Guatemala!!

Life is calling, and how far will I go?  To Guatemala!!  On Friday I left my house at 1:15pm to go to work.  At 3pm my Dad called me at work telling me that the Peace Corps package had arrived but I wouldn't be home from work until 10:45pm.  That was the longest 8 hour shift ever.  I came home opened the package and found out that I will be going to Guatemala to work as a Health Promoter in a program called Healthy Homes.  I will be leaving for a one day orientation in the United States (called staging) on April 26th where I will meet maybe 50 other Peace Corps volunteer who will go with me to Guatemala.  Then on April 27th we will fly down to Guatemala together to begin 3 months of training.  After I finish training I will become an official Peace Corps Volunteer and be on my own in a city or village.

The following goals have been established for the Healthy Homes project: (according to the information I received about my assignment)

1. To train rural health promoters and educators on health and basic hygiene in order to promote and apply practices learned to improve their communities' health.
2. To train rural families to improve their health and hygiene practices in order to enhance their well-being.
3. To train health promoters, educators, and rural families in the benefits, use, supervision, and maintenance of sanitary infrastructures (latrines, water deposits, sump pits, improved wood burning stoves, and cement floors) in order to improve their health.

I am so excited because when I was applying for the Peace Corps I knew I wanted a health promotion job in Central/South America.  I remained flexible throughout the process and I would have been happy with whatever area in the world I would have gotten and no matter what job area.  But I could not be happier to get my first choice.  Even though I am very excited I am also scared and nervous about several things including:  homesickness, being away from the people I love for 27 months, having to learn a Mayan language, and adjusting to a new culture.  But these are all challenges I am ready to embrace.  I am confident that my previous experience of living abroad will come in handy throughout this experience.  As Peace Corps says "Peace Corps is the hardest job you will ever love".  I am ready for this, bring it on.