Shaun and I just finished the phase of our service called Community Entry- can I get an “Amen”?! After a PCV finishes Pre-Service Training (usually 9-12 weeks, depending on your program), they are posted to the site where they will serve their 2 years. This begins the start of Community Entry: 3 months in the village with the purpose of getting to know their community, its needs and building relationships before the PCV begins working. It's a great tool for building the relationships and gaining the inside knowledge necessary for being an effective volunteer and resource for the community.
We started 9 weeks of Pre-Service Training in July 2010, were sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers September 24, 2010, and then were whisked up to Luapula where we scurried around for a couple days to get everything we'd need for our site. Then, we were posted to our site (among the first in our group) the last week of September, just before my 31st birthday.
Our Community Entry started that last week of September 2010 and lasted until December 18, 2010, with a brief intermission at Thanksgiving when we came to Mansa, the provincial capital, for Provincial Meetings and to celebrate the holiday. Despite being a great tool, Community Entry was beginning to give us a case of cabin fever toward the end. Community Entry mandates that the PCV spend as much time as possible in their village and not leave their district, unless for official meetings or to receive medical attention. In the coming blog entries over the next 2 years, I hope to explain what it's like to live in a rural Zambian village... and then perhaps you'll understand what I mean about the cabin fever Community Entry causes Americans. Now that we've finished Community Entry, we're feeling (1) like we've experienced a rite of passage, (2) like we've become “real” Volunteers, and (3) very excited to be able to spread our wings here in Zambia and explore other parts and cultures of the country!
But, before I get into all that, let me tell you what our life is like here in Zambia and what we've been learning.
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