What’s Next
Well, my life keeps taking some crazy turns. I have been wondering what I am going to do when my term of service ends. I was dreading a return to home with not much to do. I even sent out an email to 17 retired friends to request their thoughts about retirement.
I look sort of retired here. Reflection from my mirrored door. The kids love to dance in front of my windows. Margaret brushed her teeth there the other day.
My most idyllic retirement vision consisted of hitting the treadmill every morning while I watch ESPN Sportscenter, followed by a walk to Cheeseman Park with a thermos of tea, a bagel, and the Denver Post. I could give Power Point presentations to service clubs around town about the Peace Corps and Uganda (free meals!). I could volunteer to be a CASA again. I could volunteer for the ALS Society when they need help. My Rotary Club is still there. This was my leisurely retirement life fantasy. Its not too bad…
One thing I knew however, I wanted more work in third world countries. Perhaps after being home awhile, I could work for Peace Corps Response. And I have been considering a new Peace Corps tour in another country. It happens frequently with older PCVs.
I had recently decided to reactivate my law license when I returned, and volunteer for the Colorado ACLU, if they would have me. I hoped working in a new corner of the law for a good cause as part of the “resistance” might reinvigorate me. A few weeks ago, a friend who is past-president of the ACLU E-introduced and recommended me to the current president. But for now, he has more on his mind than an old lawyer who won’t be home until August or September . Maybe one of my readers knows more about volunteer lawyering for the ACLU. So I settled for the potential ACLU scenario, at least for now. And I could do worse than the above “leisurely retirement” above, as long as I kept busy.
Then a couple of weeks ago, the Peace Corps sent out a new third-year extension opportunity, right before the deadline to apply for extension. They had sent out other opportunities leading up to our COS conference, but none had interested me. I assumed I would COS and go home in August. But this opportunity intrigued me. My supervisor Meital said she thought I could do the work. I tormented myself (and my kids and siblings) with indecision over a weekend with a Monday deadline to apply. I concluded that if there was so much uncertainty, I should just send an email to Meital turning it down.
Right after sending that email, however, I got very depressed. Five hours later, I told Meital I changed my mind, and threw together my application with an updated resume. I guess the heart knew what it wanted. On Thursday I was approved for the position. There will be five PCVs in my cohort extending.
I will move 260 miles to Arua, near Uganda’s northwest corner, on the opposite side of the country from Bugiri, which, except for Lake Victoria, is near the southeast corner. Arua is near both the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. The town of Arua is much larger than Bugiri, with many tarmacked roads. Adams says they have “booming” Rotary Club.
I will work with CARE International, and help them administer three refugee camps, with refugees primarily from the South Sudan conflict. There are nearly 850,000 South Sudanese refugees in Uganda, coming in at the rate of 2,500 per day.
I will be doing M&E work (monitoring and evaluation). I understand M&E from the Peace Corps reports and feedback about my own activities, and ATEFO’s reports to it’s funders. There is an M&E man in my office. I figure it’s a matter of learning the “CARE way” of monitoring its activities and all the measurables from the camps.
This lazy guy is hanging out behind my curtain instead of doing his job eating the bugs in my place,
However, I was a bit worried that some elements in the job description seemed like IT and excessive data input, not my strong suits. The CARE country director has assured me it isn’t. She said I would need to be analytical. Things are quite fluid, so don’t expect a repetitive type of job or work environment. I loved hearing all that. [Based upon our conversation, I wrote out some examples of interesting tasks I understand I will be doing, but decided to wait and write about it as it happens-sorry! This post is long enough.] CARE has a staff of eleven in Arua today but it is going to double in size in September.
There are various types of implants but the most common is connected to age and the changes cialis prescription that take place during puberty such as the lowering of one’s voice, an increase in muscle mass, etc. There are many factors can cause prostatitis, such as: frequent cialis india generic sexual life, drinking a lot of wine, excessive masturbation and so on. Today we are here to discuss http://amerikabulteni.com/2012/11/29/tarihi-oylama-birlesmis-milletler-filistini-artik-devlet-olarak-tanidi/ cheap viagra tablet about the sex positions that you should avoid to keep your partner happy and sex life intact and safe. Men and women who have a healthy sexual life are busy work schedule, depression, stress, tension and sex related problems or issues. viagra brand online
The Country Director, Delphine, is French. Meital said its the first Peace Corps-Uganda / CARE collaboration (hard to believe), but Delphine said she has experience working with PCVs in other countries.
I have been interested in the refugee crisis here and in Europe for quite awhile and I’ve provided updates to you about the South Sudan crisis before. I’ve written about my PCV friend Aruna, who was one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” and took a few of us to his childhood camp. His mother and family are in a refugee camp in Uganda now.
It’s a one year commitment. The director said if things worked out, there could be further opportunities, not just in Uganda. CARE works in more than 80 countries. It seems to me, an M&E position is a good way to learn about this sector. I should have at least a year left in my tank, maybe I can have a short second career. (Oh Jan, why didn’t we join the Peace Corps when we were 50? We could have put the kids in boarding school.:-) )
You can learn more about the history of South Sudan here.(105 second video) and a deeper dive in the conflict is here. . A recent article about the current dire situation is here. The very interesting history of CARE International, which started in 1945 out of the ashes of World War II, is here.
While right now I am thinking about this work in the abstract, I can’t romanticize this. I am probably in for some sad shit and will need to be resilient.
As a perk to this extension, the Peace Corps will pay for a one month leave before I start. I am requesting to finish my service in Bugiri in mid-July, and come home until moving to Arua in mid-August.[Since my original post was published, this schedule might be delayed a month] I might spend a couple of days in New York to visit my son Clark. I hope I will be able to visit with many of my Denver area friends. I will be home long enough to go to at least one concert at Red Rocks, one Rockies game (hopefully still contending), one Ft. Collins trip to see my Uncle Roy, one poker night, a few Rotary meetings, use my condo’s pool for the first time, and many mom visits. And of course, whatever time busy Blair-with-attached-boyfriend can spare for her old man. I will displace her roommate for a month (Its OK, her roomie has a place).
This also means you will have to endure my blog for another year. Sorry, sorry.
Blair says Pam H. told her she knew I would extend. OK Pam how? I wasn’t anticipating this until a couple of weeks ago myself. Anyone else think that? Do I sound like I am having too much fun here? Perhaps my last blog post next year will be titled “The top ten unpleasant things that happened during service I didn’t blog about until I got home because it would’ve have freaked out my mom” Not really mom, just kidding, nothing bad has ever happened here.
This is Ruwani, who appeared in my blog two Halloweens ago as a black cat. She is one of five foreign born PCVs in the cohort (Sri Lanka) She is also extending for an M&E job with CARE International, and will be stationed in Kampala. I think her programs are geared to Women’s Empowerment. So we will be “org buddies” for a year. I took this picture last month during our COS conference after she told me her pants were purchased new in the United States in the ratty condition you see. The used clothes piles in our markets here could be exported to the USA.
A couple of days later I got this picture of my niece Hannah in ratty jeans participating in the science march in Anchorage. When I was a kid we had to make our jeans ratty ourselves. Now these kids use a middle-man.