I'm Moving to Musanze -- In-Service Training

A few housekeeping announcements before this post begins.

1. I’m sorry I haven’t been blogging. My computer broke about a month ago, and yes it has taken me this long to fix. It is still not fixed, but manageable to work on. Here we say bibaho (bee-ba-hoe) in situations like these, it means that’s the way it goes.

2. I have a new address. Please send packages and letters to the address below. Thanks!

Caitie Gibbons, PCV

United States Peace Corps, RW

B.P. 207

Nygatare, Rwanda, Africa

 3. I’ll be posting every other Sunday starting today December 2, 2012. The next post will be on December 16, 2012. Stay tuned!

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I’m moving to Musanze. Really I’m not, but sometimes, especially on days like this when it’s a hundred and four degrees I wish I could. A few weeks ago I attended my In-Service Training, or IST. Peace Corps loves their acronyms. And during IST I stayed in this lovely oasis called Musanze.

Musanze is in the northwest area of Rwanda, and is home to five volcanoes and the infamous Rwandan mountain gorillas. It’s where Dian Fossey did all her research, and it’s absolutely beautiful. Sadly I did not see the gorillas, they live far up in the mountains, but I did get to see my first volcanoes. And have recently become obsessed with them.

Musanze is cold depending on the season, jungle-like, and filled with tourists/white people. During IST we stay in a white person hotel, complete with double beds, electricity, running water, a shower (with no curtain, thanks for trying Rwanda), beautiful gardens, and a swimming pool. I almost forgot I was in Rwanda, living in a lap of luxury I am not accustomed too. Needless to say, after ten days with a working shower, bucket bathing was hard to get back too.

The usually response when speaking about IST with friends and family is: “you have another training? I thought you were done with that?” Well, Peace Corps loves its trainings along with the acronyms, and I have several throughout my two years.

The first training after swearing in and becoming a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) is IST. For the first three months at site volunteers are not allowed to leave. This helps with the integration process, and all around community respect. It was explained to us during IST, that it is also called Reconnect because you’re literally reconnecting with your training group, who you haven’t seen in three months. During these first three months you’re also not allowed to apply for grants, or do any projects besides your Community Needs Assessment. What you are allowed to do is observe, get to know your community, and    integrate.

 So now that I’ve hit this first goal marker in a series of very long trail markers to go, I can now apply for grants and do what I want. And yes I will have two more trainings. The next training is called MST or Mid-Service Training, which is the training you receive after you’ve completed a year.

My IST was ten days long, but it varies according to country and training group. To save you all the boring details, and trust me there are many boring accounts, here are the peaks and the pits of IST.

The Pits:

I sat in a bland conference room for ten days, six hours a day.

My computer was broken so I couldn’t use the free wireless internet the hotel offered. Whomp. Whomp.

We had training with our Rwandan counterparts for three days. This was very exciting to me until the training started on a Sunday. My counterparts are religious and asked when they had time to pray. I had to tell them that they didn’t, which was true, we were in a conference all day Sunday. This left a bad taste in their mouths, and a bad lasting flavor for the next two days.

I was away from my beloved site. A place I enjoying being at.  

The Peaks:     

GAD, or Gender and Development. I was elected one of the three new members to the PC Rwanda GAD committee. GAD is a Peace Corps wide committee focusing on gender and development. This is something I am passionate about, and wanted to be a part of during my service. I’m excited to be working with them, and for more information visit the PC Rwanda GAD blog http://gadpcrwanda.blogspot.com. Also stay tuned for my GAD blogpost on December 3, 2012.

New Peace Corps Staff. We have a new Director of Programing and Training. He is a breath of fresh air, and reminded me why I joined Peace Corps. Something that is often forgotten when struggling to survive here.

White Person Hotel! = big beds, hot water shower, good food, free internet, swimming pool, etc.

Volcanoes! Saw my first volcanoe ever.

Halloween. I got to be with Americans for Halloween, and we celebrated, yeah!

Meeting other volunteers. I’m always interested to meet other people in country, hear their stories, struggles, experience, and upcoming projects. While we had that at PST (Pre-service training), the vibe was totally different. Instead of talking about what their house looked like, or what they eat every night, (things I was worried about in PST) we talked about projects, similar experiences we’ve had, and ideas for new projects.

Overall my IST experience was successful. While there were complications and setbacks, (I think those two words are frequent feelings in Peace Corps culture) it was a good week and a half. I left feeling ready to get back to site, and excited to work with GAD and the upcoming projects for the New Year.

Inside view of Ishema Hotel, the hotel we stayed at.