Officially a Volunteer!

Liora McElvaney
Nov 27, 2024
6 min read

I’m officially a volunteer! Yes, I’m sure you’re all thinking, “Haven’t you been a volunteer this whole time?” And the answer is NO! Peace Corps makes it so that you’re a Trainee for your first three months, then a volunteer. We trained in Korogwe and then moved to our respective villages. So now, I’m in my first week at site (one of like 104?), which has been chaotic and exhausting, to say the least. I’ll get to that, but first, let me tell you about my last month in Korogwe.

After our site week visit, we all came back to our host families with many stories to share and lots of hugs to give. Once we all got back, we realized that wow, things were about to end, and wow, there was still so much we wanted and needed to do. We pretty much went right back into learning and hanging out, except this week, we were all antsy because of the election back home!

I eagerly voted all the way from Africa! Which, if you know Georgia’s voting policies, was actually as hard as you might imagine it, but my vote got counted. We were all excited and hopeful to take part in the election, and then… FLOP!!!! (Remember: this page is a reflection of my own personal beliefs and values, not a reflection of the Peace Corps). The election results came in while we were in a session, which was jarring, to say the least, as we had all spent the day using the KOTCO (Korogwe Teacher’s College—where our big training days occurred) Wi-Fi to tirelessly watch the electoral college map. I won’t dwell on this too much because it’s honestly depressing, but I will say that it’s an out-of-body feeling to be living in Africa while the state of the nation back home changes.

The rest of the week had weird vibes, but we continued on with our famous rafiki dinners and tried to get through training. Then, on Sunday, my mama took us to "Day of the Woman" at church. Guess how long it was? Six hours. Me, Charlie, Fran, Kevin, Katherine, and Rachel thought we were going to go insane. It was so long, but also now a funny memory, and I got a matching dress with my mama and dada Vicky to wear. But still, it was crazy in my opinion.

The next week, we took our final LPI (Language Proficiency Interview)—this spoken exam to test our Swahili skills. You need a score of Intermediate Mid to "pass" (you can become a volunteer either way, but if you don’t pass, you have to retake it and find a tutor at site). It’s kind of a big deal, but also kind of not, depending on how you look at it. Although, after we took it, everyone felt like a huge weight had been lifted off their shoulders just because it looms over us for all of PST. We found out our results three days later on Charlie’s birthday!

YES! We also celebrated Charlie’s birthday!! Fran made him banana chapati (like a crepe-ish), and I came over early to surprise him with Dada Vicky’s beetroot juice (his fave), and I ordered a bajaji right to the front door. Fran also coordinated with his mama to have a special cake delivered to KOTCO, so we surprised him with that during lunch! Then everyone went to Woodcamp to celebrate passing our LPIs and his birthday! We all scored exceptionally well and above the benchmark! Yippee!

Then, as a cohort, we asked the training staff if we could spend a day at Lawn’s Hotel, the nice hotel we went to a couple of months ago, because we had an extra day filled with nothing. We had this day because, originally, swear-in was going to be in Dar es Salaam, but they decided to move it to Korogwe. They let us go! It was another awesome day filled with swimming, mixed cocktails, pizza, and hot chocolate - lol, my mouth is watering just typing this. The next two days in Korogwe were full-on packing mode, but also I-want-to-spend-every-available-second-with-everyone-because-we’re-about-to-say-goodbye-for-three-months mode. And then swear-in snuck up on us.

Swear-in was LONG and so fun, but also such a weird vibe because it officially marked us becoming volunteers, yet it was also the last day with each other and our host families, as we all got on buses the next morning to go to site. My favorite part was taking the oath and doing silly dances with everyone else. We did a group dance to two Tanzanian songs and then regional performances. Dodoma is super hot, so we danced to HOT-TO-GO it was incredible and hilarious, and I got carried in like I was the queen. We spent the rest of the day drinking and hugging at our favorite pub, and then some of us went to a restaurant with our host families, which is where me and Fran said goodbye, which was actually pretty mellow, considering who we are. Shosti, if you’re reading this, I miss you! Also, I had to say goodbye to Katherine and Lilly, which was equally as hard. We’re all health volunteers, so we’re hella linked!

The next morning, I was picked up by Peace Corps and taken to the bus stand! Omg, I don’t think I ever told you guys this, but the first bus we took to Dodoma for site visit week was literally sent to us from hell. It was the hottest, most crowded, latest, slowest bus ever. Like, I did not stop sweating for 12 hours straight. But anyways, this bus was way nicer, had air conditioning, and a choo (toilet) on board, and even gave us snacks. It was called the RatCo (this is foreshadowing). When we got to Dodoma, we ate a sweet dinner and then went to bed. The next day, we explored the town and even tried to go see Wicked because we had extra time, but that was a fail. It literally felt like a fever dream. We took a Bolt (like Uber) to this RANDOM building that was practically abandoned, except there were armed guards all over because it was also a bank?? Anyways, we couldn’t find the theater until finally, we did—and it was CHAINED closed and had been shut down since June apparently? It was classic and so funny. We drank our losses away and then had another nice dinner, and then went to a club, but there was no dancing involved—everyone there just sat down. It was weird. Kevin actually left his phone in the Bolt, so we had to call and get that situated. The next morning, we shopped some more for our houses and then each got on our village buses! It was like our first day of school!

I got to my village Sunday around 5pm, and at 5:05pm, I found a dead rat in my bed sheets. No, I’m not kidding. Yes, it was horrible and traumatic. Yes, I’m super scared of rats now. No, I did not cry or throw up (amazingly). THEN I saw a live one in my extra bedroom, I screamed, and my neighbor heard me and came to kill it. It was awful. It was too late to wash my sheets, and also there was no water from where I usually get my water (my luck??), so I just went to bed at 8:30pm. But because my sheets were dirty, I slept outside in my sleeping bag in my eno—for 13 HOURS. I must’ve needed it! The next morning, I decided to take it easy since I was literally harassed by a dead rat in my room. I got water from the well, put on gloves, and washed my sheets thoroughly. I was so exhausted that I took a nap, and guess what? I woke up from the nap with a 101.8-degree fever. Like, pleaseeee, I could not catch a break. So I spent the rest of the afternoon and all of the next day drinking Liquid IV and falling in and out of sleep. Now, I’m feeling better. Still not 100 percent, but after fighting so many demons, how could I not be?

I hope my luck turns around! Before I fell ill, I ordered a table and some shelves from my fundi (there are a lot of different fundis here; some make clothes, some build things, etc.), so I’m excited to see how those turn out!