Peace Corps was founded in 1961 under President Kennedy who, the way we heard it anyway, basically asked some students at Michigan if they would go abroad to assist developing nations if he started the program. Enthusiastic about the idea, the students responded with a resounding "Let's do it" and Kennedy was elected the November after - probably not as a direct result of this little pep rally...but still. Peace Corps was established the following January and less than two months later, in March of 1961, the first Peace Corps Volunteers were headed to either Colombia or Ghana (there's dispute among the programs about which was first...Peace Corps drama)
An apolitical government agency (sounds oxymoronish, I know), the way Peace Corps works is by being invited by a specific developing nation for a specific reason. For example, the Ministry of Education in Cambodia asked Peace Corps for English teachers back in the early 90s. Peace Corps promptly sent over a team to assess the safety situation and found that it was not safe enough for Volunteers to work, nevertheless they signed a contract promising help when it was able to be done. They kept sending teams to find out when and if Volunteers could make it here safely, and in 2005 the first English Teacher and Teacher Training group arrived in Phnom Penh, bright eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the Cambodian wilderness. That group is known as Kampuchea 1, or K1. Side note: "Kampuchea" is what Cambodians or the Khmer call, "Cambodia". It's their name for their country. As you can probably guess, K2 is the group of ETTTs that arrived a year later, and on and on. After the success of the ETTTs, the Ministry of Health had some sort of conversation with the Ministry of Education in Cambodia, and asked Peace Corps for some Community Health Education Volunteers (CHE). Hence, beginning with K4, CHE volunteers began to arrive in Phnom Penh and go through the training that I am going through now before swearing-in for 2 years of glorious heat and rice (not necessarily in the same situation). Like I said, my group is K6 and thus I am in the third group of CHE volunteers in the country. This means that my program is still very new. I expect more education will be learned at site among my community rather than in training but at least I will have some basic knowledge.
When we head to our permanent sites at the end of this week, we will be assigned to a community (referred to as "our site") and a health center where the work will start. CHEs focus mainly on five topics to cover in our two years regarding community education. Those topics include nutrition, maternal and infant health, sexual reproductive health, non-communicable diseases, and pre-natal care. Once I get to my site I will be able to assess both what the community wants (in terms of healthcare education) and what the community needs. Hopefully I will be able to assess correctly and begin projects that will benefit the community. The overall goal is education and sustainable education at that. My site will be my Khmer home for the next two years! No worries though Mom, you and I both know that home is where the heart is and mine is forever in the Midwest...and New Orleans...and Denver...
Here in training, we (the CHEs in Tramkak) are divided into language groups whom we have language with for 4 hours every day except for Sundays. Then we all come together for technical training. My group, beginning on the first day, was dubbed "The Naked Chickens" - by yours truly, naturally. The name came to us because the first chickens we saw running around Cambodia were naked. A lot of chickens have no feathers...because they're about to be eaten. Nevertheless, the name has stuck and we take pride in identifying ourselves as such - we even have a battle cry! And there's talk of a handshake or even T-shirts. Speculation...maybe, but one can always hope. A photo of my wonderful language mates is posted below. Are we not the most beautiful, intelligent-looking Peace Corps trainees or what?! (don't answer that...because I already know that your answer is a resounding "ABSOLUTELY!" and our ego can only go so big.) This photo was taken during a visit to a "Gru-Khmer", a traditional Khmer healer. From left to right: Tysor, Sally, Savin (our teacher-incredible man), JD, Neal, me, and Rich.
Wednesday is my last night with my training host family and I heard a rumor from Lena that we're having bananas and maybe beef with our rice! - Just kidding, my family is pretty well educated and my diet, though rice is the staple now, includes lots of Khmer veggies and lean meat.
Postscript: I'd like to say THANK YOU!!!! to everyone back home for all of the love and support before I left and continued love since I left. To my family and friends, if I haven't responded to you yet, know that your emails, Facebook posts, messages, tweets, texts, and mail are so incredibly appreciated and you have no idea how much they mean to me. Especially in this transition period where I am still trying to move into this country, your messages can really turn my day around. Thank you thank you thank you. If you ever find yourself across the earth and in need of communication, be sure that I will be returning the favor :).
Lots of love from Cambodia
xo-Amanda
No comments:
Post a Comment