Mungu Akipenda
- Liora McElvaney
- Jun 15
- 4 min read
I've been busy! but having so much fun! If God wishes (mungu akipenda), this will continue.
At the end of April, I went to Southampton to surprise/visit my family. My mom knew of the plans since she's literally the best person to book flights and also I could never keep a secret from her and also I needed many things from home. I ended up running through the airport, which I feel like is always happening to me? but that's besides the point, in an attempt to make the earlier connection from Amsterdam to Southampton AND I DID IT! I pulled the "I ahven't seen my family in almost a year and Im trying to surprise them" card and then also crawled on my hands and knees under the rope and accidentally (?) cut a line of 50 people and then ALSO had to pay a large sum of money to change my ticket BUT IT WAS WORTH IT becuase otherwise I would've been stuck in Amsterdam alone for like 8 hours which I would have hated. To be completely honest, the surprise portion wasn't as epic as I had hoped since everyone (Trent, Christina, Nana) had also just gotten off a 9 hour flight, so they we're more confused than anything. While I was there we went to a soccer match, I got a much needed hair cut, visited stonehenge, and drank more than just lager beer! I miss my mom already!
Since at our first Early Service Training, we weren't allowed to have counterparts, Peace Corps hosted another in Morogoro again - literally one of my favorite places in Tanzania. The food is so good, the mountains are amazing, and there are TWO ice cream shops with twist cones! (the lone ice cream shop in Dodoma - which smelled like dog food and ass - closed down). It was basically another week-long bender with no sleep and more Jaegerbombs than I'm proud to admit (okay, so actually only one this week, but that's still more than I want to say). But I felt very accomplished after the week since we learned so many technical skills, mostly focused on working with people living with HIV. The training was very centered around this, and as a health volunteer, I appreciated that. We also did farm work like building compost and a small garden, which reminded me so much of my UGArden days that I wanted to cry. I also got to bring my Mama bestie - Mama Love - as a counterpart which was HUGE! because she got to take the train with me for the first time and visit somewhere she has never been before.
Now, I'm back in the village trying to put my new skills to use! The weather has gotten infinitely better in my village too, since we're now in Tanzania's "winter" with May/June/July being the cooler months and I even have to wear a fleece in the mornings and at night! Which definitely helps with the fact that I work almost exclusively outdoors.
In a week, I'll be in Dar es Salaam for another training because I got elected to serve as a Resource PCV, which essentially means I'll be visiting Korogwe again during the new cohorts' Pre-Service Training. It's so crazy to think that I've been here almost a year (9 months TODAY!). I'm excited to be a resource for them and get to know the new people since some might even end up in Dodoma like I did! This time when I'm in Dar, I want to play pickleball, finally actually go to the Starbucks, and swim at the beach.
Since I last wrote, a lot has changed, which I guess I thought wouldn't happen? but it has and has proven to me that dynamics will always change within our cohort, especially since we have two-thirds of service left! Basically, what I'm referring to is that one of my best friends here, Kevin (tall, went to Zanzibar with him.. you get the picture), decided to early terminate. Which is hard and sad, but I'm also so happy for him BECAUSE he'll actually be staying in Dar and working at one of the international schools as a counselor, which is so much more up his alley, and he'll get to put his Swahili skills to use - Hongera Kevin!
I love my village and I love my cohort and I'm so lucky to still be here. I'm excited to keep working with mothers, children, students, and people living with HIV and hopefully begin larger projects now that one of our souces of funding for grants have opened again (the other two have been eliminated/paused because of Trump to be honest).
SInce I've written this, I've actually COMPLETED my week in Dar, but I'll write aboutt hat in another post, since I want to be more consistent on my blog (ugh!!). Over 1/3 of the way done with Peace Corps eek!!!
So late to this but so awesome!
LOVE U