Tag: peace corps

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Integrated

One week ago, I was preparing to fly home to Namibia. Home, home is now Namibia. I referred to Namibia as ‘home’ countless times during my visit to the USA. Every time, it caught me by surprise because as much as I consider the USA home and as much as I enjoyed time with my family, I knew I was away. I was not home.

Peace Corps talks a lot about integrating into our community. They teach us that the more we integrate into our community, then our service will be that much more effective and enjoyable. My time away from my community in Otjiwarongo made me realize that I have fully integrated into my community. I missed matrone, I missed ‘my’ babies, I missed my teacher friends and my learners. I missed my daily walk, often with one of my housemates. I missed relaxing in my hammock and talking to folks as they walked by.

I was humbled by my housemate and hostel girls greeting me before I even got out of the car. They did not know when I would arrive, so they were keenly watching for me. They all gave me big hugs, carried my luggage to my room, saying, “Ms. Bishop, we missed you”. “We worried you would not come back”. “Miss, I am so happy you are here”. “Miss, don’t go any more”.

When my service is complete, I will return to my family and friends in the USA. I will renew my home there, but until then and forever after, Otjiwarongo, Namibia will also have a place in my heart called home.

July 1 Second Everday

Some notes about the video…Many of these are just photos not video and not necessarily in order. I didn’t take video or photos when I was with my sister, Vickie. I was able to attend Sal’s rehearsal and wedding on July 4 and 5, then I was with Vickie until she died on July 21 (the day I was supposed to return to Namibia), attended the funeral on July 26, took a road trip with my niece to see other family in Georgia, and finally back to Philadelphia to fly ‘home’ to Namibia on August 4. Oh yeah, I was treated for asthmatic bronchitis while in the USA, thus the photo of me with a nebulizer.

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GranEllen – week 2 in Namibia

 

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My new room

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my Afrikaans language group

Week 2 was all about preparing for our training homestay. This is when we move in with a host family for the remainder of our training time. Our host family is determined by our assigned language so they can practice our new language with us in a home setting. On Wednesday afternoon my language was revealed as Afrikaans and that evening I met my host mother and daughter (18yr). My host father works out of town and the son (15yrs) is visiting other family since this is a school break right now. Peace Corps makes this a fun and exciting day by making a game out of the “language reveal” and later “finding” our host family.  PC Staff gives each Peace Corps Trainee (PCT) a piece of a puzzle for their language group. We then find similar pieces from other PCTs and complete our puzzle to know who all is in our language group. The language instructor finds their group and then we know our language because we have been working all week with the language instructors learning basic greetings for their specific language. It was a fun activity. That evening, after all the host families arrived, we did a similar activity except this time each PCT and each host family was given a puzzle piece and we had to match the 2 pieces to complete the simple puzzle. This is how we ‘found’ our host family.

I moved in with my host family Friday evening and I lucked out. They have been hosting volunteers for 10 years so they know what they are doing. I have my own room and the accommodations are very comfortable. I will be picked up by a PC van every weekday morning at my ‘bus stop’ around 7am for a day of training and then returned around 5:30pm. Weekends will mostly be spent with my host family unless PC has a field trip or other activity planned for us.

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training center, our dorm rooms are on the right corridors and the meeting room is on the left

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mural on the meeting room wall

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GranEllen’s 1st week in Namibia

Everything is different yet everything is the same. I really enjoyed my first week as a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT) even though the travel was much longer than expected, there was a major sadness that turned our group into Namily (Namibia family) quicker than expected, and there is sand and dust everywhere.

Despite the major and minor challenges, Group 48 is strong. We laugh a lot, we play a lot (spike ball, Uno, volleyball, ucher, hearts, spoons, etc), we help each other with lessons, but mostly we support each other.
All for now with all my love.

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Peace Corps Expectations

I bolded the parts that particularly resonate with me. They may be particularly difficult or particularly important or both.

  1. Prepare your personal and professional life to make a commitment to serve abroad for a full term of 27 months. 
  2. Commit to improving the quality of life of the people with whom you live and work and, in doing so, share your skills, adapt them, and learn new skills as needed.
  3. Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service.
  4. Recognize that your successful and sustainable development work is based on the local trust and confidence you build by living in, and respectfully integrating yourself into, your host community and culture.
  5. Recognize that you are responsible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your personal conduct and professional performance.
  6. Engage with host country partners in a spirit of cooperation, mutual learning, and respect.
  7. Work within the rules and regulations of the Peace Corps and the local and national laws of the country where you serve.
  8. Exercise judgment and personal responsibility to protect your health, safety, and well-being and that of others.
  9. Recognize that you will be perceived, in your host country and community, as a representative of the people, cultures, values, and traditions of the United States of America.
  10. Represent responsibly the people, cultures, values, and traditions of your host country and community to people in the United States both during and following your service.

 

This photo is circa 1966 of my loving parents when we lived in Hawaii. They set high expectations too!

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GranEllen on the move

The photo is from last week’s ‘Bon Voyage’ party that included family and framily (friends of the family). Clockwise from me are my 8 grandchildren: Avery, Violet, Owen, Mack (on Owen’s shoulders), Felix, Anthony, Mia, and Opal. I will miss them dearly but I also know I would regret not taking this opportunity. This is really happening!

Here is my itinerary since May, hence the title ‘GranEllen on the move’.

  • May 11-13, girls’ weekend in Highland, NC
  • May 14-30, Florida visit with Mom, my brother John and family, Gary & Beverly, Anna, other friends
  • June 1 – back in Georgia for party with BSC (former employer) colleagues
  • June 5-10, Northeast Pennsylvania for my sister, Vickie’s, next round of chemo and to visit other friends and family
  • June 11-13, Arlington, VA visiting daughter, Melissa, and family
  • June 14, Aberdeen Proving Ground with son, Sal
  • June 15-17, Hatboro, PA (near Philly), meeting Marina’s family (Sal’s girlfriend), hiking, and site seeing
  • June 18-19, back to Northeast PA
  • June 20-22, drove with my niece, Andrea, to visit my brother, Eric, and family in Pittsburgh
  • June 23-26, back to Northeast PA
  • June 27-July 9, Vickie, Andrea, and I flew to Florida to visit Mom and then for our traditional Satellite Beach family vacation. There were 19 this year!
  • July 10, back in Georgia, spending the rest of my time with family and friends
  • July 11-12, fishing in N. GA with son, Josh, and grandson, Anthony.
  • July 12-13, spent the night with dear friend Sherry and family
  • July 13-14, hiked Stone Mountain and Braves game with Julia and Annette (RTI colleague)
  • July 17-21, Melissa and family visited for the family Bon Voyage party and other activities
  • July 23 – elegant luncheon at Joan’s with dear church friends
  • July 28, another ‘bon voyage’ party with friends from church and my neighborhood

I am humbled by the love and support from my family and friends. Thank you all!

 

 

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Where’s GranEllen?

Where’s GranEllen is my site title, not just the title of this post. I chose this because I am frequently asked by family and friends, “where are you now?”, “where will you be next week?”, “where are you going?”, “where will you live?” Currently, I am staying with friend, Joanna, and her cat, Nellie. Nellie has developed a recent habit of bringing small chipmunks onto the porch to show off her hunter prowess. Fortunately, they have been healthy enough for us to shoo them back outside.

These initial posts are my preparation for blogging in Namibia as a Peace Corps volunteer. I am learning to write, tag, and edit posts and also include photos – a major accomplishment for this 61 year old brain!

I like hanging out with Nellie, the cat.
I spend a lot of time out here these days.

 

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The Journey Begins

18192689_10208829060947081_4739667291031082142_oI sold our beloved home of 30 years on April 16, 2018. This was a sad day and a happy day. Sad because it represents an end to the best years of my life up to this point and happy because it represents the start of fulfilling a life-long dream.

The journey started on an October morning last year when I was scanning the Peace Corps website. I had a habit of doing this every 3-4 months in hopes and preparation for actually applying one day. Secondary Math Teacher in Namibia was the first position I saw and it was so appealing that I decided to apply, right then and there. The gist of it is that I was invited to serve and received my legal and medical clearances in April.

I depart on August 13 to train and serve two years in the Peace Corps as a Secondary Math Teacher in Namibia. I will use this blog to document my Peace Corps service, my adventures, my highs and my lows and also to keep in touch with my friends and family.

The views shared on this page are based solely on the personal experience of the author, and do not in any way reflect the position or views of the Peace Corps or any other part of the US Government.