Between my trekking holidays in Utah and Italy, I returned to Namibia to take training hikes out in the bush and catch up with friends and former colleagues.
Continue reading “Namibia 2023 – A brief visit to my second home”Category: Peace Corps
Pertaining to the US program of international development and assistance.
A Towering Task: A Peace Corps Documentary
Hi, everyone! Wherever you are in the world, I hope you and yours are doing well, staying safe, and helping those around you. In these sad, discouraging, and frustrating times, I find it helpful to remember people who put others before themselves, and who recognize the advantages they enjoy because of their birth, ancestry, time, and place. To that end, you might appreciate this new documentary describing the history of the Peace Corps, available now for a virtual screening.
Continue reading “A Towering Task: A Peace Corps Documentary”
Back safely to my “other” home…
Since people have been asking… I made the four long, uneventful flights to return safely to California, my “other” home, where I am slowly adjusting to the colder weather. I want to express my appreciation to all of you for following along this journey with me. My posts focused mostly on the recreation and entertainment I enjoyed for the past 2 3/4 years – without a lot said about the work I did. Now that I am a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), free of certain restrictions, I intend to write more about some of the things I experienced and learned in the work I did. I hope you’ll tag along!
Goodbye, Arandis! P.S. I love you!
Today is my last day at the office where I have worked at the Arandis Town Council for the past 2 1/2 years. It hasn’t always been easy – but it has always been rewarding. Above my desk, every day, I used this poem for inspiration. Attributed to the philosopher Laozi in the 6th Century BC, it encapsulates for me the primary objective of Peace Corps around the world. Continue reading “Goodbye, Arandis! P.S. I love you!”
An abundance of gratitude…
This past weekend was most special! Bringing together so many of my favorite people in Namibia! Colleagues from work, clients, Namibian friends and fellow PCVs joined me Friday night to celebrate my farewell – an experience I will never forget! Some of them agreed to be caught in these photos and many others graciously made entries in my Memory Book. (I can’t bring myself to go through that one until I’m on the airplane in 10 days’ time.)
Two years have just flown by…
Tomorrow will mark the second anniversary of my arrival to Arandis. In many ways, it feels like it was just yesterday.
At the same time, I feel like I’ve been here forever…
Preparing for the Peace Corps Interview: Q&As
I was recently contacted by a candidate for a volunteer position in the Community Economic Development (CED) sector at Peace Corps Namibia. She will soon have her online interview and she reached out with some good questions about my experience. I was happy to answer them and thought you might find some interest in this…
Continue reading “Preparing for the Peace Corps Interview: Q&As”
In lieu of my own post…
Oh my… as I approach the first anniversary of my arrival to Arandis, I have been SO busy! Too busy, in fact, to have time to share all my recent activities and adventures on this blog. I actually have 6 (count them, 6!) posts to share with you, in various stages of development… but priority naturally goes to living life over reporting on the life lived. I trust you’ll forgive me.
Group 41 prepares to return home…
As I approach my halfway point, other PCVs are about to reach their Close of Service (COS) dates after 27 months in country. PCV Andy collected together on his blog a number of 6-word stories that describe the experience on the part of his fellow Group 41 PCVs. I think these are pretty cool!
365 Days in…
Tomorrow will be the first anniversary of my arrival in Namibia with my fellow PCVs from Group 43. I will mark the occasion by completing the “project” I conceived back in October: to backpack from home over the desert and down the Khan and Swakop River canyons to Goanikontes-Oasis Rest Camp.