1 girl, 1 cup
Volunteers one year in make the journey back to Lima to get a medical check-up and get some program updates. The first few days of Mid-Service Training (MST) was spent going around town to all of our medical appointments. Lucky for me, all of my appointments were scheduled on the same day and none were late enough for me to get stuck in the dreaded rush hour traffic in Lima (ATL you got nothin on Lima traffic, you may sit longer but every second I was in a cab going back I feared for my life). One of the medical items was a poo sample, we have all laughed at the idea of poo-ing in a cup and which technique to use. Leading up to MST, I was alittle nervous because my common sickness is rather the opposite of the regular volunteer. When traveling I tend to get a little backed up and I was worried that I might have some problems performing. No worries though, in and out on my first try like a champ and even better got my results back-NO parasites for me!Not that I was really worried, I don’t really get sick or eat sketchy food.
Our training during the second half of the week was focused on my program, community economic development (CED). During this time we presented our first year activities including our struggles and successes. I focused on my year two plans and how I am taking my learned lessons from year one and applying them to the upcoming year. I really enjoyed hearing the activities that worked for other volunteers and just getting a brief update because I often feel out of the loop. We also helped the office with the upcoming changes to the program framework and were able to give our feedback. On the last day of training we went to the American Chamber of Commerce in Lima and listened to presentations from different ministries that we can hopefully work with. I felt it was very productive and hopefully I can connect some of my socios in Tarma with these contacts in Lima.
I always love reuniting with my other CED friends and getting some good grub in Lima, even if I leave with an empty wallet. We won’t all be together until May (hopefully the week of my birthday and our first week in Peru) for our Closing-of Service Training (COS), something that seems very far off but I know is right around the corner. All of staff and past volunteers say that the second year flies by, something thats hard for me to grasp because I’m still getting over how fast the first year went. I’m really hoping that my projects will fall into place and that Tarma will be ready for volunteer #2!