Assignment

I qualified for a position in the community development sector of the Peace Corps, and my official title will be a "HIV outreach worker." I qualified for this job because of my college degree, the youth baseball team I volunteered to coach, and work I have done since nomination with the Colorado AIDS Project and the Boulder Counts AIDS project. In my program, I will be working with non-governmental and community-based organizations (NGOs/CBOs), with a focus in youth organizations. My main "job" will be working with these organizations to promote youth awareness about HIV/AIDS, and creating programs to foster growth and development of youth in South Africa. I will also be called upon to be a representative of the United States abroad, it's a pretty incredible feeling knowing that I will be a representative of a country I love so much, in a country I know I am going to love. I've come to reality with the immense change I am going to feel, and the PC handbooks put everything into words. But still, I'm beyond excited, and while I still haven't felt nervous, I'm sure it's coming, I am ready to tackle everything that stands in my way. I can anticipate the country shock I am going to have, and how much my life is going to change, but it's not gonna be real, or feel real, until I step on that tarmac in South Africa.

I will live and work in one of four provinces in South Africa, the KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, or North West Provinces, and based on this large regional difference and the number of languages spoken in S. Africa, I don't know what language I will be learning. These four provinces are located in the northeastern part of S. Africa, and are close to Pretoria.

A note on my homefront life, I bought the book Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela today, and I really hope that two and a half months is enough time to finish it amongst graduation and finals. I've always believed that studying the past is the best way to learn about the present, and the apartheid is still fresh on the minds of most South Africans. I'm going to have a lot to overcome, I best start preparing.