Friday, November 28, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
And the winner is...................................................................
The two presenters come to the microphone clutching the long-awaited envelope with the official Peace Corps invitation inside. Drum roll as the audience holds its breath.............................................
"Dear Christopher and Maureen,
Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that we invite you to begin training in Botswana for Peace Corps service beginning on April 16, 2009”
And the crowd explodes in cries of "Ooh, Ahh, Yeah, Botswana rocks ”
It has been a long time coming but our patience has been rewarded. We both think that Botswana will be an excellent choice of placement for us as this is a country with considerable financial resources and a well-developed infrastructure. It is the longest standing democracy in Africa and has a sizable middle class. We don't know where we will be stationed and it still could be somewhat rural although with our project assignments, I suspect it will be in a larger town or even a city.
My role will be as a District AIDS Coordinator, which involves significant administrative, teaching and coordination work among various levels of the ongoing HIV/AIDS effort in Botswana. Maureen will be doing capacity building with a Non Governmental Organization focusing on care for orphans and home care for individuals living with HIV.
Our invitation packet contained a number of pieces of paperwork that need to be completed including an updated resume and an Aspiration Statement, in which we spell out what personal and professional skills we bring to our primary assignment. It is clear that once your primary assignment is underway you are encouraged to undertake secondary assignments and it is within this avenue that I hope to explore my wish to develop a program for evaluation and treatment of mental health conditions within the HIV population there. So, at this point after we complete the paperwork, there is not much to be done until the last several weeks prior to our departure in April.
Our second piece of the news is that we have secured a temporary work assignment beginning in early December until mid-March at the VA Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. I will be working on the inpatient unit there, and Maureen will be doing tele-medicine providing medication and therapy for veterans at a clinic 45 miles away in Sumter South Carolina. We thought this would be a nice adventure and we plan to drive down by car shortly after Thanksgiving.
Plans are taking shape at long last!
Kip
"Dear Christopher and Maureen,
Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that we invite you to begin training in Botswana for Peace Corps service beginning on April 16, 2009”
And the crowd explodes in cries of "Ooh, Ahh, Yeah, Botswana rocks ”
It has been a long time coming but our patience has been rewarded. We both think that Botswana will be an excellent choice of placement for us as this is a country with considerable financial resources and a well-developed infrastructure. It is the longest standing democracy in Africa and has a sizable middle class. We don't know where we will be stationed and it still could be somewhat rural although with our project assignments, I suspect it will be in a larger town or even a city.
My role will be as a District AIDS Coordinator, which involves significant administrative, teaching and coordination work among various levels of the ongoing HIV/AIDS effort in Botswana. Maureen will be doing capacity building with a Non Governmental Organization focusing on care for orphans and home care for individuals living with HIV.
Our invitation packet contained a number of pieces of paperwork that need to be completed including an updated resume and an Aspiration Statement, in which we spell out what personal and professional skills we bring to our primary assignment. It is clear that once your primary assignment is underway you are encouraged to undertake secondary assignments and it is within this avenue that I hope to explore my wish to develop a program for evaluation and treatment of mental health conditions within the HIV population there. So, at this point after we complete the paperwork, there is not much to be done until the last several weeks prior to our departure in April.
Our second piece of the news is that we have secured a temporary work assignment beginning in early December until mid-March at the VA Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. I will be working on the inpatient unit there, and Maureen will be doing tele-medicine providing medication and therapy for veterans at a clinic 45 miles away in Sumter South Carolina. We thought this would be a nice adventure and we plan to drive down by car shortly after Thanksgiving.
Plans are taking shape at long last!
Kip
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