Final One

Hello everyone for what will likely be my final post as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

I applied for extension of my service at my site where I do some work under the Ministry of Agriculture. I was denied due to a minor shoulder injury that took a while to heal (It is healed now). It was very surprising given I had thought I would be accepted and had made no other plans. Also, I was told 6 weeks before my scheduled date of departure from PC service.

Now I am looking for jobs in Zambia and in neighboring countries before I extend my search to Latin America and Asia. It is fun and interesting how this change of plans has cropped up. I was initially shocked but got used to the idea and started working on my resume and job searching almost immediately considering the limited amount of time I have. I have so far applied to some organizations within Zambia to do public health work. We’ll see. My plan is to first wee if I can get a job. If not, then I’ll probably spend some time (weeks or months) hanging out with people I have met here.

As I wrote a friend of mine here, it is hard to describe my plans in detail as a lot of things are in the air.

I have told most people that I work with both in my community and in Peace Corps as well as friends (though PC needs very little starting to get information flowing throughout the organization). Many were surprised.

Since we thought that I was staying, there was no consideration about another volunteer taking my place at my current site of work. That means that we have 6 weeks without preparation to find a current or new PC Volunteer interested in the work that I do and in continuing. This is another thing that I am doing. I am also visiting the other sites that I work with to let them know that I my contract extension has been denied.

Other than that, work and life has been fine. Spent some time in Livingstone and saw the falls from the Zimbabwe side (which was BEAUTIFUL). I was involved in a training designed to assist folks that volunteers with in the rural areas to improve their skills and knowledge with regard to HIV/AIDS. It was some work, but I think we might actually have some impact as the fellow I brought to the training was just the other day discussing the truth about HIV transmission risks to another curious fellow.

I am now just trying to soak up my last weeks in the village (though my host family just got satellite TV so I am not sure how “village” I actually live) before I move on to whatever my path may be.

Anyway, whatever happens, I’ll probably be on the communication grid again (e-mail, etc.) so I’ll make this my last blog post as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Love to all.

Niko.