Conference Call

This morning I participated in a half an hour conference call with other soon to be Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs). The director gave us a briefing about what our first few months (i.e. training, host communities, etc) will be like as well as general expectations (hard work, dedication, high level of language (Wolof) competence, cultural sensitivity, immersion, etc). There are 55 of us arriving in Thies (pronounced Chasse) on Wednesday, and it was nice to hear that our initial host community we will be with 2-3 other PCVs. I knew the Peace Corps had long standing roots in Senegal, but I did not realize that the agriculture sector in Senegal is the largest Peace Corps program (it is technically split into three sectors: Sustainable Agriculture, Agroforestry, and Urban Agriculture). In addition to our project area, we are also expected to help other volunteers with their projects in: malaria prevention, environmental education, small enterprise development, and healthcare.

The most pertinent concern was about backup plans for hurricane which is supposed to hit DC on Sunday, the day I fly in, although most people are travelling on Monday. We were given a phone number to contact so lets just hope that we can stick to the initial plan!