simply serendipitous.

Despite still having an upcoming trip to the west coast and at least two more visits up to Boston before I leave, the departure date encircled in red still seems close and will continue to draw closer and closer!

Surprisingly I have come to really appreciate Long Island, can you believe it? After high school I couldn't wait to get away and throughout BU I tried my best to maximize my time in Boston. I had anticipated feeling antsy, bored and above all, frustrated that I'd be living at home for 2.5 months. I love my parents, but Long Island? I wasn't expecting to find the place exciting by any means. Turns out, I was wrong.

My typical day over the past few weeks have consisted of bike rides, trail runs, beach days, city days all interspersed with various Asian (including mom's), Indian, Italian, Greek and NY-Jewish foods. Being car-less, I now primarily get around with my bike. Interestingly enough, you end up noticing more about your space while riding one. All the while finding new spots you also discover the ones that you'd been missing all these years because of driving. Meandering around town lately has been exhilarating and comforting. The experience is familiar but the perspective is vastly different.

Leaving here will be difficult - and despite the normally expected nerves, it's also matched with excitement and brilliance.

"We need to travel. If we don’t offer ourselves to the unknown,
our senses dull. Our world becomes small and we lose our sense of wonder. Our
eyes don’t lift to the horizon. Our ears don’t hear the sounds around us. The
edge is off our experience and we pass our days in a routine that is both
comfortable and limiting. We wake up one day and find that we have lost our
dreams in order to protect our days. Don’t let yourself become one of these
people. The fear of the unknown and the lure of comfortable will conspire to
keep you from taking the chances the traveler has to take. But if you take them
you will never regret your choice. To be sure, there will be moments of doubt
when you stand alone on an empty road in an icy rain, or when you are ill with
fever in a rented bed. But as the pains of the moment will come, so too will
they fall away. In the end, you will be so much stronger, so much clearer, so
much happier, and so much a better person that all the risk and the hardship
will seem like nothing compared to the knowledge you have gained."

~Kent Nerburn, Letters to My Son

"Turning Hope Into Action"

There's a little segment on Behavior Change Communication in Kenya. Check out the video link!

HIV/AIDS | What Do Volunteers Do?

Shared via AddThis

a personal reflection.

You hear time and time again that the Peace Corps experience can be somewhat of an emotional roller coaster. A volunteer can go through times of extreme ecstasy, but not without of course also working through times of intense hardships. I can only ask so many returned volunteers (RPCVs) of their own experience to provide myself with a good cross-section. Call it a part of my prep work - trying to get a realistic perspective on the whole deal.

Its hard to find reliable figures and I must admit, I haven't put that much credible effort into digging up the numbers- but I've read that roughly 30% of volunteers don't finish their full term. What's even more interesting is that the number of volunteers whom opt to end their service early are actually higher in countries that presents a higher incidence of HIV/AIDS among its population (notably, sub-Sahara African countries). I can only assume, and its been hinted at me, that the experience of living among neighbors and friends who are dying of the awful disease takes its toll on the American volunteer whom up until that moment had lived a sheltered life.

Its been stressed to me that I shouldn't just blindly accept my position without having given extensive thought on the offer. Having read through the detailed literature that came with my invitation kit I realized that what I'll be immersing myself in will be real. To be honest, I've exhausted countless moments over the past 10 months or so mentally preparing myself for this assignment. I've always known that it'd probably be the most challenging period I have yet to face and go through in my life. Not just due to the expected hardship associated with the job itself, but also to my overall lifestyle. Getting used to reading by candle light, fetching for water and living life with no electricity will take getting used to - but with time it'll happen. But the so called "extra challenges" that I will face associated with my individual identity: ethnicity, hearing-status, education level, sexual orientation and so forth. Those may be what will make or break me.

From the perspective of someone who is so inexperienced, I humbly acknowledge that I have so much more left to learn. I expected to read about all of the "extra" hardships I would encounter, just being myself. Reading it on a tangible piece of paper, like I said, made it all the more real. Even so, I phoned the Placement Office and accepted. The only way for me to learn all the things I still have left to learn is to proceed and take things head on. To be cliche for a moment, I'm reminded of a Peace Corps motto: Never start a sentence with, "I should've..."

The Deaf community in Kenya, although having established schools, are still very much underserved. Furthermore the majority of Kenyans get their information through radios - a technology inaccessible to the Deaf and therefore leaving them highly prone to contracting the HIV virus. Who am I to be a so-called qualified Deaf educator, not only in the primary schools but also as an outreacher trying to bring awareness of the dangers of HIV to the deaf in an accessible mode of communication? I've wondered that same thought time and time again. I'm a first-generation Asian-American, raised in a middle-class suburb and allegedly intelligent enough to have graduated from a private university. I'm in no way better or worse than the people I will be around.

I welcome the challenge. As for the outcome, I may come out stronger or broken but either way I have no expectations. I can only take care of myself and hope for the best.

KENYA-BOUND!!!

Everyone says to expect the unexpected but to also drop ALL expectations. Maybe it was a foolish move on my part to have internally expected a specific assignment. It wasn't until time drew closer to receiving my invitation that I began to open myself up to the possibility of other assignments. My friend Ali sent me an email informing me that she read about PC Deaf Education programs operating not just in Kenya, but also in Ghana and Zambia - both great countries to also serve!

BUT, I have FINALLY received my invitation kit and with it, the official word: I've been assigned to work in Deaf Education in Kenya! I'll be leaving in the beginning of November, as of right now. The kit also stated my job description as "Behavior Change Communicator". You can imagine my reaction - what exactly does this mean? Perhaps it will also be part of my duty to advocate for deafness and disability rights and to communicate that message to the greater Kenyan community. What an amazing, albeit challenging task!

I'll write more as I read more... its a rather LARGE kit!

No longer will I have to dance around my words or attach an addendum to the end of every explanation... at last, I am finally officially in the Peace Corps!

ITS OFFICIAL!

I have received confirmation of my official invitation... FINALLY!

I was so freaked out because the unexpected phone call started out very serious with me being drilled with intense questions about the various challenges that will be unique to myself and my position in the special education program in Africa. Luckily I was on my game and responded with, in my opinion, pretty thorough and quality answers - not too bad for having just been woken up by the actual phone call itself! =P

After the round of information gathering the woman then revealed that she was calling from the Africa Placement Office (the call initially started out vague: "I'm calling from the Peace Corps"). She then went ahead and deemed me "qualified" and officially invited me to join and leave in November!

I'm told that I'll receive all my official information and documentation in the mail within the coming week - from there I will know for sure my country of assignment and exact departure date. From what I gathered through our conversation though, its as we expected: Kenya and Deaf Education. Of course, she wouldn't verbally confirm over the phone. I just have to wait for the mail. Oh Peace Corps...

!!!

President Kagame's insightful words...

My friend Ali (see blog list, "Ali in Africa!") posted this link a few weeks ago and I thought it was a great article written by President Kagame of Rwanda - where Ali is currently serving in the Peace Corps.

its all a VERY LONG process...

Its easier just to explain that I will be leaving in the fall for Kenya, working as a special education or more specifically, deaf education volunteer. The thing is though, I honestly don't know where I'll really be, when I'll actually leave or what I'll be doing... in the spirit of the Peace Corps, flexibility and patience is key (so I'm told...).

This whole process started for me back in August 2008, when I started my online application for the Peace Corps. The great thing about working online with PC is that you can start an application and return at a later time. Everything is saved! I finally crossed all my T's and dotted all my I's by early October and swiftly got through my interview and finally was nominated in November 2008.

Although an applicant can request a specific country to serve, choosing a more general geographic region would be a better move. Competitiveness in the amount of qualified applicants is increasing due in part to both President Obama's call to service and also the economic recession. Unfortunately due to the latter, budget cuts leads to more program closures which consequently decreases the amount of available spots open. I requested sub-saharan Africa as my top choice. Why? I had noticed a banner on the PC website with the headline: "Learn Kenyan Sign Language". Upon further investigation I learned that the PC operates a unique deaf education program in Kenya. Obviously this caught my attention and I grew curious to learn more... Dan Birdsall, my PC recruiter in Boston, felt I held enough experience in working within the deaf community and nominated me to work in Deaf Education in Africa to the PC headquarters in Washington, DC. From there a committee will decide my candidacy. Dan was fairly certain that Kenya was the only African country that had a PC Deaf Education program. So its pretty safe to expect Kenya.

On average it takes an applicant one calendar year between being nominated and actually leaving for service. Naturally then my projected date of departure would be November of 2009. Following my nomination would come the most arduous and annoying part of all: medical, dental and legal clearance. Sparing you all from the intricate pointless details of this process and the numerous frustrations I encountered, I'll just tell you that the whole thing took months of back and forth communication. I was finally deemed in May as fully qualified in all three sectors. It was a great relief!

What's next? Placement and invitation! I am currently at this stage in my long process. Is it safe to say that I have a position with the Peace Corps? Yes. Do I know the specifics? No... I only tell others, "Kenya and Deaf Education" because the program calls for very unique, uncommon qualifications; all of which I happen to possess. Dan reassures me time and time again that although I should keep an open mind, he wouldn't be surprised at all if I were invited to the program.

I would be happy with almost any assignment in almost any country. Have I grown attached to the idea of Kenya? Of course! Especially with working in deaf education! But I look forward to hearing back about anything PC is willing to offer me. Volunteering in the PC for me is as much about personal growth and cultural expansion as it will be about bringing my alleged special skills to helping the underserved.

When will I know for sure? Hopefully by the end of August. Until then, I'm working on that whole flexibility and patience thing...