I fly to Philadelphia tomorrow evening for Staging, where I meet up with the other 30 PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) and have a brief, intense pre-departure session with the PC staff. On Wednesday morning, a bus takes all the PCTs to JFK Airport in New York City, and we fly to Brussels, Belgium. From Belgium we connect to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and our official ETA in Burkina is Thursday mid-afternoon!
After my arrival in Burkina, I will spend two days in Ouaga, and then our class of PCTs will relocate to Koudougou, a regional capital about 75 km from the capital. In or near Koudougou, we will be assigned Burkinabè host families, with whom we will live for about two months. During these two months, I will be in Training, where PCTs have intense language, medical, and technical lessons for about 6-8 hours a day. I will continue my French studies during this time, as well as learn a local Burkinabè language, probably Moore (with all this class, it might even be like being back at Notre Dame!) In December, I hopefully will have met the required language level, and then I can officially be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. At this time, I will move to my site placement (TBD), where I will spend a full two years working and living in a Burkinabè community.
Ever since I applied for the Peace Corps last October, I have been imagining what my life with the PC would be like. Now I officially start my service on Tuesday, and I could not be more excited for what the future holds. I am thrilled to be returning to West Africa, especially as I will be working within the business sector for my project. Above all, however, I am looking forward to meeting the Burkinabè people and learning about their culture and lifestyle. Burkina Faso is the fifth poorest country in the world, so I know I will learn many lessons in ingenuity and generosity in the Land of Upright People. Hopefully, I will be able to reciprocate, even if my contribution is small, during my service with the Peace Corps.
After being back at home since graduation, my appreciation and love for my family, friends, and my hometown has grown, which makes my departure somewhat harder. I am very blessed, though, to have a wonderful and supportive network behind me. Thank you to all that have helped me prepare for my journey; you all will be missed!
Go Anne! So proud of you and know you will make such an impact there. Can't wait to follow your stories. You have so many people praying for you and supporting you, I'm just one of them! Good luck and stay safe.
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