Thought I’d share an excerpt of an email from PCVs in Tanzania updating us on life as a volunteer. Colleen and Christian are a married couple who have completed their three month “Pre-Service Training” (PST…be prepared for many more annoying Peace Corps acronyms). They have recently been sworn in as volunteers and are about to begin their assignment in a very rural village in northern Tanzania.
“We will be making the trip to Dar [Dar Es Salaam] again in March for In-Service Training (IST), and so that will probably be the next time we pass through Arusha. Otherwise, we will be spending our time in Lambo and the surrounding area trying to build a routine and a home. We are excited, but sort of intimidated, about our work in the coming months before IST. Some of our "jobs" are to get our house together (right now it is completely empty), continue our language study, begin assessing what kind of assistance our villagers need and want, and somehow get our bikes to site. Some of these things might otherwise not be a problem, but since we are located an hour walk from the main road, and our bicycles will be arriving a few weeks from now (unassembled), getting furniture, buckets for bathing, washing, etc, and other such necessities to our house quickly becomes a logistical issue.

Ruaha River, Tanzania 2002
I have a great love for Africa, and I tried to get placed with the Peace Corps in Tanzania. But since most of the programs there are in health, education, agriculture or environment, my worldly business acumen is better served in the “newly independent countries” (INCs), at least according to the Peace Corps.
One day I hope to be more useful to Africa and return in a capacity to affect some change. At a minimum, I’d love to reveal to the rest of the world the richness of the land, the joyful people, and the diversity throughout the immense land we know as singular continental Africa. In doing so, I would like to dispel the press strewn images of Africa as a quagmire of war, disease, poverty and hunger. By having a stronger appreciation, perhaps we can be more engaged to help preserve this forsaken place for the jewel that it really is.
(I guess I should start by continuing with “Africa Burning Part 2, huh Ana?)