Goal

I know I want to go to EE/CA, NA/ME, or Africa.....its one of those things where you know you want to go there, because you'd do well there and the like; however, can't really put your finger on the specifics of why those regions would really suit you. 

So that's my goal. In the next couple weeks, I want to come up with a few reasons why Eastern Europe/Central Asia, North Africa/Middle East, and Africa would be the best regions for me.

At least TEFL's top 2 regions are in Africa and EE/CA, and in the Middle East (aka Jordan) its one of just 3 work areas, and seems to be the strongest. So those factors are going for me. But I want my personal reason, not a statistic reason. I know my personal reason is there, I just have to piece it together! :-D

Statistics

Mike made this post on peacecorps2 today. Its about new statistic material they are providing in pamphlets/booklets they're giving to new potential vols. Very interesting!

Peace Corps has recently begun handing out new catalogs for potential
applicants in which in the middle of the booklet they give some
statistics of where volunteers go and in what field:

BY REGION
Africa (39%)
Latin America (22%)
Eastern Europe and Central Asia (20%)
Asia (7%)
The Caribbean (4%)
North Africa and The Middle East (4%)
Pacific Islands (4%)

BY SECTOR
Education (30%)
Business and Information & Communication Technology (19%)
Youth and Community Development (17%)
Health (17%)
Environment (9%)
Agriculture (8%)

What is also nice is that they also present, using colored-coded
human-stick-figures, what fraction of volunteers in a region are in
each sector. (example: 20% of volunteers in The Caribbean are Health
volunteers)

With all that given, you can actually solve for the "reverse"
probabilities. This helps answer questions like:


Q: "I want to be a Health Volunteer, where am I likely to be placed?"
A: 50% of Health volunteers are posted in Africa.

Q: "What about an Education Volunteer?"
A: 70% of Education Volunteers are posted in either Africa or Eastern
Europe and Central Asia

Q: "Are there a lot of Environment positions open in Asia?"
A: Only 3% of Environment volunteers are posted in Asia.


Agriculture Volunteers
-------------------------
54% are in Africa
26% are in Latin America
13% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
3% are in Pacific Islands
3% are in Asia
0% are in North Africa and The Middle East
0% are in The Caribbean



Health Volunteers
-------------------------
50% are in Africa
29% are in Latin America
6% are in North Africa and The Middle East
6% are in Pacific Islands
5% are in The Caribbean
4% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
1% are in Asia



Education Volunteers
-------------------------
35% are in Africa
34% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
16% are in Asia
7% are in Latin America
4% are in North Africa and The Middle East
3% are in Pacific Islands
1% are in The Caribbean



Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
-------------------------
34% are in Africa
29% are in Latin America
22% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
4% are in North Africa and The Middle East
4% are in Pacific Islands
4% are in The Caribbean
3% are in Asia



Youth and Community Development Volunteers
-------------------------
38% are in Africa
24% are in Latin America
17% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
11% are in The Caribbean
5% are in Asia
3% are in North Africa and the Middle East
1% are in the Pacific Islands



Environment Volunteers
-------------------------
36% are in Latin America
29% are in Africa
12% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
7% are in Pacific Islands
6% are in North Africa and The Middle East
4% are in The Caribbean
3% are in Asia

The "reverse" probabilities, which were calculated above, is the percents for each region given the SECTOR. Most applicants have a better sense of what they want to be doing than what region they will be going too; hence the "reverse" probabilities above.

Africa
-------------------------
27% are Education volunteers
22% are Health volunteers
17% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
17% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
11% are Agriculture Volunteers
7% are Environment Volunteers

Latin America
-------------------------
25% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
22% are Health Volunteers
19% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
15% are Environment Volunteers
10% are Education Volunteers
9% are Agriculture Volunteers

Eastern Europe and Central Asia
-------------------------
51% are Education Volunteers
21% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
15% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
6% are Environment Volunteers
5% are Agriculture Volunteers
3% are Health Volunteers

Asia
-------------------------
69% are Education Volunteers
13% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
9% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
4% are Environment Volunteers
3% are Agriculture Volunteers
3% are Health Volunteers

The Caribbean
-------------------------
45% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
20% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
20% are Health Volunteers
10% are Environment Volunteers
5% are Education Volunteers
0% are Agriculture Volunteers

North Africa and The Middle East
-------------------------
29% are Education Volunteers
24% are Health Volunteers
19% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
14% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
14% are Environment Volunteers
0% are Agriculture Volunteers

Pacific Islands
-------------------------
26% are Education Volunteers
26% are Health Volunteers
21% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
16% are Environment Volunteers
6% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
6% are Agriculture Volunteers

For me, I want to do (and should be qualified for) Education which is the largest work sector at 30%, and want to go to EE/CA, Africa, or NA/ME. 70% of all Education volunteers are placed in EE/CA or Africa. Only 4% of Education volunteers are in NA/ME, but since only 4% of all volunteers are placed there, I'd say that's probably actually more than 4% makes you initially think.

Nice eh???

Yes, I'm Repetitive

Dear God, I might say this every day....at least a lot...but I sure as hell think it every damn day.

I can't WAIT  to reactivate my application and finally leave for the Peace Corps!

Sure I'm nervous, but all in all, I feel really good about this. I'll have some strong experience under my belt and be able to really give them great answers about why I declined & deactivated the first time and better explain what I want this time.

Some things I've thought about:

• I really prefer EE/CA, NA/ME, and Africa (pref non-francophone)
• I'd be willing to go to Pacific & Asia
• I'd be okay with the Caribbean
• I don't want to go to Latin America, I have realized that.
• I really want to do TEFL (I should be able to once I reactivate and have that TEFL teaching experience)
• I'd be willing to do Youth Development, Community Development, or Health Extension
• El Salvador, despite it looking ideal, it was not ideal for me, I wouldn't have thrived there which is key to succeeding in the PC. If I don't thrive, I won't succeed. I strongly believe I made the right decision and know that even though the invitation process is somewhat of a lottery, that the next invitation will be right, it'll be great. 
• My contact with English First will be up in January '10, I'm debating giving them a first available to leave date to be in January or February '10.
• I'm beyond excited to get the ball rolling again!

6-wk's

With the 6-wk rule and today's date being July 24th the remaining possibilities are: Panama, Guatemala, Philippines, Belize, Dominican Republic, Eastern Caribbean, Nicaragua, Peru, El Salvador, Macedonia, Ukraine
(most likely in bold)

yeaaaaaah, and other than those listed--its only Africa & Pacific leaving that I've found invites and nominations for....I haven't seen any other regions after September....uhhhhh its REALLY not looking good right now....

Talked to my PO! WooHoo!

Yay! My PO, Amanda, called me today. I was in the middle of a conversation, saw the 202 area code, and sprinted out of the room to a quite place while saying "sorry! this is very important! brb!" Hehe :) She had said today, so I knew knew knew it was her. And it so was her.

First, she had some questions for me. Some of those questions that we hear people get asked just before being invited. You know, the ones that you are answering for the third time...first your recruiter, then your assistant PO, and now your PO. At least, I have the hang of it by this point, right? She asked about my relationship, my grandmother's death last year, my relationship with my youngest sister who I have helped out a lot, my family's thoughts on the PC, and my thoughts on some of the things people sometimes tend to not have in the PC (ie. not having running water or electricity).

Then she said she had a placement in mind that she thinks is absolutely perfect for me. Don't worry, she took plenty of time getting to telling me the actual placement (which is hilarious...simply because I do that, save the most important "needed" piece of news until last).

She said she had found this placement, and spoken to the woman in charge of that specific program in that country about me (yay!), and the woman specifically wanted me. She wanted ME! Since my TEFL certificate is about to come through, and I have experience working with Youth, she said that I am absolutely perfect for this position and she really wants me. My recruiter then said that this country has a history of accepting people with medical conditions (excellent bc of my epilepsy...I like how she thinks!) 

She said if this all sounded good to me she would put my name in to reserve this placement spot for me. Of course, it sounds great! I believe that I originally had TEFL in my top 3 choices. Asked if I had any questions about that part, no not that I can think of...still can't think of any hours later. SO. She said this placement spot was reserved for me. She was sending it to medical for them to tell her if I can go there or not (but she seemed to expect it to be okay) and said it could be a few days to a couple weeks, but if they said all was a go, then she would officially be inviting me! 

Its still a lot of work, but it is a HUGE step and I'm so excited. It sounds like she really worked hard for me, and even mentioned me specifically to someone, who now in turn WANTS me! Wow!

So yes, are you sitting there yelling at the computer, asking where I'm going? I hope so, because the best part is finding out.

First it was Community Development in Africa. Then it was Youth Development in Latin America.

NOW:

TEFL in Eastern Europe departing in late September 2008!

wheeeeeeeeeee! :-D

Talked To My PO

I called IAP today and got in contact with my PO, Amanda, right away. Despite the news, she was absolutely great with everything. 

She said that unfortunately, my program filled up right when I was medically cleared, so she would have to start looking at other placements. She asked if I was open to different regions, and I said I was absolutely open to all the other regions, even different work areas if that would help at all.  I also told her that I wasn't sure if she knew, but I am expecting a TEFL certificate and First Aid/CPR certificate in a couple weeks in case that helped my placement at all. She thanked me for being so open to everything.  Amanda said that my file was in her priority stack, and since I have a medical restriction, its even more prioritized than the others.

WOOHOO PRIORITY FOR ME.

I also asked about the 6-week rule rumor, and said that if possible, I was willing to leave slightly under 6-weeks. She said that the 6-week rule is indeed true, and they try to stick to it strictly and never invite people after 6-weeks.  Of course, we've all seen people get invited under 6, but usually its the people in the most need and stuff--ie. program got canceled, they are a couple, medical botched up and they actually can't go there...you know, stuff like that. I'm sure that's not something a PO will tell you, that there are exceptions, they don't want that officially out there and everyone flooding them to leave tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm on my POs super priority list. She said to call back Friday if I haven't heard by then, and she gave me her direct line. WOOHOO!  Back to semi-square one on the nomination front though.

Nomination: Unknown.