Departure Date

I have a departure date! I'll be leaving from Vancouver on November 4...only 10 more days! We packed my bags today and they are full of malaria medicine, vaccination cards, and sunblock.

I'll arrive in Nairobi on November 6 and stay there for a week of training before heading out to my post. I'm not sure what my placement will be like but I'm posting the links to a few videos of other Kenya volunteers under the Volunteer section in the right hand column so you can get a sense of the type of work volunteers are doing there.

If you want a postcard be sure to send me your street address and I'll see what I can do!

Big News

Dear Family and Friends,

So last most of you heard from me I was probably sitting around in Vancouver waiting for my permanent residency to come through so I could get a job. Well during those pleasant and leisurely 8 months while I was waiting for my legal status, I applied to a non-profit organization that accepts both US and Canadian citizens...perfect for me since I'm kind of both/neither. Then, after months of patiently waiting for something to happen, things started happening very quickly.

Timeline

• About a month ago I found out I was accepted to the volunteer organization.
  
• A few days later I received an offer for a position in Kenya.
  
• Later that same week my permanent residency arrived in the mail.
  
• The very next day I left for Ottawa to do 2 weeks of training for the volunteer position.
  
• Later that same week I sit here writing to all of you...
• to let you know that I'm leaving in 1 month (November 1st?)...
• to spend 6 months in Kenya.

Everyone probably thinks I'm a little crazy to be leaving Canada 1 month after I finally got my permanent residency, but there never seems to be a great time to leave family and friends for 6 months so I'm just going with it. My friend JoAnn tells me my life is very serendipitous so I hope this opportunity is part of that serendipitous path.

I am very excited to start this next short but powerful chapter in my life. I'm sad to be leaving Stephen behind for so long but he is very supportive and has been encouraging me throughout the entire application and training process. I feel lucky to be with someone so willing to take the risks necessary to help each other realize our true potential both as individuals and as a couple.

I also feel badly for my poor mother who will have one daughter in Afghanistan and one daughter in Kenya (fortunately the good sons are still in the Midwest). Please be kind to Stephen and Rita while I'm gone. They need your support!

I've created 2 blog posts with more info. One describes the organization I'll be working for and the job I'll be doing and the other provides some info on the volunteer organization that coordinated this entire experience. Please let me know if there is anything you want to know more about. I've included safety info in the side bar for the worriers in the group and additional info on Kenya and the AIDS epidemic for the researchers.

I probably won't be able to write many personal e-mails during this time but please bookmark my blog so you can check in and see what I'm up to and be sure to post comments or write me e-mails so I know what you are up to.

Cheers,

Erin

The Nitty Gritty

My new official job title is Organizational Development Advisor for Gatanga Kiiga Home-Based Care. So now you probably have two questions: what is Gatanga Kiiga Home-Based Care and what exactly does an organizational development advisor do? I don't have a ton of information on either just yet but I'll do my best to give you as good of an idea as I have about what I'll be doing. I also put a bit at the end on what my living situation might be like.

The Organization
Gatanga Kiiga Home-Based Care is a community based organization under the Ministry of Youth Affairs located near Kariara Location chief's camp in Gatura, Gatanga (between Nairobi and Mt. Kenya). The organization has 18 members and utilitizes a number of local volunteers.

GKHBC Main Objectives

• To train home-based care givers of People Living with HIV/AIDS and Orphans and Vulnerable Children.
• Care for the People Living with HIV/AIDS.
• Establish sustainable community projects.
  

Kenya has been showing a decline in HIV infection rates recently but still has a population of over 2.5 million people living with HIV or AIDS. 220,000 of these are children under 15 and there is a growing orphan population to care for. The Kenyan HIV infection ratio is 1.9 women for every man.

The Job
The purpose of my temporary position is to build the organizational capacity of the GKHBHC by strengthening its long-term planning, organizational systems, structures and processes for delivering programs. It is a growing organization and is seeking better planning for its activities as well as for its sustainability. It is also seeking to involve more men in the program as the burden of care has always been heaviest among women.

The following are my roles and responsibilities:

• Working with the board to develop clear communication and responsibilities within the organization.
• Undertaking a long-term planning process with Gatanga staff and board members and key local stakeholders.
• Promoting the long-term plan and GKHBC capabilities to new 'customers' as well as new potential funding partners.
• Supporting the organization to produce good quality reports on work carried out and results achieved against the planned activities.
• Strengthening systems for enabling GKHBC to have a sustainable resource mobilization plan in place to support its activities.
• Ensuring financial management and accountability mechanisms are developed and acted on/used.
  

Reading between the lines I would guess this is a fabulous organization that grew too fast and is having trouble with sustainability. I hope that I can be of some help so this service can continue for many years into the future.

The Home
I don't know much about my new living situation at all. I am told that it is "rural" but I will be near the market. I will have electricity and running water but an outdoor toilet. I am supposed to be in a private dwelling. However, I have been told that living arrangements can be very different from the description once you arrive sometimes so I am not expecting much.

I do not know how much access I will have to the Internet and since I'm the first and only volunteer in this particular area I guess I will have to wait to find out when I get there. I'll let you know the best way to contact me but I'm assuming e-mail will be the way to go.

CUSO-VSO

The Organization

Several of you have asked questions about the non-profit organization that is sending me to Kenya. CUSO-VSO is simply the North American arm of VSO (Volunteer Services Overseas). It has only recently opened up to Americans so that may be why many of you haven't heard of it before.

I chose VSO for several reasons but mostly because I really like their approach to development as it focuses on capacity building and sustainability. For example, rather than sending a volunteer to teach students they send a volunteer with an advanced degree and years of experience to teach the teachers how to teach the students more effectively. In this way they are not just sharing knowledge but building the capacity of the schools to teach students and hopefully creating a sustainable body of knowledge that will keep on giving after that volunteer is gone.

Here is a clip from their website:

Our volunteers work on long-term, sustainable solutions. CUSO-VSO is not an emergency aid agency. As a member of VSO International, we work with developing world organizations and governments to identify areas of greatest need, and then collaboratively develop strategic volunteer positions. We place volunteers from both the developed and developing world.

The Volunteers

VSO recruits volunteers from all over including Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Also, they cover all reasonable volunteer expenses including plan tickets, living expenses, and vaccinations. If you would like to make a donation to help cover these costs for my placement please go to their website.

VSO has been a really great organization to work with and I have been impressed with the amount of screening and training each volunteer receives. So far I would highly recommend the organization as a group to volunteer with and/or donate to. If anyone is thinking about doing some international volunteering please check out their website and ask me any questions you have.

That said, it is not easy to get into. They take only 200 or so people from North America each year and they are looking for people who already have degrees and professional experience and who will adapt quickly to new cultures. The screening process is extensive and you have to get through several stages and they get progressively more and more competitive. I had to submit an online application, then I had a phone interview, then I was invited to attend an assessment day in Vancouver, then I was accepted as a volunteer!

After that you go to two separate 4-day weekend training sessions in Ottawa. One shortly after you are accepted and one shortly before you leave. Since my placement came up 2 days after I was accepted I had to do these trainings back to back and that's why I was in Ottawa for 2 weeks last month. Once I get to Kenya I'll have some in-country training in Nairobi so by the time I finally get there I should be decently prepared...other than knowing Swahili well.