Welcome back, populace!
I am embarking upon the next big journey in my life, as a "Health Education Extension Agent" in the Peace Corps. I'm going to be in Mali, a country in West Africa (see left). I will be there from October 30, 2011 - January 6, 2014. I get training from October 30, 2011-January 6, 2012 (when I'll hopefully swear in as a Corps Volunteer), and then go to my post, which I will be given halfway through training, until January 6, 2014 (the regular 2 years of service which volunteers must complete).
What? "Health Education Extension Agent"? Great question! The government of Mali has made a goal to totally decentralize their primary health care system by 2015. That means, taking it out everywhere, including places where I might be posted, without electricity or running water. They have Peace Corps volunteers carrying out dissemination of public health messages in order to support this goal. I will be talking about any of the following health issues in Mali through radio broadcast, theatrical skit (as the literacy rate is low, 26-47%, in parts of the country I'll be posted in), and/or/even talking to primary and secondary school students: -pre/postnatal counseling -nutritional counseling for mothers of children under the age of 5
-HIV/STIs (though Mali's HIV prevalence rate, 1.5% (as of 2007), is half that of Washington, DC, 3% (as of 2010))
-family planning
-other infections/common diseases (i.e., think diarrhea and accompanying dehydration, etc.)
DISCLAIMER
In order to keep things peachy on this here blog site, you're gonna have to understand that:
"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps."
But Akinyi, I love you and will miss you and will never be able to talk to you EVER AGAIN! But, imaginary person, you have proven yourself to be a LIAR! I will in fact be on the internet at least once every 2 weeks. If you...
Need my e-mail address? Ask me for it.
Want my physical address to send me wonderful things, like paintings/drawings/doodles I can hang up like your mother would when you were in kindergarten, vegan non-perishable snacks that I can munch on, pictures of us I can hang up, and other faaaabulous gifties (NOTE: Hanukah this year is December 20-28, and birthday is December 21 :-) )?
Akinyi Shapiro, PCT
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 85
Bamako, Mali
NOTE: Send things (letters and packages)via "airmail," and they should get to me within 3-4 weeks. Figure that it will take 2 months to hear a response from me.
Send me things to your heart's content! I WILL RESPOND. I really have little else to do but focus on you without this apeshit crazy screen-based culture of madness around me for 2 years and 2 months. So, keep 'em coming! E-mails, snail mail, all of it.
Plans after Peace Corps? You're abandoning me for the rest of my life, aren't ya? No, Sarah Palin, I'm not. But I might be traveling around West Africa (i.e., Ghana, Togo, other places) for a month or so afterwards, and then spend another month in Kenya with my family if I can manage to get Peace Corps to let me not come straight home (they book me out as soon as my time is up). Might even visit some friends (i.e., I see you, Miss Suzy Cream Cheese!) in Europe on the way back. That means, might be coming back around late March, 2014. But I'll be back, I pwomise. Thinking of doing law school afterwards, for international law, but that's tentative. After this, things might change in the life game plan!
How much do you work that you can't get on the internet more than once every 2 weeks?!?!??? I'll be working 7 days a week, accruing 2 days leave per month worked, in a place without electricity or internet. I'll be cycling to the nearest internet cafe (most likely over 15 miles away) in order to check my e-mail. I'd check in a little more often if I could.
Any other questions? Shoot 'em my way. Facebook, e-mail, mail, all good choices. Love, and next time, coming to you from my training site in Tubaniso, our training site 15 minutes drive outside of Bamako, Mali (the capitol)!
Spectacularly,
Akinyi
