In-Service Training

The stereotypical image of a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) is of a dirty hippie-American living in a remote village in a developing country with no other Americans in sight. This vision isn’t far off, but as I discovered once I’d arrived in Ethiopia, Peace Corps doesn’t actually drop you off and say “see you in two years,” and leave you to your own devices. Back in the early days, that’s exactly what happened, but there was a disturbingly large amount of PCVs who didn’t finish the two years, so a study was done, and it was discovered that PCVs overall feel depressed and want to go home at the 3 month mark, the midway mark, and just before the end of service. In response, Peace Corps created conferences and trainings to bring volunteers together at those periods in their service.

So for the last two weeks, that’s what I’ve been up to. This first one is called IST: in-service training, and they brought us all to a town called Ambo about two hours outside of Addis for the duration of the training. Despite the hotel’s poor building plan that placed the conference room at the top of a 7-story building (that’s 120 steps, folks, not that we’ve been counting or complaining), it’s been just what I imagine the original creators of these conferences imagined: encouraging, reassuring, and arming us with the tools we need to go forward more effectively. 

The view of Ambo from the top of our hotel

I have many highlights, three  of which will signal big changes to my life as a PCV when I return to Fincha:

1. New Counterpart: A key component to this training involves bringing an Ethiopian counterpart from our educational communities, and developing an action plan with him, detailing what projects and programs we want to start after my return. I changed my counterpart for this one, and brought the supervisor of Fincha’s cluster of 6 primary schools (a big wig, in other words, with lots of local power). It worked out great, because his position of power will allow him to make it much easier to get things off the ground. In addition, I was thrilled to observe over the two days he was here that he’s completely professional in his interactions with me, and seems excited about working together with me on a regular basis. We’re hoping to start both a monthly training series and an individual mentorship program for the English teachers, so stay tuned for how that goes…

2. Peer Support Network (PSN): Peace Corps Volunteers have created 5 committees to serve the PCVs’ collective needs during their service, one of which is the peer support network, designed to support PCVs’ mental and emotional needs. I was elected to serve on PSN, which means I’ll be responsible for checking in on 8 of my fellow Education PCVs and sending them letters and gifts. In addition, I’ll help facilitate some trainings for the next group that arrives, and lead a demystification trip like the one I went on just after arriving in country. Being on PSN means I’ll be traveling out of Fincha a lot more than I thought I would (about 5 times each year), but I’m very excited to help support my fellow PCVs in this way.

3. Housing: I’ve been unhappy with the noise pollution that is present in my current home since day one of arriving in Fincha, and bearing it as well as I could while seeking out an alternative place to live in town. I found that place about a month ago, but have been trying to work out funding for moving there ever since. Finally, Peace Corps has agreed to supplement my monthly allowance so that I can move when the new place is finished being constructed. This is a huge victory, and I’m so excited that I can’t even describe it in words. Again, stay tuned, but I’m hoping to be able to move by New Year’s. Yay!!

4. Fun times with New Friends: This one doesn’t necessarily affect my future, but it’s wonderful all the same. The two weeks of training also afforded the opportunity to bond with my fellow PCVs, and I had a fantastic time. Our leisure activities included word games, a paper football tournament, big-screen movie-watching using the projector, and swapping stories. It was great to compare our experiences and find out how similar they were, and to laugh about the aspects of life as a PCV in Ethiopia that may be slowly driving us bonkers…

Me and my opponent in the paper football tournament.
We PCVs are nothing if not innovative in finding ways to pass our time...

5. Hiking around Lake Wenchi: Along those veins, on the Sunday in the middle of IST, 38 of us went on a hike aaround Lake Wenchi, one of only two crater lakes in all of Africa, located about a 45 minute drive outside of Ambo. It was stunningly beautiful, and great fun to hike with so many friends. We hiked for about 7 hours in a circle around the lake, but we cut part of it off by taking the row boat ferry over to an island in the middle where there is an Ethiopian Orthodox church. Legend has it that when an attacker was traveling the country and burning Orthodox churches, the Lake Wenchi church was where the arks of the covenant were taken, to protect them. I may or may not have been the 38^th PCV to finish the hike, and I may or may not have been incredibly sore for a few days afterwards, but it was definitely worth it.

Lake Wenchi, at the beginning of our hike

One of the wonderful views as we hiked down to the lake

6. Thanksgiving: Our IST finished Thankgiving morning, and we were bused back to Addis midday, so we were able to split into smaller groups and find somewhere to celebrate. The Sheraton hotel offers a true Thanksgiving buffet for a whopping 800 birr (that’s 1/3 of my monthly allowance, and a primary school teacher’s entire monthly salary), so I skipped that and instead went with some wonderful people to a French restaurant, where I had cheese and spinach ravioli and a dessert that was called pumpkin pie but tasted not remotely like pumpkin (It’s the thought that counts, right??). The place was elegantly decorated, and we created gratitude hand turkeys and shared what we were grateful for while we waited, and it felt very much like Thanksgiving should.

Thanksgiving dinner!

 I just returned to Fincha today, and I’m pleased to say that I’m happy to be back. When the bus drove over the dam at the base of town, I felt a similar feeling that I feel when I go back to my family’s summer cabin – it’s a feeling of coming home, and it was a thrill to realize that I felt that way about Fincha. I’m going to count that as a victory of sorts, as I enter the next phase of my life as a PCV.