FAQ Part 1

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Enough with superstition and incantations, the people demand facts! As I spread the news that I’m leaving for a Peace Corps mission to Vanuatu, a few common questions keep popping up. So, taking a cue from Whitney and Andrew’s journal, here is my best attempt at answering them. Please forgive me if most of my answers are of the “it depends” variety.

· Where are you going?

Ripped from the Wikipedia page on Vanuatu:

Vanuatu (vah-noo-AH-too or / van-WAH-too), officially the Republic of Vanuatu, is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres (310 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.

Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. Europeans began to settle in the area in the late 18th century. In the 1880s France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through a British-French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.

· What!? I’ve never heard of it.

Well, remember the musical South Pacific? That’s the place. Also, I’ve been told a season of “Survivor” was filmed on one of the islands. Think of a tropical paradise, but really poor with few roads and limited infrastructure.

· When are you going?

I leave for orientation on September 10, 2010. Training begins in Vanuatu on September 12.

· How long will you be gone?

Probably for 27 months. There will be three months of training north of the Port Villa, the capital, followed by 24 months at a site where I will be doing my actual work. There are opportunities to extend this.

Also, I can quit at any time if things are just really bad. I don’t expect THAT to happen though.

· What will you do there? What is your job?

*Ahem*. It depends. I have been invited to volunteer as a Small Enterprise Development Advisor as part of Peace Corps Vanuatu’s Provincial Economic and Community Empowerment project. The project has several parts and the Corps won’t determine which part I will be assigned to until near the end of training. To quote from my assignment packet:

Provincial Economic and Community Empowerment Project (PEACE) Volunteers work to increase the institutional capacity of organizations to meet their objectives and achieve self-sufficiency through partnership building and income generation. Volunteers partner with area secretaries, rural training centers and other local institutions. They provide hands-on training to interested community individuals and groups in business feasibility and start-up, bookkeeping, organizational management, new product development and marketing.

My limited understanding of it is that I will be “advising” the Ni-Vanuatu on business 101 concepts. I plan on brushing up on “Business for Dummies” in the meantime. If you have any books I could borrow on business basics, please let me know.

· Where will you live?

Again, this will be determined some time during my three months of in-country training. There’s a chance I could live in a provincial capital, but I’m mentally preparing for the notion of living in a thatched hut like the locals in a rural, underdeveloped, and remote coastal village. Although some volunteers want to challenge themselves and some even think their service is less authentic if they aren’t “roughing it”, I don’t have a strong opinion on the matter. Communities in Vanuatu have asked for volunteers. I’ll go to where they are and where Peace Corps thinks I can do the most good. I can always go camping later.

· Will you have electricity, plumbing, internet access, cell phone access, etc.

That depends largely on site placement. For now, I’m just assuming a very rural, unconnected existence with a corps provided kerosene lantern and stove, no internet or phone connectivity, and no plumbing. I may be surprised.

The Peace Corps does guarantee that there will be some way to communicate from my site in case of emergency.

No, Sonny, I will not have a television

· Will you be paid?

Sort of. After the three months of training are over, the Corps will add a small amount of money each month to an account that I can access when my service is over. That’s really just for readjustment upon my return so that I’m not instantly homeless. I will also be paid in local currency (the Vatu) every month during service. That money is supposed to be enough to live modestly like the locals at my site and should cover food, clothing, and other basics. I will also be given a sum for settling in when I first arrive on site so that I can by a cooking pot, stove, and things to get myself situated.

Peace Corps Vanuatu provides bedding, a lantern, a first aid kit, mosquito netting, quinine pills, multi-vitamin pills, and a few other essentials.

I'll answer more questions in the next post. If there is anything you would like to know, just ask.

- Daniel