A really big deal: Orientation DC

One week completed. We have had lectures from some of the best in their field and the lectures have ranged from creepy skin disorders to effective teaching methods. Every hour of every day has been scheduled and several days we have had meals at the PC headquarters delivered in while we eat and learn. Nothing has been boring or not important to what we will see in the year to come. The lectures are engaging, interactive, and have included how to learn a language, cultural awareness, and diseases, of course. In all it was a satisfying week. On Tuesday I was wondering how not only I could have lived abroad but how I could have taken my children to the third world but today it is starting to all come together, or maybe it is just Friday afternoon.

Here is a picture that I took from the Seed Global FB page that they posted of some of us.

Peace Corps Headquarters DC, Seed Global Orientation 2015

Plenty of discussions this week on the mosquito.  They were a big deal in all those other countries where I lived but seems to be a much bigger deal in Africa or at least I am finally paying attention. We all did have pretty severe malaria in India once upon a time, it was absolutely awful and terrible to watch my kids suffer from it too. I don't think I was paying enough attention to how dangerous it was as I was caught up in how uncomfortable it was, and I was too sick to care.

1. One advantage I have is that mosquito's have never really "liked me." I hope the ones in Uganda feel the same about me, certain these little buggers will provide me with many opportunities in the year to come though to see the damage that they can do. Hope to have very few encounters but the more I listen the more I learn how we will be front and center. 

We have had the chance to meet with numerous volunteers who are just returning from our three countries of Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda and those who served two years ago. We have had lectures of some of the DC areas finest professionals and have learned about everything from how to avoid malaria to how to teach a good class. The co-ordinators from our respective sites were brought in from Africa to meet with us and to share from their experiences on what we can expect, they headed back today and will be there to meet us when we arrive next week. Bonny the director from Uganda was here and was receptive to hearing about our questions and aspirations.

The Program Managers from Tanzania, Malawi and Bonny from Uganda with Pat Doust who has been an important part of the development of Seed and also in my own journey will be missed as she moves on to a new position.

Returned Physicians and Nurses brought in to share a wealth of information 

Carrie and I representing Uganda!

Carrie is a former PC volunteer who just came back from Lira having just completed a year with GHSP living and teaching in Lira. She was one of my first contacts in Lira after I learned I was going and she was the first person to respond to my email some months back with me saying "tell me everything." We set up a Skype call and with the other nurses and she has continued to provide me information and encouragement. We met up for dinner and Carrie was one of the excellent presenters who shared her story about what it is like to teach in Lira. She has been a fantastic resource and I am grateful to her.

Bonnie gave out the schedules of what our program looks like and ....... it is pretty remarkable. We fly into Uganda and if all goes well we touch down at about 10:45 pm after a very long flight that goes via Amsterdam and one other stop. We meet for breakfast the following morning (Saturday)  at 7 and the day continues on to a get together at 6 that evening. Somewhere in there they even have a language class scheduled, ha ha! I'm sure I will ace that one. The schedule continues into Sunday which is a full day and then into the week. We go for a homestay in our towns on Thursday and I will be with a Ugandan family in Lira and will have a chance to meet my counterparts at the University. Looks to be a very full schedule. The one thing I am confident about is that I am in very good hands. This is Group 3 for this program and they continue to learn from their experiences with the other volunteers. VERY interesting! All of it.  My assumption was that we were arriving on Friday so we could rest up from the trip over and begin fresh on Monday.  No whines, just observations.

They have more confidence in me then I have in myself that I might be up for any language learning the day after that trip but here we go.............anything is possible! I might actually learn something.