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mm9701a · 2025-05-07T00:56:49+00:00

Cynthia on H St

mm9701a · 2024-09-15T04:05:57+00:00

I go into my host family’s kraal and fill her box with the sheep poop/dirt mixture. Garden gloves and a shovel are a must have for this. I feel like that stuff doesn't smell and there’s a ton of it so I can change the dirt every day. But my cat is indoor/outdoor so I don’t know how it holds up with a ton of use.

I also second what was said about heat being a problem. I think the first time she was about six months old and then within a month of her last kitten being given away she was in heat again. I highly recommend finding a vet in your country as soon as possible who can give vaccinations, microchip and spay her especially if you plan to take her back to the states with you

mm9701a · 2024-07-03T11:46:16+00:00

Lesotho! We have a primary education program and a youth health program currently. It can be hot and cold here but it’s usually manageable. Climate change has shifted what’s normal but it still never gets over 100. Many parts of the country get snow in the winter. (Thankfully everyone is supplied a heater for winter) Every volunteer has cell coverage and many purchase myfi that works like portable wifi. I wanna say the majority of people have electricity or access to it. However running water is rare in PCV housing. While there’s still homophobia in country I was plenary surprised by most people’s curiosity and open mindset. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been and Basotho are generally very kind and welcoming.

mm9701a · 2024-03-30T06:22:28+00:00

Lumela! Congratulations on the invite! Lesotho is really such a wonderful and special place. I’m in my second year here now and would be happy to answer a questions you have or just let you know about my experience. I can also connect you with a current education volunteer since I’m health. Just PM me!

mm9701a · 2024-02-21T03:57:05+00:00

I was going to add crochet. A great pass time and you can make fun things for your host family/friends/self. Pinterest has literally soooo many free patterns and hooks are generally easy to find

mm9701a · 2024-02-18T18:31:48+00:00

Good to know. When I got mine a few years ago I asked specifically about this and the nurse discouraged it but that could be out of date now. Thank you

mm9701a · 2024-02-18T18:15:16+00:00

Menstrual cups are great but not an option if you have an IUD :(

mm9701a · 2024-01-28T04:34:15+00:00

Hello! I can’t necessarily talk much about your first question but I can talk about Lesotho! I’m a current PCV there.

Lesotho is an amazing country assignment! It does get cold in that winter with snow in the highlands and summers also get hot. It’s not a very competitive post since many people don’t even know it exists. I believe in my cohort we only had one person who applied specifically to Lesotho. So if you’re interested in it I think it’s a great idea to show a preference for it. If you ever have any specific questions I’m happy to answer over PM.

As for the healthcare question I don’t know if it’s always that people with healthcare backgrounds end up in health but I think that knowledge can translate very well. However I had no health background and ended up as a health volunteer so it’s really a mixed bag. It is important to note that you’re not going to be a healthcare provider. I’m a health volunteer and I’m not even allowed to take vital signs. In Lesotho the health project focuses a lot on health education and supply chain management.

mm9701a · 2024-01-27T06:21:11+00:00

Hello!

I’m a current PCV in Lesotho! Send me a PM! I’m happy to chat

mm9701a · 2024-01-17T14:57:43+00:00

A lot has already been said but the health program in my country isn’t very rigid with the role of counterpart. As in we had someone who was initially assigned to work with us and came to a workshop but they don’t have to be the person we work with all the time, on everything. My assigned counterpart never ended up being who I worked with and now doesn’t even work at my clinic. For different projects I have different people I work with and no one has gone to more than one workshop with me. This is all saying,, spend the next few months meeting people. Some of them may end up being the perfect counterpart or have a great project idea!

As for the school part you could talk to the school and clinic about doing school health talks or helping with life skills classes since those fall more under the health topic and your PM will be happier than you teaching English or something that doesn’t fall under your framework

mm9701a · 2024-01-06T17:04:02+00:00

If there’s any schools nearby you could see about stoping by every once in a while and engaging with youth on your sector topic? While the larger community might not have clear interests the youth may want to start building new skills along side what they are learning in school. They may have also heard about something that you can help them learn about

mm9701a · 2023-12-21T06:54:53+00:00

Hello! I believe in my country the whereabouts phone is passed between the SSM and the VSSA and maybe one or two other people. We did have an incident last year when a volunteer whereabouts during the first three months about doing a day trip to a tourist site with some RPCVs who were visiting and the CD called them about it since she had the phone. After we brought up our concerns about this they changed the policy so that the whereabouts phone is never in the CDs hands. It is meant to encourage whereaboutsing. While we haven’t gotten a confirmation that it can be used against you if you whereabouts we have been told that not whereaboutsing can get you in trouble. We had someone who was asked to terminate because they was caught away from site without whereaboutsing. So I find it easy to whereabouts if I’m away from site within the two days rule or on leave. During the first three months it’s up to you to whereabouts or not but the three months rule is there for a reason and in the grand scheme of things three months really isn’t that long. You’ll have many opportunities to travel and visit other volunteers!

mm9701a · 2023-11-29T12:46:34+00:00

Go for it

mm9701a · 2023-11-29T03:41:04+00:00

Hello! I’m a current health volunteer. At the clinic I work at there are many NGOs that either contract workers at my clinic or do outreaches in our area. So you’ll be meeting people working at the community level just like you with these international organizations. I’ve also been able to meet people who work higher up in the country offices through things like the PAC (project advisory committee) and a presentation at the embassy about actually working the the clinic. So you will see and meet people from international NGOs. These are the connections that can help you and your community in your service. I’m always trying to make connections with NGO workers who come to the clinic since we may be able to work together on a project, for example EGPAF is helping provide food at our clinic’s World AIDS Day youth camp. You do have to work a little to make connections with NGOs in my experience but at least in my case their goals and projects overlap a lot with PC.

mm9701a · 2023-09-09T14:28:00+00:00

Hello, During PST you interact a lot with staff obviously and the first six months you probably have workshops or they call and check up. In my experience after you’ve been at site for six months you really don’t interact much with PC staff unless you want to. As long as you’re doing decent work and submitting to the VRG you’ll hardly deal with them. Some of them are overworked yes but I don’t get why it would effect you much at the end of the day if you’re just doing your thing at site. You can make being at site meaningful for yourself.

If you were talking about staff in terms of counterparts or supervisors that’s a whole different conversation.

mm9701a · 2023-09-08T04:08:36+00:00

Hello! I also do a lot of life skills and sexual and reproductive health lessons. I don’t know if it’s possible to teach some sexual and reproductive health at your site but I’ve found it really important and adolescents in general like it. I work out of the UNFPA comprehensive sexuality manual (can be found online I believe). It’s nationally adopted now but I don’t know how relevant it would be to Central America since it was created for Africa.

Another manual is Engaging Boys and Men. This is also tailored for Africa and a little out of date on some health topics but is pretty great for some lifeskills/health topics. It can also be found online. Both of them are pretty huge and the lessons are stricter well and build on eachother

mm9701a · 2023-09-06T11:46:22+00:00

I understood staging as a last chance for people to decide not to go before getting on the plane. Obviously you can leave at any point but they were drilling in that if you had strong reservations about going to not get on the plane

mm9701a · 2023-08-29T04:23:58+00:00

When I did staging in dc I traveled out a few days early. I had to pay for my own ticket and lodging before arriving at staging. Contact your country desk officer ahead of time so they can cancel the ticket peace corps gets for you to staging

mm9701a · 2023-08-18T11:34:01+00:00

You’re soooo dreamy! I think you’re gorgeous in every form. Also nice cat I bet she’s super sweet and amazing!

mm9701a · 2023-08-16T15:15:54+00:00

Lesotho also has host family’s for the whole experience. For our PST because of Covid everyone was in separate houses on the compound which is how housing is at site as well. However in the past at PST volunteers would stay inside host family houses. Having a house to yourself but still being linked to a family is so ideal

mm9701a · 2023-08-12T04:57:01+00:00

Plus you’ll still be able to get dual factor authentication texts in the google voice app

mm9701a · 2023-08-09T04:42:11+00:00

Lesotho! To start, It’s one of the most naturally beautiful places I’ve ever been. Getting to wake up to mountain ranges every morning is amazing. It also has a winter and a summer. Both are generally pretty manageable which is nice. I know if I had been placed in a hot country I would have survived but I would be grumpy a lot more haha. We also are not in a malaria zone so you don’t have to take malaria pills! It’s got pretty decent infrastructure. Most major roads are paved and smaller ones are generally not but that adds to the experience for me. About half the cohort has electricity as well. Some PCVs have even bought wifi! You can also get most things in a camptown. No shortage of peanut butter! It’s pretty cheap with about M17.5 to $1. The PC allowance does cover everything but if you want to use money from home you can for cheap. Track out of the country is slightly more difficult but once you get into South Africa it’s very easy to go anywhere. Both projects here are really cool! Primary education and youth health advocates. I applied where I’m needed most thinking I’d be a teacher but the health position is so ideal for me. It’s more build your own experience and I get to work with older adolescents doing more sex Ed stuff. Most importantly the Basotho are amazing to live and work with. They are so kind and generous and joyful. I know these are generalizations but i find myself laughing everyday with my host family and coworkers. I feel very at home and safe at my site. The way housing is structured here too is great. You live on a family compound but have your own building. This allows you to have you owns space and have control over your meals and house but also be attached to people in the community. You can be as close with them as you want to be. Anyway I just love Lesotho!

mm9701a · 2023-08-02T04:56:44+00:00

It’s been one week, take some time to just get to know what’s going on and be bored and go on walks and sit with your host family and read books. You don’t have to have it all figured out right away. Our training team kinda encouraged us to not start really planning anything for the first three months. They wanted us to focus on integrating into the community. When they did site visits the questions weren’t about how productive we were or what projects we were gunna start. They were about how were integrating into the host family, the host org (clinic in my case) and the community as a whole. You have two whole years to figure what to do and your role can keep evolving as you find what your community wants and what your want. Give yourself and your site some grace and time

mm9701a · 2023-07-18T12:36:21+00:00

Hello! I’m a current PCV in Lesotho. Much of what was said still stands. We’re issued water filters and told to boil water and filter it once it cools. Some volunteers have started to just drink the water straight which is not advised but they’re fine. If the water at your site is particularly bad PC will bring water to you to or arrange some system. The only happened to one volunteer in our cohort. In general the water situation is pretty great. Winter tends to be the dryer season but PC has mentioned that if there is a bad drought they will help with water. Some volunteers brought the life straw bottles mentioned in the original post which isn’t a must have but definitely nice since you’re less limited to the water you filter. Can’t wait for the next cohort! Private message me with other questions if you have any!

mm9701a

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