It’s amazing how quickly time can pass sometimes! My last blog post was four months ago when I
was still a volunteer in Cameroon, and now I’m writing this one sitting at a
table on in my hotel in Monrovia, Liberia as a Program Manager with Women’s
Campaign International.
I closed my service with the Peace Corps in late November
and was home just in time for Thanksgiving.
I left behind a country that is home to some amazing people and
experiences that I will never forget.
From my friends in Guider that I left back in April to others throughout
the country, from volunteers that have left to those that are still there, and
then of course the Peace Corps staff, I say thank you. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. There were of course some difficult and
frustrating times, but overall I’m incredibly glad that I did it. The Peace Corps isn’t for everyone, but I
recommend it to anyone with a thirst for adventure and a large reservoir of
patience. My biggest tip: don’t have any
expectations. You’ll never get what you
thought you wanted but you will get something that will be amazing. I hope that I was able to make some small
difference in Cameroon and the Peace Corps as an organization there, but
undoubtedly I grew more as a person than I was able to help. Cameroon will always hold a special place in
my heart, and I will continue to do what I can to support its people and its development.
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| We stopped at a few places to see women we have worked with in the past. This was Amazing Grace,who makes hand made glass bead necklaces. |
Within a week of getting back I started the job search. Over the next two months, I applied to a
ridiculous number of places, and was fortunate to get interviews at many of
them. In the end, I decided to take a
position as a Program Manager with an organization called Women’s Campaign
International in Philadelphia. Founded
in 1998 by former congresswoman Marjorie Margolies, an amazingly dynamic person
with a drive to empower women (and men) throughout the world, WCI has worked in
more than 40 countries in a variety of areas, from campaign skills and
leadership to business and financial literacy to media to healthcare. I now oversee all of our programs and could
not ask for a better position. The
people that I work with, in Philadelphia and abroad, are dedicated and
capable. Though we are a small
organization, WCI has done some amazing work that I am excited to be a part
of.
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| Our mobilizers during the refresher training |
My move to Philadelphia was an expensive whirlwind, but I
ended up with an amazing apartment in a city that I can’t wait to explore (once
I have a bit more free time, of course).
I’ll need a few months to catch up to all of the money I spent getting
there, but I love my job and I love the city.
I honestly never expected to live in Philadelphia, but I’m glad I
am. Within three weeks of starting, I
was already heading to Liberia for work, where I am now. WCI has been here since 2008 and we have a
great staff that operates in all 15 counties in Liberia. While the majority of our work has been with
the National Rural Women's Program training people on campaign skills and
business and financial literacy, with the outbreak of Ebola we transitioned
into prevention work. We have been able
to utilize our network of strong women throughout the country to work in small
communities and reach people who otherwise probably wouldn’t have been to teach
them about Ebola prevention.
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| Our field assistant leading a training |
Over the last few days I’ve been able to travel to a couple
different counties and observe both of our major programs. In Tubmanburg, Bomi County, I observed one of
our field officers and his assistant doing a refresher training with our
mobilizers for E-CAP, a program that we are a subcontractor to Mercy Corps on,
funded by USAID. About a dozen women
were trained on Ebola prevention and the use of the MELS reporting system, a
system that uses cell phones. These
women each supervise several communicators who work in a few counties. They were all so energized and knowledgeable,
it was great to see.
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| Our mobilizers looking through materials |
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| Mama Tomah |
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| Unloading distribution materials |
The next day I traveled to Buchannan in Grand Bassa
County. It’s a beautiful seaside town
where we are operating a program funded by UNICEF. While there, I went around with a field
officer, mobilizer, and communicators distributing hand washing materials to
twenty households in two different communities.
Each one was given a bucket with a faucet, gloves, clora (a form of
chlorine), and soap, along with directions on their proper use. Our communicators work in the communities
that they live in. They had gone to
these households already to talk about the importance of hand washing, but many
of the people they talked to said that they did not have the materials they
needed – one woman told us that the bucket her whole family used for bathing
was the bucket they used for hand washing as well. The great thing about our communicators
working where they live is that we always know what households are actually in
need of materials for when we do a distribution. The people were happy to see us and grateful
for the materials, and we know that they will be used properly because our
communicators can easily stop by to check on them.
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| Distributing materials to the community |
This has been a great trip; there was such much to do and
still is with our programs here. I’m
sorry that I have to leave tomorrow, but I know that WCI is in very capable
hands in Liberia. I hope to be able to
meet with more organizations tomorrow before my flight. It has certainly been a whirlwind trip, but
it was definitely worth it. Tomorrow I
start my journey back, and then my boss and I will be going to DC on Thursday
of next week for a few days for meetings.
I absolutely love my job, I couldn’t have asked for something
better. I have already learned so much,
and I am working for an organization that is making a real difference.
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| Practicing hand washing |
