It all fits in 3 Bags!!!

So the time has finally come for me to leave for my time in the Peace Corps. For those of you who don’t know, here’s a general idea of what I’m getting myself into (at least as far as I know, they’re very big on testing our patience for the unknown by leaving things very ambiguous). First I’ll be flying into Philly from Boston on Sept. 8 for 2 ½ days of Staging. Here I’ll meet people for the first time, get introduced to the program, get a few shots and start to take my malaria medicine, which I will be on constantly for the next 27 months. Then we (the other trainees and I) take a bus to NYC, where we fly as a group to Dakar, the capital city of Senegal; landing in the early morning of Sept. 11. There we’ll be met by a blast of hot air, a loudspeaker making announcements in a language that I will just then realize how little I understand and the Peace Corps Senegal training crew. We’ll then hop in a van for the 2 ½ hr ride to Thies, the city where my training will be held. Based on my past experience in Jamaica and Nicaragua and what I’ve heard about the driving in Senegal, it'll be quite a journey. I don’t know how this sounds to you, but I can’t wait!

Once we’re at the training site, I’m a little confused as to exactly what our schedule will be (as I said before they love being ambiguous: I applied the better part of a year ago and didn’t even find out where I was going until this summer). As far as I can tell, we will spend about a week at the training site getting crash courses in Wolof (the local African dialect), culture and safety, sleeping in bunks at the training site. Then we will split into small groups and visit some volunteers at their sites for a few days to see first-hand how the Peace Corps work. After that, the next 2 ½ months will be spent going to language, technical, cultural, and safety classes at the training center in Thies for 8-9 hrs a day, 6 days a week. Ohhh, and did I mention that everything will be taught in French… so I better learn it quick! During this time all the trainees (we’re not officially volunteers until we are sworn in at the end of training) will be living with separate host families. Assuming all goes well I should be sworn in and start my assignment some time in December.

For my assignment I still have no idea where in the country I will end up, whether or not I will have power or running water, or what my exact assignment will be. I do know that I am in the field of Small Enterprise Development. This would likely include projects such as providing basic business education classes to my community, helping to organize or run a microfinance program, and facilitating connections between my community members and other business organizations or NGO’s which can help them to create or grow their own business. The most important part of anything I work on, however, is that it needs to be self sustaining and effective once I leave after two years.

I’m certainly starting to get a little anxious to go. It’s going to be tough but I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and I’m ready for my departure. I must say it has been hectic recently getting everything ready to go, but I think I finally have all my stuff packed. Here’s a list of what I’m bringing, it seems like a lot but when you see it all laid out or packed up the my bags it really isn’t that much for 27 months.

• Bathing suit, Running Shorts, and two pairs of Khaki Shorts
• Old Point-and-Shoot Camera
• New Camera (thanks to my extended family for helping me to afford this! You’ll be receiving some pictures soon.)

• Nikon D60 w/ 18-55mm and 55-200mm AF VR lenses
• 3 batteries (still don’t know what my access to power will be, so better safe than sorry)
• 12 GB of memory cards
• Travel Tripod
• Manual… still need to read that

• 8 cotton collared shirts (3 of which are short-sleeved)
• 6 tee-shirts & 3 undershirts
• 1 each: PJ bottoms, sweatshirt, rain jacket, long sleeve polyester shirt
• 10 pair underwear & 2 pairs of Under Armor shorts
• 2 cool linen pants, 1 pair jeans, 1 pair informal khakis
• 2 dressy outfits (Dockers and Business shirts)
• 1 beach towel, 1 bath towel, 1 face towel
• 2 bandanas, 2 baseball hats, 1 caddie hat (brim all the way around)
• 2 pair cheap sunglasses
• Tevas, Birkenstocks, hiking shoes, dressy shoes
• 4 pair white socks, 2 pair dress socks
• 2 Frisbees (1 lights up in the dark)
• Soccer ball w/ pump
• Pillow, travel pillow, fitted & flat sheet, sleeping bag sheet
• 2 Nalgene bottles & collapsible 2gallon jug
• Coffee press & coffee
• Ziploc bags and Tupperware
• Swiss Army Knife & sharpener (Thank you Creontes!)
• Lightweight sleeping bag (Thank you Tripps!)
• Duct Tape, Kate’s Mixed Up Salt, and Cajun Spices
• Harmonica (Thanks Daniel… I swear I’ll practice where no-one can hear me!)
• Dop Kit

• Toothbrush, 1 tube toothpaste, 3 deodorants, razor w/ extra blades, shaving cream, travel mirror, floss, shampoo, 2 bars of soap, travel comb/brush
• Ibuprofen & Multivitamins
• Extra Strength Gold-Bond powder & lotion (It’s going to be over 100° F and I have to wear pants… Guys, I think you know how important this will be!)

• ‘Electronics Case’

• Rechargeable AA & AAA batteries
• USB battery charger
• Solar Charger
• Wind-Up Flashlight
• Power Converter
• iPod w/ charger & extra headphones
• Radio transmitter for iPod
• USB Memory Key & External Hard-drive to back-up pictures

• Playing Cards & Dominoes
• Paper / Pencils / Pens / Planner / Drawing Stuff / Calculator
• Pictures of friends & family
• Peace Corps and French books as well as some pleasure reads
• Tapestry and poster to ‘make my house my home.’

And so that’s it. It sure seems like a lot of stuff on paper and it really is more than you would ever need to live off of. Believe it or not, though, it all fits in 1 camping backpack, 1 rolling duffel bag, and 1 regular day back pack! Also, I decided to get property insurance on all of it in case of theft / fire / flood / my tendency to be careless and lose or drop things / or just about a million other things that could happen (especially to my new camera). I will also be picking up some local clothing and other items once I’m in country.

Ohhh ya… here’s my address while I’m at training, which should be the first 2 ½ months or so. Just so you know, it could take up to a month for a letter or package to get to me, but I’d appreciate any correspondence.

PCT Michael Hebert
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 299
Thies, Senegal
West Africa

(write:
“SENEGAL – WEST AFRICA
AIRMAIL – PAR AVION”
on anything you send as well)

It’s time for me to ship off and I look forward to writing again soon and letting you all know how it is to live in Senegal. Until then, enjoy the end of summer / beginning of fall!