps Invitee, to a Peace Corps Trainee. Now I know that that sounds trivial and simply a minor word change, but to someone who has been awaiting this moment, and the adventure to come, that seemingly meager word change meant a lot. It means that I'm here - I've made it this far, I'm making my dream happen, and that in and of itself is an incredibly empowering and exhilarating feeling.

Here's a bit of background information that I found interesting about the Peace Corps, and Peace Corps Cameroon. The Peace Corps was started in 1961 by President JFK, and volunteers have been going to Cameroon pretty much since its inception (51 years). In total, PC volunteers are in 139 countries (they recently added Kosovo as a new country). Currently, PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) are serving in 76 countries around the world. Since its inception, there have been 210,000 PCVs, and counting, with 8,095 currently serving (add 55 in November for my group!). There are 165 PCVs currently serving in Cameroon. The average age of PCVs is 28, and the majority (43%) of these volunteers are in the Education sector; Health is the second largest sector comprising 21%. Currently, there are youth development, health, environment/agroforestry, education, and community economic development volunteers in Cameroon. My group is pretty evenly split between the three sectors of health, youth development, and agroforestry. My group's composition is roughly 2/3rds female and 1/3 male - not too much different from the ratio I encountered in my public health studies. Former famous RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) include: Lillian Carter (President Jimmy Carter's mother, who started her service when she was around 60 years old - it's never too late to pursue your passion), former WI Governor Jim Doyle, Bob Bila ("This Old House" anyone?), and author Paul Theroux. 

Our staging started with overviews on the Peace Corps (we delved into the three Peace Corps goals and mission); what we expect as volunteers; what's next; what is expected of us; and a closing activity cementing us as a family. All in all, it was a great introduction to this adventure which will become my reality in roughly over 48 hours. We did a variety of activities and skits (my hand is still dyed pink and green from the colorful hand puppet drawn for a skit that my group did to illustrate a real-world Peace Corps scenario regarding flexibility and tempering expectations) - needless to say, everyone seems incredibly friendly and really invested in this experience. I'm looking forward to sharing experiences and tapping into the talents of my new Peace Corps family. We all depart tomorrow morning for Brussels, and arrive in Cameroon late Friday evening. 

As always, I hope you guys found this interesting, and not just me rambling ad nauseum about my experiences. And please send me letters/emails if you'd like to hear about anything in particular, or just to say hi!