Song: Me Love, Sean Kingston

One more day in NY. Then Philly on Tuesday and Uganda on Wednesday. Oh boy. I'm really not sure how I feel about the whole situation. I'm suprisingly not as nervous as I expected - I was sure I'd be vomiting several times a day at this point - sorry, I'm a nurse, talking about vomit doesn't phase me much. But I'm doing pretty well. Only feel sick for a little while in the morning and then the nerves subside. (We'll see how that goes 2 days from now lol).

But I am sooooo not wanting to leave my family and friends. :( I've had several teary goodbyes and have even reached the point where the corniest of songs bring me to tears. Listen to "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus and "Me Love" by Sean Kingston and tell me I'm not a loser lol. Ughhh I'm gonna miss people soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ughh. Okay new topic before I start to cry again. Packing. It took like 3 days, but I'm done. After a minor setback (Leo eating my packing list) here are the contents of my luggage:

Clothes

2 baseball hats

4 bandanas

1 Jeans

1 Slacks

Windbreaker/sweatshirt

Light jacket

Light sweater

2 gauchos

2 capris

9 tee shirts

3 button shirts

2 tank tops

1 cami

2 Pajamas

1 lounge pants

7 skirts

3 dresses

1 bathing suit

20 undies

5 bras

1 slip

5 socks Bathing suit Yoga capris

Shoes

Sneakers

2 Flip flops

Tevas

Nice sandals

Electronics

Canon Powershot Camera

Camera CD and cords

8 GB, 4GB, 1GB USB

Memory card

Dell Inspiron Laptop

Mouse

Mouse pad

Laptop lock

Solar charger

Flashlight

Digital picture frame

Shortwave radio/alarm clock

Ipod

Ipod speakers

2 Headlamps

Battery charger, rechargeable batteries

Adaptors

Converter

Toiletries

2 Hair brushes

Feminine hygeine products

Diva cup

Facial cleanser

Q-tips

Sunscreen

Bug spray

Contacts

5 deodorant

2 toothpaste

Dental floss

Toothbrushes

Hand sanitizers

Eye drops

Ear drops

Razor

Razor blades

Tweezer

Bath sponge

Chapsticks

Nail clippers and scissors

Eyeglasses repair kit

Advil/Tylenol

Rolaids

Shampoo

Conditioner

Lotion

Body wash

Contact solution

Bar soap

Hair clips, ties, etc

Mirror

Linens and Things

4 pillow cases

2 flat sheets

Plastic matress cover

Travel blanket

5 washcloths

2 beach towels

1 camp towel

3 hand towels

Travel iron

Presents!!

NYC baseball hats and pencils

2 Watches for host parents

Gifts for the kids (disney card games, matchbox cars, silly putty, pez!)

School Supplies/Books

3 Journals

Address Book

Books (Last Moon Dancing, Brick Lane, The Audacity of Hope, Mini Bible, Book of Serenity quotations --> the rest of the books I have to mail to myself)

Rubber bands

Duct tape

Scotch tape

Stapler

Stationery

Folder

Crayons, markers, highlighters, sharpies

Crossword puzzle book

Post-its

Calendar

Pens, pencils

Pencil sharpener

Sewing kit

Calculator

Krazy glue

Scissors

Bookmarks

Kitchen

Ziplock containers and bags

Small pot

Plate

Measuring cups/spoons

Can opener

Vegetable peeler

Liquid measuring cup

Sponge

A few pieces of silverware

2 water bottles

Random

Duffel bag

Obama placemat from Wegmans!

Solar shower

3 sunglasses

Uno

Travel Taboo

Cards

Puzzle

DVDs

Money belt

Passport holder

Jansport backpack

Smaller backpack

Satchel

Cross and Rosary beads

Gardening gloves

Poncho/umbrella

Bungee Cords

Swiss Army Knife

Okay and I think that's it. I know I overpacked, but hey, I had a lot of this stuff, so might as well take it instead of buying new stuff. My check-ons weight 86 lbs (that's 6 lbs above the limit, so they better not charge me! lol). Thank you to everyone who bought me stuff!! If you don't see it on the list, don't worry, I'm gonna ship it to myself because it couldn't fit into the suitcases. Oh I also forgot I'm gonna stuff in some granola bars and other food into whatever crevices I can find in my luggage. This took forever to write. I'm done. Goodnight. Oh and sorry about all the weird spacing, it wasn't intentional but I don't feel like fixing it lol.

Song: Your Song, Elton John

So, I'm not sure if Lugandan is hysterical on its own, or if the Peace Corps just presented it that way, but here are a few things I find "a little bit funny" about the language, so far:

1) The language is called Lugandan. They just added an "L". I know a lot of language names are only slight variations on their country of origin's names, but I still find this amusing.

2) The words "water" and "feces" are THE SAME WORD with different intonnations. "Try to put the stress on the correct syllable to avoid miscommunication." Thanks for the advice Peace Corps. This may be a problem. Kind of like when I was working in a clinic in the DR, weighing patients, and the word for "point" and "bitch" were also uncomfortably similar. "The patient weighs 120 bitch 5 pounds, doctora." No bueno.

3) Saying "good morning" literally translates to "how did you spend the night?" Too much information.

4) The use of the word "hmmm". On the recordings we have to listen to, the Peace Corps inserted a ton of "hmm"s at random places. I know, it's probably how the conversations actually go, but I just thought it was funny how they decided to add them.

That's all for now. This language is maddd hard though!!

Gyebaleko! (Thanks for your work- pronounced "jai-ballet-ko")

Yay! I passed my NCLEX and am now a Registered Nurse! That test was the hardest test I test EVER took, and I was sure that I failed! I even took out the Peace Corps' number because I was preparing to call and tell them that I couldn't go anymore because I failed and had to retake it!

Ahhh I'm sooo happy I passed. Now time to focus on Uganda. Less than a month away ahhhhhh.

Song: Best I Ever Had, Drake

So the buzz about town probably isn't as big as the title made it out to be, but us PC Uganda August 09ers are pretty excited that we now have our staging info! In Peace Corps lingo "staging" is a just a fancy word for "orientation" - an orientation where we get like 12 more injections - no joke.

So here's the game plan:

August 4th (yes, I get 2 extra days in NY than I originally thought!)

Me and my mom are going to drive to Philadelphia in the morning, do some sight-seeing- I'll probably be an emotional wreck- and then she'll drop me off at the hotel where our staging is around 1:30.

Then fun lectures and such to follow until 7 pm. Then we're free to do whatever for the night.

August 5th

9:30 it's back to where I came from (no, I'm not using the PC for a nice hotel room and then ditching them like some of you've suggested lol). We fly out of JFK so I'll be headed back home, but I won't actually be going home. (Unless you wanna get all corny and say that Uganda is my new home- and heck, we all know how corny I am, so we might as well say it.)

Flight is at 5:50 pm to Brussels, Belgium (yum chocolate and waffles?)

August 6th

We get to Belgium at 7:35 am (their time).

2 hour layover and then we're headed to Entebbe, Uganda via Kigali, Rwanda (not really sure what that means)

We arrive in Uganda at 9:40 pm (again, their time).

Not sure how the time zones all work, but basically our flight will be:

8 hours to Belgium +10 hours to Uganda = 18 HOURS!!!!!!!!

That's the longest I've ever been on a plane!

And that's all I'm certain of for now.

More updates- hopefully happy updates- to come after I take the NCLEX on Monday.

Goodnight and Happy 4th of July!

Mailing Instructions

1) Write "AIR MAIL" and "PAR AVION" on mail

2) Keep packages smallish

3) Padded envelopes are best

4) Write address in red ink

5) You can add "Sister" in front of my name - It's not necessary, but I know some of you will get a kick out of it, so go for it! Haha

6) Mail can take at least 3 weeks to reach me

7) Number all your letters so I know I've received them all

My address until October:

Erica Avidano, PCT

PO Box 29348

Kampala, Uganda

... Apparently that's all they have in Uganda... well, at least according to my friends who are trying to scare me out of going lol. And amazon.com. "Do you mean Rwanda?" No, amazon.com, I mean Uganda. And then amazon proceeds to reinforce the whole gorilla/guerrilla thing. Some interesting products on the amazon.com Uganda list:1) A guide book with a monkey on the cover!! - I don't care what you all say, I like gorillas, and they're not going to make their way down from the mountains so they can break into my "hut" and eat me while I'm sleeping lol2) War Dance - a documentary - looks pretty cool- I may have to watch it. 3) A CD with "Music from the Jewish People of Uganda" - Haha this amuses me4) A book called "First Kill Your Family" - Story of kids captured by rebel soldiers and forced into joining the LRA. (Sadly, the list mostly consists of books on this issue). 5) A Ugandan plug adapter - I think I need one of those. Once I take my nursing boards on July 6th, I'm going to read as many Uganda books as I can and practice Luganda and make a packing list and buy the things I need, etc, etc, etc. Oh man I got a lot to do :

Song: Every Girl, Lil Wayne

New idea for the blog: since I can't ever think of a title for my posts, I'm going to use a line from the song I'm currently listening to. In this case, it's the only post-able line from the song lol.

Okay, so that whole schedule I mapped out last week... out the window. I've been to library only once, and I've rode my bike only twice. Instead, I've been watching Degrassi wayyy too much, going online sorta too much, hopping the 5 boroughs a little too much, and studying not at all too much.

NCLEX in 3 weeks exactly. Uganda in approximately 7 weeks.

Yikesssssss!

"Because the world is round, it turns me on...

Because the wind is high, it blows my mind..."

Because I'm a bum, I've decided to make myself a schedule this summer. Haha yep. Because I would prefer nothing more than to sit in my pajamas allll day long, I really need to motivate myself, and the only way I can really do this is by forcing myself into a routine. So here's my exciting summer schedule:

8:00- Wake up!

8:20- 9:30ish - Driving Miss Lizzy.

My mom is a crossing guard and makes a lot of friends while working the corner (hehehe, oh man I need to stop). Anyways, one of her friends is a recovering (?) alcoholic who has breast cancer and a whole host of other problems so I'm going to drive her to her radiation treatments this summer. 9:45 - 10:15 - Bike Ride!Practice for the Peace Corps when my main mode of transport will be a bicycle. Hopefully I will increase the length of my bike rides as my stamina increases. Unfortunately, it's pretty flat ground around here, so it may not be as strenuous as riding in Uganda will be, but hey, it's better than nothing. 10:30 - 12:00 - ChillShower, take care of the dogs, watch some TV, computer, etc.12:00-12:30 - Lunch12:45 - ??? - Bike Ride to the Library Let's be realistic here, I really can only spend at most 3 hours at a library. So 3 hours studying NCLEX from my notes and the Saunders book. 4:00 - 6:00 - Relax6:30ish - Dinner7:00 - 10:00ish - Relax10:00- 11:00- NCLEX QuestionsThese will also hopefully dispersed into my "Relax" and "Chill" time. 11:00- Bed ... yes, I'm an old lady. So that's my schedule. Really too much down time, but hey, it's the summer. And I'm lazy. :P

Here are the essays that were required for the application:

Motivation Statement

Please provide a statement (between 150-500 words)that includes:- Your reasons for wanting to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer; and- How these reasons are related to your past experiences and life goals.

Ever since I was little, I’ve always dreamed of participating in an organization like the Peace Corps. My desire for doing international work probably arose from listening to the handful of Catholic nuns and priests, who would speak at our church about their overseas programs that helped empower women, improve local economies, set up clinics, or provide care for children in orphanages. As I matured and grew I began to take an interest in the world and have been fortunate enough to travel to five other countries. I also began to volunteer my time, and when it came time for college I chose majors that would enable me to help others as a career.

What I learned along the way however was that by helping others, I was also helping myself. We, both the volunteers and those being served, were all empowering and teaching each other, and I feel that the Peace Corps stresses this very important principle. In my opinion, Peace Corps Volunteers should not hold to the elitist notion that it is their job to "save the world" because this would hinder the exchange of ideas across cultures. Rather, as a Peace Corps Volunteer I hope to not only help others and teach them what I know, but I hope to learn from and to be helped by the people in my host country as well.

My past experiences in volunteering and traveling create in me a desire to join the Peace Corps, and my future aspirations do the same. Ultimately, I plan on going back to school to get my Masters in Public Health and Nursing. I aspire to one day work as a Nurse Practitioner in clinics that care for underserved populations both overseas and here in the United States. From my volunteer work in West Virginia, my clinical experiences in Binghamton, New York, and my summer job at a local hospital, I have seen firsthand the healthcare disparities that exist even in our own "First World" country. From my travels abroad, I have seen that these disparities are unfortunately amplified in developing nations.

All in all, wherever my life and career takes me, I feel that what I learn in the Peace Corps will greatly enable me to serve any population I come across. By living outside of my comfort zone, I will strengthen myself as a person, and by gaining new perspectives and cultural appreciation I will enable myself to become a more compassionate and understanding person and a better nurse for my future patients.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cross Cultural Experience

Peace Corps Volunteers must be open to ideas and cultures different from their own.Give an example of a significant experience that illustrates your ability to adapt crossculturally.You may draw from experiences in your work, school, or community in theU.S. or abroad. Please include the circumstances of the experience and dates.

Being from the New York Metro area, I am fortunate enough to be subjected to cross-cultural experiences right in my own backyard. However, the most significant of these experiences and the true tests of my ability to adapt inevitably happen to me when I travel abroad. My first real "culture shock" occurred when I traveled with my friend, an immigrant from Ghana, to his homeland in December 2005. Although I was nervous at first, during my stay in Ghana, I quickly became accustomed to the almost daily "lights out", taking bucket showers, eating with only my right hand, and being one of the only "oburonis" (white people) around. My ability to adapt to my surroundings, which were so different than what I was used to, made me more open to all kinds of experiences and allowed me to learn a great deal about the Ghanaian culture.

I made sure to remember this when I participated in my nursing school’s study abroad program in the Dominican Republic this past summer. Since I had traveled to Ghana, I was not as shocked with the living conditions of a developing country as my other classmates were; sadly I had seen the same kind of poverty in Ghana that I was now seeing in the barrios of the Dominican Republic. However, this time, two other factors presented themselves and again forced me to adapt in ways that I had never needed to before.

First was the language barrier. In my past travels I’d had some difficulties communicating, but in Ghana, English is the national language, in Austria many knew English, and in France I’d known just enough French to get by. Outside of the resort areas in the Dominican Republic, barely anyone knew English, and I barely knew Spanish. During our clinical work we were paired off and assigned to different hospital units. Although I initially saw it as a curse, I now see it as a blessing that I was paired off with the girl who knew only a little high school Spanish rather than with one of the other two girls who were fluent. This forced me to learn the language quickly. We both mustered up whatever phrases we could and whenever that failed we whipped out our Spanish medical phrase books.

This brings me to the second factor: the healthcare system. Working in Dominican hospitals was an eye-opener. I was shocked to witness the lack of simple technologies, the delivery of a stillborn baby, and the large number of people at the AIDs clinic. By taking on the perspective of the Dominican patients however, I was able to gain knowledge and appreciation. I had to set aside the ideas of healthcare I possessed in order to realize that the Dominican healthcare professionals and patients were doing the best they could with what they were given. I came to appreciate the ingenuity and creativity, neighborly compassion, and resource conservation that we do not see as often as we should in the United States healthcare system. In all of my cross-cultural experiences, I have realized that by adapting to new environments and taking on perspectives that are different from my own, I can learn and gain more than I ever expected.

Here's the aspiration statement I wrote about a month ago when I first received my invitation to Uganda. I wanted to post my application essays too, but I think I saved them on another computer, so I will post them later.

In other news, I'm finally done with my undergraduate degrees, and I graduate on Saturday!! Yayyyyyyy!!!!!!! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ASPIRATION STATEMENT

Erica Avidano

Uganda

August 2, 2009

Expectations

I am going into the Peace Corps prepared to expect the unexpected, but even though I am unsure of what lies ahead, I do have some idea of what I think my life in Uganda will be like. Firstly, I expect that leaving my family and friends to live half way around the world for more than two years will be the hardest and scariest thing I have ever done. I expect that at times I will be overwhelmed and uncertain, but I also expect that I will overcome these feeling with the help of my newly found Ugandan friends and my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers. I also expect that by the time I leave Uganda, I will be feeling these same emotions departing from my "new home" as I did when I left my home in the United States to become a Peace Corps Volunteer.

As a Community Health Volunteer, there are so many areas that I may be assigned to work in. No matter what job I do, I feel that it is necessary for me to work directly with my community in identifying what they feel are their greatest needs. In nursing school we’ve learned that in order to help a patient heal, we must ask them what they need from us instead of just assuming. I plan to use this same strategy in my job as a Community Health Volunteer. I will work with them in exploring their wants and needs, and what has or hasn’t worked for them in the past in order to help create successful programs. I expect to do this with much fewer resources than I am used to here in the States, but by the time I leave, I expect that these projects will be able to flourish and grow in the hands of my fellow community members.

Strategies for Adapting to a New Culture

As I mentioned earlier, I expect this experience will be the most difficult experience of my life so far. In order for me to succeed in adapting, I will have to remind myself of past successes I’ve had and pull confidence from them. Although I’ve never lived in a foreign country for two years before, I have had smaller successes in adapting to new cultures and unfamiliar situations. I will remind myself of how I succeeded in adopting new customs during my time in Ghana, and how I succeeded in working in Dominican clinics when only a few weeks before I knew only two words of Spanish. Failures are to be expected, and when they occur, I will draw upon my inner strength to reflect upon them to see what I can do differently in the future.

Aside from these internal strategies, I feel that the easiest and best way for me to adapt is to immerse myself in the Ugandan culture as much as possible. I plan on spending a huge amount of time with my host family, gaining support and learning from them. I will use my new language as much as possible as well because the more I practice it, the more comfortable I will be using it, helping me further adapt to my new culture. I also hope to learn a lot in pre-service training, including the language and cultural aspects, and expect that hearing the experiences of my fellow volunteers will provide me with reassurance that I am not alone in my (probably humorous) struggles and mistakes.

Professional and Personal Goals

Professionally, I believe that this experience will help me in becoming a better nurse. Although many people picture nurses doing hands-on skills like taking blood pressures or giving injections, the core of nursing is really centered on being a patient’s advocate. Nurses must lead, manage, care, educate, counsel, etc., and I expect that being a Peace Corps Community Health Volunteer will allow me to practice these interpersonal skills so that when I return to the United States I will truly be able to advocate for my patients. Ultimately, I hope to get my Masters in Public Health and Nursing, and I hope that my experience in the Peace Corps will help me to care for vulnerable populations wherever I work, whether it be in the United States or abroad.

Personally, when I come out of this experience, I expect to be a changed person, with more confidence, strength, humility, knowledge and compassion than I had coming in. I believe that living in Uganda will broaden my perspectives, and when I leave I hope to feel that I’ve given as much of myself as possible, but also that I’ve received more from this country than I ever could have expected.

So I still have more than 3 months to go before I leave for Uganda, but there are already changes! Well one change really... the title of my blog. First, the reason for the new title "Eureka Uganda." Eureka is my nickname given to me by my mom and grandpa, and ever since I got my invitation to Uganda my mom's been calling me "Eureka Uganda." So now it's my blog title.

My old title was "Soyez Zen" which, in French, translates to "be zen" or roughly translates to "chill out." (I learned this from watching the Stepford Wives while I was in Paris haha). Since I thought I was going to a Francophone country, I thought it was appropriate, but now that I'm not going to a Francophone country... well, it's still appropriate actually. So I'm going to leave it as the link to this blog. Because I really do need to chill out.

Now, I've been reading a lot of blogs and I haven't seen too many where the writers said this, but I'm gonna come straight out and say that I am really freaking out about going to Uganda. When I first got my invitation I was sooo excited and happy (and I still am, believe me) but I was kind of in a daze, and the next day it started to sink in. All during the application process, it didn't seem like my invitation would ever come. It was like "ohh maybe I won't pass medical... maybe I'm not qualified enough" but now it's like "I did pass medical... I am qualified enough... I'm going to Uganda... yay!!!!.... wait, OH MY GOD... what am I getting myself into!?"

So for a good two weeks after my invite came I was nervous beyond belief... like not-wanting-to-eat and having-trouble-sleeping nervous. For now, my nerves have subsided. I know they will come back when it's almost time for me to leave, but I also know that joining the Peace Corps and going to Uganda is something I want to do with all my heart, and it's something that I've wanted to do my whole life. So I know (well, actually hope and pray) that I will be able to overcome my nerves and fulfill my dreams. I just have to soyez zen!!! ;)

So, the Peace Corps has three goals:

1) Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.

2) Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

3) Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Right now I'm going to focus on the third goal and share some information about Uganda!

Location

Uganda is located in Eastern Africa. It's landlocked and surrounded by 5 other countries: Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, and Democratic Republic of Congo, not exactly the happiest of neighbors, but whatcha gonna do?

..... I'm just going to make a side note here about safety, since I know it is on a lot of your minds. Everybody who knew the location and history of Uganda has expressed concern about me living there as a PCV. I'm really grateful for your concern, but honestly, I am not worried about it, and here's why:

1) Peace Corps told us that volunteers will NOT be placed in areas of concern (i.e. in the North near the Sudanese border where there is still rebel activity).

2) According to my research, there's only been one death in PC Uganda that occurred in 1972, and after that the PC Uganda program was suspended.

3)Us volunteers will be extensively trained on safety issues during our pre-service training.

4) Peace Corps has had experience in quickly evacuating volunteers (i.e. Kenya, Georgia, and most recently, the country where I was originally to be placed, Madagascar). Unfortunately, with a lot of developing nations, political unrest does occur. The Peace Corps has emergency evacuation plans for cases such as these and they implement them if they feel volunteers are in any danger.

So those are just some of the reasons not to be worried. I really understand everyone's concern and honestly appreciate it, but don't worry, be happy! lol. It will all work out!

Okay, done with the side-note.....

Population and Culture

Uganda is about the size of Oregon with a population of approximately 32 million people and 50+ languages! English is the official language, Swahili is the second official language, and Luganda is the most commonly spoken local language. (I'm not sure which language I'll have to learn yet, because I'm not sure which district I'll be living in.)

The capitol of Uganda is Kampala. The country is now also home to thousands of refugees from its neighboring countries including Sudan, DRC, Rwanda, Somalia, and Burundi.

Christianity is the major religion in Uganda, mainly Catholicism and Protestantism (84%), followed by Islam (12%), then other world religions and traditional beliefs.

Environment and Geography

About 1/2 of Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile River, is located in Uganda. This contributes to a high rainfall in the area surrounding the lake ~ 84 inches annually. (Okay, this sounds like a lot, but Binghamton's annual rainfall is 37.1 inches plus an annual snowfall of 84 inches (is that info right, Wikipedia!?), so it's really not as bad as it sounds). In other areas of Uganda, there is much less rainfall, and the rainy seasons are generally in November, December, April, and May, so don't come visit during those months haha.

Uganda is on the equator, so nice, warm- but not too warm- weather in the 70's and 80's is common! Uganda also has a variety of landscapes including savannas, marshes, dry plains, and highly vegetated areas.

The title of this post is "The Pearl of Africa" which is what Winston Churchill called Uganda. The pictures I've seen so far confirm this ~ Uganda looks soo beautiful!!!

Uganda is known as a "birdwatcher's paradise" so if you like birds come visit lol. Plus, Uganda is home to more than half the world's mountain gorillas (!!!!) as well as other animals such as

chimpanzees, rhinoceros, hippos, girraffes, etc!!

Recent History and Present Day Government

Uganda gained independence from Great Britain in 1962. Milton Obote became the leader of Uganda, followed by Idi Amin who came to power as a result of a military coup. Obote regained power in the 1980's. These guys were horrible leaders -- see the movie The Last King of Scotland for more info on Idi Amin- but to sum it up, they basically ruled by genocide and mass-murder.

In January 1986, after years of civil war, Yoweri Museveni claimed the presidency and still has it to this very day. Yup, he's been president for longer than I've been alive lol. (That's him in the picture.) He's brought a lot of political and economic stability to Uganda, and has enhanced human rights in the area. Of course, there are still problems, but he's done a pretty good job in bringing his country back from some awful times.

Uganda is a republic with a president, a prime minister, and a multi-party parliament. Presidential elections are held every 5 years.

There is some political unrest in Uganda today, particularly in the North in the form of a rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army. They've been accused of human rights violations including enslaving women and children, murder, and abduction. (See the movie Invisible Children for more info on this). There have been attempts at ceasefires, not sure if they've happened yet, but again, don't worry! Volunteers aren't placed in these areas of Uganda!!

Economy

Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the workforce. Coffee is the main export, but Uganda also produces tea (yay!!!), cotton, tobacco (boo!), cassava, potatoes, corn, millet, pulses (?), beef, goat meat, milk, fish, sugar, poultry, and cut flowers!! The country also has significant mineral deposits including copper and cobalt.

Though it is more stabilized than it once was, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has greatly affected all aspects of Ugandan life, including the economy. This is why the program I'm involved in is called Community Health AND Economic Development. Millions of families have been affected by death and debilitation as a result of AIDS, as have communities who have lost leaders, teachers, etc. This places a huge burden on the economy.

The currency in Uganda is called the Ugandan shilling. 1 Ugandan shilling = 0.000463 U.S. dollars. 1 US Dollar = 2,191.00 Uganda Shilling. I don't understand money, so that's all I'll say about that.

Healthcare

You don't really want to get sick in Uganda. Even in the cities, the hospitals are not great. I'm guessing they're either on the same level or worse than the ones I worked at in the Dominican Republic. If I get sick, the Peace Corps has a clinic, but if they feel they cannot properly treat me, they will send me back to the US or to another country with decent healthcare to recieve treatment.

The life expectancy in Uganda is 52 years. In the USA it's 78 years. Infant mortality is 64.82 deaths/1000 live births, which ranks Uganda at # 33 in this category. Like I wrote in my paper about the Dominican Republic, this all has to do with money and access to healthcare. It's a really sad situation that could be fixed if our whole system wasn't so greedy. But since this probably isn't going to change anytime soon, countries like Uganda just have to make do, and that really isn't acceptable. This topic makes me really upset, and I could go on and on about pharmaceutical companies, greed, corporations, etc, but I'll spare you all lol.

Fortunately, Uganda has done amazingly in reducing its HIV/AIDS prevalence rate. Uganda's HIV/AIDS program is seen as a huge success and other countries are aiming to achieve what Uganda has in this area. At its peak, 30% + of the Ugandan population was infected and today, that rate is down to about 6%! However, this rate is still pretty high (ranks as #14), so a lot of work has to be done to maintain and lower the current rate even further. I'll end this post on that positive note! I'll definitely update again soon; Maybe next time I'll talk about some of the things I can expect as a Peace Corps Volunteer specifically, but for now, goodnight and Happy Easter!

I'm going to Uganda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got my invitation on Thursday, and I am soooo excited!

Timeline and Assignment

August 2, 2009 - "Staging" (orientation) in a US city (Philly possibly)

August 5, 2009 - Arrive in Uganda for Pre-Service Training

October 6, 2009 - Sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer!!

October 6, 2011 - End of service -- back to the USA

I will be working in the Community Health and Economic Development (CHED) program as a Community Health Volunteer!! According to my assignment booklet, this could include a wide variety of tasks, including working with public health departments, local NGOs, etc. and helping them with their various projects in areas such as HIV/AIDS, water, hygeine, and sanitation, maternal/child health, malaria, youth development, life skills training, care of orphans and/or vulnerable children, income- generating activities, etc, etc, etc. Once we get through pre-service training, they will assess our skills and past-experience and see which program would be a good match for us, so after that I will know more specifically what I'll be doing over there!!

Ahhh I'm so excited!! I've been looking up info on Uganda non-stop, so I'll update again soon with some of that info, but right now, I have to go bake an Easter bunny cake. hehe :o-)

So, I was just outside chasing my sister's new puppy- trying to get him to come in from the rain, when I heard my cell phone ringing! I grabbed Leo the puppy, ran to the phone, answered it all out of breath..... and it was my PO!!!!!!!!!! I was sooo not in the zone and was totally out of focus from chasing Leo, so I hope I didn't sound tooooo crazy when I was answering her questions lol.

She asked me a few questions. First, she wanted to make sure I knew that even though I would have my nursing degree, I would not be doing clinical, hands-on nursing in the Peace Corps. I said, yep I understood. I said "I think I will remember how to do all the clinical nursing skills when I got back and that education is also a huge part of nursing, so I'm really excited about doing that."

Then she asked if I could leave in August instead of my original nomination date of September. Turns out I was supposed to be sent to Madagascar, but since that program was cancelled they were wondering if I could leave earlier. So I said "Yes. The only reason I chose September was so I could give myself time to take the NCLEX (the nursing boards), but I'm now planning on taking (and passing!) them in June, so August should be nooo problem!"

She also said that the country is not Francophone, like my original nomination was. I would have to learn a local language. I said "that's okay too. I thought they might like me to do Francophone because I already knew some French and it would be easier, but learning another language would be really cool too, so I would do it!"

Soo then she said she'd be finishing up my file soon... hopefully by tomorrow.... and then she'd send out the invitation and I'd get it by the end of this week or by early next week!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh I'm so excited!!!! She said it's an HIV/AIDS program which is awesome because I'm learning soooo much from the AIDS organization I'm volunteering at!!!!!! Anddd I think it's gonna be Uganda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not sure yet though, but I'm sooooo excited for whatever country I'm getting sent to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully I'll be updating this again in a few short days when I get my invite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

Ok, so here's my more detailed Peace Corps application timeline. I'll just go through some of the steps that a lot of people have questions on. I'm going to go into a lot of detail about my process since I think I would've liked to see something similar while I was applying... lol maybe I'm just a really nosy person, I don't know!

Application

The online application is pretty long and takes a while to complete. I think the Peace Corps now reccommends that you start applying approximately 1 year before you plan on leaving.

The application asks basic demographics, legal and financial questions, military and intelligence status, education, language fluency, volunteer experience, work experience, professional certificates (i.e.; CPR), etc. I always see a lot of applicants ask other applicants what sort of experience they have, so here's some of mine:Nursing school clinicals/CPR certification

Several volunteer organizations on campus

Volunteer at my church when I'm home

Dominican Republic study abroad nursing program (worked in hospitals, set up clinics, taught CPR/First Aid)

French in high school and one semester in college.

Work experience wasn't too significant, I don't think (retail, animal shelter, nurses aid)(I'm not really sure if they want you to include high school things, but I did to make my application look stronger. It kind of shows that you've been volunteering and getting experience for a while, so I thought it was good to include.)

They also ask you for 3 references (one can be a friend). My references were:My friend from high school

Professor who chaperoned my nursing study abroad trip to the DR.

Another nursing professor who taught a class I took and who I also help with her research projects.

They also ask for two essays, one on a cross-cultural experience you've had and another on your motivation for joining the Peace Corps. For the cross-cultural experience I mostly wrote about my study abroad trip to the Dominican Republic and mentioned a little bit from a trip I took to Ghana. For the motivation essay, I wrote about how I'd always wanted to do something like the Peace Corps, how I want to help and teach others but also have them help and teach me, and how I hope the Peace Corps will give me good experience for my desired career as a Public Health nurse and for life in general.

After you submit the application, they send you a medical survey just to get a general idea of your health status. Then the recruiter sent me a packet with information and legal stuff (such as fingerprint forms) and I forget what else was in there. I got my fingerprints and stuff done before my interview. You can just go to a police office for that. InterviewMy recruiter was from the NYC office, and my university is about 3 hours from NYC, so we scheduled the interview for when she'd be up at my school (I think for the job fair). I really really really dislike interviews, but seriously this one was not bad at all!! It was actually kind of fun! I also got to look through some of the questions beforehand and get my thoughts organized a little bit. Here's the link to the questions:: http://www.facebook.com/board.php?uid=2204686414&f=2&start=90&hash=34bb7a01356c5a83925fe01a293149bf#/topic.php?uid=2204686414&topic=6227 The list is also on the Yahoo group peacecorps2. Nomination!

If the interview goes well, the next step is nomination. My nomination was for Sub Saharan Africa, Health Extension, September 2009. ( I forgot to mention that in the application they ask your geographical preference -- like continent-wise, not specific country -- and your preferred date of departure. Because I have to take my RN liscencing exam after I graduate in May, I wanted to allow some time for that and asked to leave in September). When they send you the nomination letter, there is a code/number thing on it. I thought it would give a hint as to what country they'd send me to, but it doesn't. Mine was 15509044C6. I read on another website that this is what it means:155 - Health extension 09- 2009 044- Quarter 4 (July-September) C - My placement officer code 6 - The 6th listing for my PO for Quarter 4 Yea, so unfortunately it doesn't stand for something top-secret like I thought, lol. Medical/Dental Then my recruiter sent me my medical and dental packet. Aside from waiting for an invitation, this is usually what takes the longest it seems. Based on the answers you gave for the medical survey in the application, you may have to include more information to the medical office or go see a specialist. I'd said that I have seasonal allergies, so my doctor had to fill out a form about that saying what symptoms I had, what medications I took, his recommendations, etc. I'd also had an abnormal PAP smear once, so I had to have my gynecologist send in copies of all of my past PAP smears and colposcopy and she filled out a form saying that the abnormal PAP turned out to be nothing (She said a lot of the time the test can be extremely sensitive and it may pick up on things that aren't really there -- so don't freak out like I did (I was certain I had cancer lol) if your results come back abnormal lol) So, all in all, I went to: 1. Primary care physician (You need to get a very thorough physical, also blood work, and some injections)2. Gynecologist3. Eye doctor (If you wear glasses and/or contacts) 4. Dentist/Oral Surgeon As for the dental part, I had to send this information in at a later time. My dental insurance was being a pain (as insurance usually is -- sorry, I'm a nursing student, we generally don't like insurance companies) and I couldn't get their permission to cover my appointments and procedures for a while. After much yelling, they finally agreed to. My wisdom teeth were badly impacted so I had to get all four of them removed. From what I hear, some people don't have to get them removed, but a lot do. I'm guessing that the Peace Corps doesn't want to deal with impacted or infected wisdom teeth while you're overseas and may not have access to a good oral surgeon. After that I received medical and dental clearance. And now, I wait.... Waiting for an invitation... It's important to keep volunteering and getting experience while you're waiting for the invitation. Nominations don't necessarily mean that you'll receive a placement and invitation. So I've been volunteering at an HIV/AIDs clinic/organization, and I've been brushing up on my French in addition to my other volunteer activities. (I'm kind of assuming that I will be sent to a Francophone country, even though my recruiter never told me that straight out). So that's basically it for my detailed timeline. Like I said, sorry it's really long and probably too detailed, but hopefully it will be helpful for other curious people like myself lol. Just a side note, this is only my experience and other applicants probably have a totally different one than me. If you have any other questions though, definitely send me a message, or go to the Future Peace Corps Volunteers group on Facebook (shoutout to you guys!) -- it's really really helpful! Good luck everyone! Hopefully we'll all be leaving for the Peace Corps soon!! :)

Hey everybody! So I've decided to start a blog. I had a Xanga a few years back, but I think I'll start a new site rather than go back to that one. I was just reading my posts from like 3 years ago and it was sooo funny to see what I was writing about back then!

So anyways, I think I'm going to start off by creating a few posts about the Peace Corps application process (which I'm going through now.) I know that through this process, I've liked hearing about what other applicants were experiencing, so hopefully this will help some of you out! I'll start out with a timeline type thing and then go through each step in more detail. Here goes:

August 6, 2008: Online Application/Health Status Review submitted

August 13, 2008: Contacted by recruiter

September 17, 2008: Interview with recruiter

September 18, 2008: Nominated for Sub Saharan Africa, Health Extension, September 2009

September 23, 2008: Medical Packet sent to me

September - November 2008: Doctors appointments

November 8, 2008: Mailed out medical packet to Peace Corps office

November 19, 2008: Peace Corps received medical packet

December 25, 2008: Toolkit updated (It said they'd reached a decision regarding my medical status, but it didn't say what that decision was! Haha very nerve-wracking Christmas!) Sometime in early January 2009: Received letter that I was medically cleared! January 16, 2009: Sent in dental packet One or two weeks later: Dental clearance February 18, 2009: Contacted by the Africa Placement Office (Just a general e-mail saying congrats on Medical clearance, and they'll start with the July-September placements within 7-8 weeks) So that's where I am now. Just waiting.... lol. This post took longer than I expected it would, so I'll make a new post with a more detailed timeline sometime later! :)