The Final Countdown!

It is hard to believe, but in just over 24 hours I will be on my way to Dayton, OH to board a flight to Philadelphia for the start of my Peace Corps staging event.  As you may or may not know, it has only been two short months since I received my invitation to serve in Zambia, Africa as a RED (Rural Education Development) volunteer with about 34 other people.  As a RED volunteer, I will primarily be working with primary school kids (up to 9th grade) in a rural village, where I will also be lucky enough to have a mud hut all to myself.  The main focus of my teaching will be English ASL/literacy, but will also include life skills development and HIV/AIDS education. 

For the first three months, however, I will be living with a host family near the capital city for intensive language, technical, and medical training.  It will be a lot to take in, but with the support of my fellow volunteers and a lot of work I will be sworn in as an official volunteer sometime in early April and will then move to my formal placement.  I will not know the location of my placement until I near the end of my training, and it is largely decided by what regional language I decide to learn (there are around 10 to choose from!). 

As I finish packing for the next two years of my life, I am filled with so many emotions about what is to come: excitement for the new friends I will make and the adventures I will have in Zambia, sadness at leaving my family and friends behind, anxiety for the unknown and the pressure to be successful in my post.  But I am trying my hardest to keep my heart open to what is surely to come: an amazing and challenging new adventure.

That being said, I would love to have my family and friends along with me on this new journey.  For the most part that means snail mail, as I will have limited access to email/internet, especially for the first three months.  If you would like to write to me (I would love to hear from you!), address everything to:

Courtney Gandy

US Peace Corps Zambia

P.O. Box 50707

Lusaka, Zambia

This address will work for my training period(through mid April), and once assigned to my post I will have a new address through the local post office.  Also, should you be so generous as to send care packages (winkwinkcoughcoughnudge), it would be a good idea to mark the package as containing religious items or marking with Christian symbols as it will make your package less likely to be opened by some hungry Zambian mailman looking for snacks.