Outta Here Oct 5!

I finally got some good news yesterday when my placement officer returned my call. She said she had a placement for me and should have e-mailed it to me a month ago but had forgotten to! I'm leaving October 5 but she said she's not allowed to send me an invite until the last week of May. She said there were other programs leaving earlier but they didn't have any specific requests while this placement has requested volunteers with experience in the field and masters degrees. She seems to think I know what I'm doing! Those were the first two clues I got. The others are that I'm going to be an HIV/AIDS advisor and that its a relatively new program.

I'm about 95% positive that I'm headed to Ethiopia since they sent there first group after being closed for a while at the beginning of last October. All of the volunteers there are doing HIV work with PEPFAR funding. And lastly I just read an article last week that the Ethiopian government has requested experienced volunteers and that Peace Corps is specifically looking for older volunteers. I'm definetly not older and don't think I'm experienced but I guess that working on an MPH counts for something. Glad to know that being $40,000 in debt has come in handy already! Check out the article in the Christian Science Monitor!

I'm a little disappointed my specific job is with HIV since its really not my interest and I have a lot of issues with PEPFAR and how their work so far has been completely ineffective! I'm super excited to be in a newly open program though since I figure its less likely that I'll be compared to lots of other former volunteers and I'll have more opportunities to control what I'm doing. Since its new I figure I may be able to do other work that seems important in the community.

I asked if this date is set so I can make plans for August and September and she confirmed that it won't change. I guess its time to make plans for India, Florida, and everywhere else I need to go! I'm really excited about this date because it means I can attend my cousins' barn dance which is always the last weekend in Sept. I wasn't able to attend last year and have no idea when I'll be able to go again so it would be a great chance to see all the Krudwigs before I head out for 27 months!