Joining the US Peace Corps is not an easy thing at all! There is a big application form, long interviews, essays, resume updates, a security background check, finger printing, and lots and lots of medical and dental exams, more interviews, electronic forms and paper forms, BIZ questions, aspiration statement (huh?), another job specific resume, insurance forms, another PC passport application, online security class, etc. The whole process is very time consuming and can take about 18 mnths to 3 years.
Let me start at the beginning of my journey to Albania. I ran into my first US PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) in Northern Uganda in 2011. I was in Gulu doing volunteer service on my own, connected to no organization, with no safety training, and no organization to watch my back. If I were to disappear, it might take a few days to figure it out. I knew I needed to change the way I was doing my service travel if I wanted to keep it sustainable. There were about 15 PCV in the Gulu area. They gathered once a week at a restaurant for dinner and this is how we met. They ranged in age from mid 20 to mid 60. They were all very close and shared a unique bond that was almost visible. Here they were, in war-torn Northern Uganda, doing what I was doing, but doing it as a unit. I respected their projects, their friendships and their unity so much. I yearned for what they had. I spent time with them and learned all I could before I started my own journey to join the Peace Corps.
I sent my initial application to the USPC when I was still in Uganda in July 2011. About a month later, I was in Dehradun, India when I had my first 2 hour interview. A few weeks later, my finger print/security information arrived. I had to get finger printed? In Northern India? Imagine, a single, white woman entering the police station in a developing country asking to be finger printed! No one would do it. That is, until some money exchanged hands. Yes, a little money (bribery) always speeds things along. Then they refused to sign it. I took care of that problem. Let's just say it got back to the US and I passed security.
There was also a time I needed a form notarized in India. They wouldn't do it for a woman without a man (husband). Nope. Not a chance. Not even if I stomped my foot. Not even if I was sweet. I tried several places and was told to go to the US Embassey in Delhi a whole days train ride away. I begged for the option of having 3 witnesses sign my form instead and it was granted. It's not easy being a woman in India....in so many ways!
I was in Ethiopia a month later when a packet of forms came to me to fill out. It was almost a full time job for a week! They had received my security forms and I was on to the next stage.
My recruiter called me in March of 2012 with the news she had put my name in for the position of Community and Organizational Development in Eastern Europe. No country yet. I was settled in Uganda again and she was insistant that I needed to be stationed somewhere new. I had hoped to serve in Africa, but she said, "Rhona, you've been living in Africa for awhile now. You already know it. Try this new place. I KNOW you will love the people there". But it's COLD, I said. OK, Eastern Europe.
Two months later, in May, my medical and dental forms arrived. OMG! Never in my life have I seen such a list! I needed to see medical doctor for a physical, a psychiatrist, a gynocologist, have a mammogram, see an eye doctor, dentist, and have blood work a mile long! All of this in a developing country where my results might not meet US standards? I had no other choice but to go forward and give it a try. I had some VERY interesting experiences.
First, I never needed an appointment. The moment I called, I was told to come in right then. I never waited in a wating room. I was always taken in immediately. I was the foreigner. The psychiatrist wrote, "Given that Rhona has lived in a developing country in stressful post-conflict Northern Uganda for close to a year, she will be able to cope satisfactorily with difficult contexts". Check. Phsychiatrist is done. Next, I had my eyes examined. Check. Eye doctor is done. Two days later, I woke up with a fungus around my eyes where their glasses had touced my skin. I put alcohol on the fungus and burned my face! Not good! That morning, I was supposed to go in for my pap smear. NO WAY WAS THAT GOING TO HAPPEN! Skip that test for now! If I can get a fungus from the eye doctor, I dont want ANYTHING going up there!!! (I was able to use the papsmear from Hawaii I had a few months prior, WHEW!).
There are two dentists in Gulu. Neither do bitewing xrays. I had no choice but to take the chicken bus to the capital city of Kampala 7 hours away. I call it the chicken bus for several reasons. There are chickens under your seat, in the lap next to you, and in the luggage area. It is also called the chicken bus because as it rumbles along the bumpy pot holed highway without budging for other vehicles, it plays "chicken" to see who will veer off at the last moment at heart stopping speed. Instead of a panoramic xray, I had every single tooth xrayed. I know my xray exposure this day was ENORMOUS!!
I looked like a drug addict by the time all the necessary blood was removed from my body. I needed a CBC, an HIV, HepB, HepC, a titus for Measles, one for Mumps, one for Ruebella, another for varicella. I needed tested for G6PDD. Huh? WTH is that? That's not all. It seemed to go on and on.
I mailed the physical exam, the psychiatrist exam, the mammogram, the papsmear, the eye exam,and the tons of lab results to the US. It was done. I heard nothing for June, July, Aug, Sept. I forgot about PC. I figured it wasn't going to happen and started making alternate plans for 2013. Then, on the most amazing pivotal day of my life in October, I got an email from my great friend in Hawaii. I had received a letter from the PC and they had accepted 100% of all my medical and dental results!! OMG! To me, it was a miracle. A sign from God that I was on my correct path. OH HAPPY DAY!
In November, more forms were sent to me. I was in the US now for the holidays. More interviews. Then, December 11th, 18 long months from my application, I was invited to serve in ALBANIA! It's been a LONG time since I was so happy. It is such a great, great priviledge to be invited to be a United States Peace Corps Volunteer. I am so honored!
Since then, I have spent hours filling out more forms, sending off for a totally different PC passport, taking an online security class and reading the massive amounts of information they keep sending to me. I had to buy a coat and boots, a warm sleeping bag, long under wear, and some warm clothes. I have my one way ticket, and leave for Albania in just a few weeks!
How about my family though? Kids are supposed to go off and do this kind of thing. Parents aren't supposed to leave their kids and go away so long. Yes, it is difficult and not without a bit of guilt. I tell myself that I gave them 25 good years. Now it is time for mommy to go do something for herself. I will be safer because I am part of something good now. My Kayla says, "Why do you have to do this?" My son asked me what he was supposed to do if he lost his job? Where could he live if I was in Albania? These are hard questions. They are grown up now, but I still worry about them. I'll be back for Christmas. I need to trust my heart. There is no doubt in my heart that I am on my correct path. No doubt! So I need to wipe the tears from my eyes because I am going to ALBANIA WITH THE US PEACE CORPS!
