Lets get this show on the road

Next month I shall be heading to Senegal to work in the sector of environmental education with the Peace Corps. Hopefully this blog will get more interesting once I get there, since I currently spend my days yelling at contestants on the Price is Right. Anyways, (side note- despite that degree that McGill is apparently granting me, I have little to no understanding of syntax, grammar and proper spelling, so I use commas at random and unless internet cafes in Senegal use the version of Mozilla with spell check, correct spelling of the most basic of words will go out the proverbial window once I get there) I figure I will start this thing off with some basic info about what I know so far (most of it gathered from my obsessive stalking of current volunteers blogs during the past year) about what my time in Senegal shall consist of.

Within the next week I should be receiving information on when I will actually be leaving for staging. Staging is orientation to the Peace Corps and it consists of all the volunteers in my group meeting in a city in the US for a few days before flying out to Senegal together. Upon arrival in Senegal my stage will be spending the first two months in Thies (the third largest city in Senegal, I believe) where we will live with a host family and spend our days in class attempting to learn a local language and receive training in regards to the work we will be trying to do, as well as info on Senegalese culture and customs. Upon successful completion of training our group will be sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and then its time to head to site.

As an Environmental Education (EE) volunteer, I will most likely be placed in a rural village, meaning no electricity or running water, which I am pretty excited about. As for what I shall be doing, a lot of that depends on the needs and wants of the community I will be living in. But in general I should be promoting environmental awareness in both the school system and the community at large. In addition to my primary assignment in EE, I have the opportunity to work on secondary projects that can focus on issues not necessarily related to the environment. I am interested in gender and development (GAD) issues, so hopefully I can incorporate some women empowerment work into my service. This will all get more specific once I get to Senegal and learn more about the community I will live in and the resources that I have available to me.

As globalization rears its mighty head communication becomes a lot easier. I will probably buy a cell phone when I get there and internet cafes seem exist in most cities in Senegal. But if you feel like writing to me the old fashioned ways my address during training (I will be there through May and then get a new address when I am at my permanent site) here's my address:
PCT Sarah Gilleski
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 299
Thiès, Senegal
West Africa