About Me

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I finally made the decision to go to Africa for 6 months.. at the time I was happily married and I had a great job doing business development for a great staffing firm. Everything was stable and good. Now I've returned to Toronto... My husband and I have split up, he's moved out and I'm single after being together for almost 10 years and I'm navigating my way back into my old job... and I thought it would be interesting to take everyone along in the new adventure.. if you're interested in reading more about my trip you can see that blog at myvsoadventure.blogspot.com.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Single Story- day 1 of VSO Training

I finally got confirmation of my departure date...November 13th! So I'm in Ottawa on 5 days of training.
Day 1 was yesterday and quite honestly it was energizing and inspiring. Firstly there are 17 other people in training with me,1 more interesting than the next.   Most of us live somewhere in Canada and a few live in the US. Between us, we are going to 11 different countries in the next 3 months. Most of the people who are going with VSO are going from between 6 and 24 months. Some have volunteered for organizations simlar to VSO before.. it was just really inspiring to meet so many interesting people in 1 day.

So the trainings' purpose is to educate you on the country you are going to, but much more importantly it's to be prepare you to be in a completely different reality and to sensative to the cultural differences between you and your new environment. So yesterday we spoke about learning styles, dominance and marginalization and all that means.. and Single Story Telling. I had never heard that expression before yesterday. Single Story Telling is to tell of your experience from 1 angle only.. so as an example all we hear about Rwanda is of the genocides.. this is their single story... there are plenty of wonderful things happening in Rwanda.. like the Stratford theatre has partnered with a kids Rwandan Theatre to teach them about acting and the theatre, ( one of my co-trainees is going next week to work on this project). So CUSO-VSO wants us to be aware of telling single stories rather than thinking it through and telling multiple stories.

The truth of the matter is that the media tells single stories all of the time, and what matters is what information people have access to... and they have access to the media, and the media needs to sell it's product so they'll report on the stuff that sells. Part of the reason I started my blog was to have a record of all that took place on my journey, the other reason was to share my story and the story of the community I'm going to live in and to hopefully get my new community involved in communicating to North America and finally because my colleague Dan Bryson who volunteered with VSO last year did such a great blog that it inspired me to ignore my fears and just leap!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Confusion Confusion

In the last week I have been focusing on reaching out to people in Zambia and to other VSO volunteers to build a small network and to learn more about Siavonga before departure so I can wrap my head around the logistics of things.. is there grocery shopping?.. will I need a scooter?.. how do I get internet access accessibility etc.
I am still waiting for final approval from my future employer.. but I have tickets with a departure date of November 13th..I just need to be patient.. it's been challenging putting life on hold and trying to be open and flexible for anything.

I found out today through someone who works close by my new employer that the employer is excited to have me.. but that he expects me in February?? So I wrote my Volunteer Advisor and I have to wait for her response to find out what's going on.. so November departure or February.. we'll see what happens..

In the meantime I have my visa application ready to go, I bought the bag I'm going to take over with me and ordered a back up battery for my laptop.. just a few more things off my list! Now I just need a FINAL departure date.
Stay Tuned..

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Media

So at the beginning of last week I sent an email to the Thornhill Post, North York Mirror and Thornhill Liberal. The liberal got back to me that they wanted to do a story. So yesterday Dustin, the reporter and I spent 30 minutes or so talking about why I'm doing this and what I hope to get out of it. He said they'll be putting the story in within the next few weeks but he'll let me know when. All I asked is that he put my blog address in the article. He said yes but we'll see!
In the meantime yesterday I got my tentative itinerary and my departure date is November 13th returning May 15th. I still haven't been accepted by the employer so I'm still being driven crazy by the thought that this might all be for nothing and we'll have to begin again with another placement. I feel sort of committed to Zambia and to Siavonga because of how much research I've done into going there. Keep your fingers crossed that it will work out okay!
that's it for now!