PST - Pre Service Training

We made it! So let me give you a rundown of our little journey.  We flew from DFW Airport to Pennsylvania for staging (basically a Peace Corps introduction deal with the whole group that came to Namibia) at 6:30 AM last Monday morning, after about 3 hours of sleep. We were at staging for the entire day, and all got on a bus at 2:30 AM to drive to JFK for a flight that was at 11:15 AM after about an hour of sleep - no bueno. After a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, a 5 hour layover, a 2 hour flight to Windhoek, Namibia, and a 2 hour bus ride, we FINALLY arrived at our destination of Okahandja, Namibia.

Total travel time = 40 hours. Ouch. Good thing I took 3 Benadryl on a first flight.

This week has been more of an introduction week than anything. The training staff said they didn’t want to give us too much information yet because we wouldn’t retain anything due to the jet lag. So NEXT week is the week where we have intensive, 8-10 hours a day, of language and cultural learning. We will also move in with our host family this Tuesday (right now we are living at a hostel), which we are both pretty excited about. The training staff has been having interviews with all of the other volunteers this week to try to determine where they would be the best fit in the country for the next 2 years after training. Apparently, since we are a married couple, they picked the exact location of were we are going to before we even accepted the invitation to join - pretty cool. While they are not telling Lindsey and I exactly where will will be (to be fair because no one else knows yet), we were told that it is in the northern part of the country by a river with lots of crocodiles and hippos - relax parents, I will only play hungry, hungry hippos if the hippos ask me to :)

Erens, the man that told us where we are staying also said “In my opinion, it is the most beautiful part of all Namibia.” We were excited to hear that! Since it is in the north, we will most likely not be in a desert, but we will give you guys more information about that when we know because right now everything is more of an assumption.

The town Okahandja, where we are staying and where our training will be for the next 2 months, is pretty interesting. There is a large tower in the middle of the city that was used in the Apartheid era (segregation of races) that was used as a watch/sniper tower. Apparently, there used to be a curfew in effect for all blacks and they had to be out of the city by 8 PM every night, unless they had very good reason for staying. All the whites lived inside the city which was referred to as “The Town”, and all of the blacks lived outside the city in what was referred to as “The Location”. The majority of the blacks still live in The Location and walk into the city each day for work, except now they don’t have to be afraid of the sniper in the tower in the centre of the city.

We went on a hike this morning (Sunday) to the top of a mountain called Pride Rock. It is obvious that Disney’s limits know no bounds! It was definitely a hike in “the bush”, and I realized I definitely need to know what poop goes with what animal. “Tim, why do you need to know that?” you might find yourself asking..... Well, when you are walking along a trail in Africa and see several different types of poop, it is good to know if it is a predator, or just a donkey or something, especially when you see a carcass. Our two guides Antony and Franze, who were 14 years old, assured us that they hadn’t seen a lion in “a while”.  We saw several baboons off in the distance (too far to photograph) but their poop was EVERYwhere. Fun stuff right?

 That is the update for now. Lindsey and I will have way more information about where our permanent site will be and what language we will be learning in a few days. Keep us in your prayers, but right now, it is smooth sailin.

BUT ACTUALLY, I wrote this a few days ago but I haven't been able to upload it because the internet here is ridiculously slow, which right now, means no pictures because they never upload. Hopefully we will be able to figure this out, so sorry for no pictures yet because we have some good ones. SO, there are more updates, but to keep you on the edge of you seat..... you will have to wait :)

-Tim

Peace Corps Eh? Welp, see ya later

Sooo...I’m sure some of you are wondering or at least wondered sometime or another - the Peace Corps, you guys must be crazy??? It all started with Tim and I wanting to travel. A month or so after we were married, we wrote out some of our goals for the next 3 - 5 years, and one of them was to travel/live in a different country for an extended period of time. We started researching the Peace Corps, and thought it sounded like a perfect opportunity - we could travel and live in and experience a different culture while doing awesome and meaningful work, basically for free. After a lot of prayer we felt called to pursue the Peace Corps full heartedly. Once the looong loooong application process was over, God put us exactly where he wants us to serve, Namibia, Africa!

No joke, (this is kind of weird by the way, but I thought it was really cool ha) Tim said he looked at this every day for the past 2 years at work in the bathroom stall on the tile floor (I told you – weird haha). And everyday he thought “Ummmm, that looks like Africa” – or something like that… who knows what he really thinks. And guess what? It looks exactly like Africa and the little black spot is exactly where Namibia is. What are the chances? So the next time you happen to be looking for an answer, take Tim’s advice and look no further than the bathroom floor tile shapes. Divinity? I think so.

Anyway, we are super excited and anxious to see what the Lord has in store for us. The Peace Corps required us to right an Aspiration Statement (basically the reasons why we want to serve). It’s crazy that my statement and Tim’s turned out very similar! They are kinda long, but if you are interested……

ASPIRATION STATEMENT

Lindsey Habenicht

Namibia

July 25, 2012

  

A.  The professional attributes that you plan to use, and what aspirations you hope to fulfill, during your Peace Corps service.

During my Peace Corps service in Namibia, I plan to use my knowledge gained as an Interdisciplinary Studies Major, as well as the experiences I have had working with children in and out of a classroom setting. I hope to empower the students I teach, inspiring them to learn to the best of their ability. I hope to foster an eagerness for learning and a desire for achievement. I want to develop a positive relationship with my students, co-workers, and community members, teaching them a different perspective on life while in-turn learning a new light on mine.

B.  Your strategies for working effectively with host country partners to meet expressed needs.

In order to work effectively with host country partners, I plan to remain patient and flexible. I know that the education system in Namibia is much different than what I am used to in America. I could be faced with limited resources and an unstructured setting. By having patience and flexibility with these differences in the education system, I will be a more effective teacher at my school.  Respecting these differences will also improve my teaching skills and communication with my Namibian partners. While it is important to remain flexible, I also plan to be assertive and persistent with my teaching plans and projects.

C.  Your strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to your own cultural background.

One of my strategies will be to remain open-minded, always embracing new ideas and views. I realize the Namibian culture will be much different than my own, and sometimes these differences will cause frustration. However, if I remain open-minded, I will be more eager to learn from my community and develop relationships with my fellow Namibians. I will invest myself whole-heartily into these relationships which will present the opportunity to discuss, bond, and learn from one other. They will give me a deeper understanding and appreciation for the Namibian culture, as well as help the natives understand the culture of the U.S.

D. The skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve your future community and project.

I hope to learn as much as I possibly can about the Namibian people and their culture. I know that by understanding their customs and way of life,  I will be more effective in my teaching and be better able to relate to my students. I also hope to learn and become a proficient speaker of the native language. I believe this will be an essential tool in transitioning into the Namibian culture, and will help my ability to form close relationships with the people. After reading the welcome packet, I realize that I may be teaching classes as large as 50 students - which is rather large by U.S. standards and much bigger than I am used to. Therefore, I also hope to gain valuable skills in classroom management during PST.

E. How you think Peace Corps service will influence your personal and professional aspirations after your service ends.

I believe that serving in the Peace Corps will positively change my life forever. Thinking about the uncertainties of serving for two years and anticipating the challenges it may bring is somewhat scary; however, I know that this small fear is a good thing. No one can ever grow in character if they don’t face their fears. I know that serving in the Peace Corps will make me a stronger individual. It will give me the ability to influence people I come in contact with in all aspects of my life (personal and work related) because of what I have learned from my experiences. I also expect that serving in the Peace Corps will give me a new perspective on life, teaching me a new appreciation for things that I take advantage of now.  I look forward to growing and becoming a better person because of this experience.

ASPIRATION STATEMENT

Tim Habenicht

Namibia

July 25^th, 2012

A. The professional attributes that you plan to use, and what aspiration you hope to fulfill during your Peace Corps service.

I have never been a paid teacher before, but I know how to teach – especially math. I have taken more math classes than most people in the world, and I had excellent professors at Texas A&M who taught me unique and effective learning techniques. I hope that I can teach my students the basic and advanced fundamentals of math in a way that excites them about the subject.  But even more than teaching math, I hope that I can empower the students to dream. If I can plant a seed of knowledge in the students in Namibia, then there is no end to what they can achieve later in life. Empowerment is the only real solution to poverty and lack of higher education, and my goal is to make the students believe in themselves.

B. Your strategies for working effectively with host country partners to meet expressed needs.

My main strategy for being effective in the workplace in Namibia is to work everyday with persistence and patience. There is no way for me to know exactly what to expect when working in Namibia, so I will be fully ready to embrace new ideas and styles of teaching different from my own. I will try my best to conform to the teaching standards set by the region I am in, and I will model the other teachers in the school to help display consistency to the students.

C. Your strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to your own cultural background.

I am incredibly excited to learn about and become part of a new culture. I believe the most important fundamental about adapting to a new culture is to not constantly compare the new culture to your own. When I was in Mexico, I sadly did that often. I compared nearly everything to what I was used to back in America, and it kept me from fully enjoying and embracing the new culture because I was so focused on the differences between the two. While sharing respect for both cultures is important, constantly comparing the two is not needed and actually slows the adaption process - and that is a valuable lesson I learned in Mexico.

D. The skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best service your future community and project.

I think the most important thing to gain from pre-service training is learning the native language. I don’t want to be average at the native language – I want to understand and speak it, fluently. While I expect English to be used often, I know that learning and understanding the language early on will help reduce frustration and will help me better integrate into the community. I want be able to speak plainly with someone who may not know or have little knowledge of English. I don’t want to have any sort of language barrier between the community and myself. As Nelson Mandela so wisely said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language - that goes to his heart.”

E. How you think Peace Corps service will influence your personal and professional aspirations after your service ends.

I know that serving in the Peace Corps is an experience that will change my life forever. The new friendships, trails, and leadership position I am in will build character in me that very few people have, which will be incredibly useful when I come back to the United States. I imagine that this experience will change, or at least influence, everything that I will want to do in the future. My goals, my dreams, and my passions – they could all completely change for the better. I will learn about teamwork, patience, and humility to a degree that most can only dream. I don’t know where the Peace Corps will take me, but it will change my life down to the very core.

-Lindsey & Tim

A little Namibian info for ya.....

Wow! Two weeks from today we will finally be in Namibia, our home away from home, for the next 27 months! Here’s a little info about Namibia for those of you who are a little curious... Namibia is located on the southwest coast of Africa. It borders Angola and Zambia in the north, Botswana in the east, South Africa in the southeast and south, and the Atlantic Ocean in the west. It’s about twice the size of California and has a population of about 2 million people...sooo it’s pretty sprawled out. Namibia boasts 300 days of sunshine per year with temperatures ranging from over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer (October to April), to below freezing in the winter (May to September). It’s a predominately Christian country and English is the official language (but we read that only 7% of the people actually speak English – strange if you ask me), and several native languages are also spoken in different regions. We have no idea which language we need to learn, but we will find out during our training when they decide what village/town/city will serve in for the full two years. Anyway, Namibia gained independence from South Africa in 1990, and the Peace Corps sent its first volunteers there just 6 months later. Currently there are 143 volunteers serving in Namibia. Soon we will be part of that group, WHOOP:)

-Lindsey

The Application Process

The application process for the Peace Corps is LONG, time consuming, and relatively expensive – especially for a married couple. If you happen to be reading this and are thinking about applying, this is one tidbit of advice for you.

Pretty much everything you read about the Peace Corps application process says the same thing – “you have to wait, wait, wait… it is a long and tedious process, and sometimes you have to wait months to hear back from them.” While that is true, be PROACTIVE during the process. If you read below, you will find out why….

I wish I would have written all of this out during the process, but hindsight is 20/20 right? So, the timeline of our application process was something like this:

• 04/01/2011 – turn in first part of application
• 04/15/2011 – turn in additional “couple’s questionnaire” - since my wife and I are serving together there were several additional things we had to do
• 06/09/2011 – Interview with PC in downtown Dallas

             *Side note: I think normally, if the recruiter likes you in interview, you will be immediately nominated for a position to serve somewhere - or as soon as one becomes available. For couples however, it is usually much harder. Lindsey and I both qualified to serve in different locations (based on what our majors were in college), but not for the same location. Lindsey qualified to teach, and I qualified to do…… something else? I honestly don’t even remember….. – so the recruiter basically told me, “In order for me to nominate you, you have to tutor someone in English and log at least 30 hours by September.” So, I found an ESL tutoring organization and tutored a family from Thailand in English twice a week until I had logged a total of 30 hours. After I logged the hours, we were nominated for Eastern Europe on August 10^th, 2011.

• 08/10/2011 – nominated to teach English in Eastern Europe, with a tentative departure date of June 2012. WHOOO HOOO
• 09/15/2011 – received medical packet, which is essentially a giant list of things to do. Blood tests, shots, dental checkups, and vision screening - all resulting in about 5 separate trips to health care clinics and about $500 of our own money. At least we both know we don’t have any weird diseases right?
• 09/24/2011 – nothing happened this day, but it was my birthday and I thought you should know
• 10/05/2011 – send off completed medical packet with all of the test results, signed papers, and X–Rays
• 10/20/2011 – DANGIT, we are informed that Quest Diagnostics ran the wrong blood test (Hep-B surface antigen instead of Hep-B surface antibody – what is the difference anyway?) Also, Lindsey’s dental X-Rays don’t have a date on them, so she had to get another copy of those with the dates on them and a Dentist’s signature. Sooo, we have to go back to Qwest Diagnostics and re-do the blood test and send the results back. Now we must wait to receive a letter from the PC saying that we are medically cleared.
• 12/14/2011 – I send an email to the medical office and ask about our status – they tell to me wait longer because it is still being reviewed……..
• 01/01/2012 – I remember to live to win
• 02/24/2012 – Lindsey called the PC medical office to ask about our medical clearance, and it was discovered that they actually put some of Lindsey’s lab results into MY medical packet, so they were under the assumption that we still had not sent all of the paperwork in. Again, this is why it is important to be PROACTIVE in the application process. If we had never called, we would have waited until our application expired. So, if you feel like you have waited too long, you probably have. It was an annoying experience to say the least
• 03/07/2012 – We receive an email from a different recruiter asking for an updated resume and several more answers to essay questions
• 04/18/2012 – Phone Interview with a recruiter (apparently, this is the LAST step before acceptance) We are now told that we could be going to Africa instead of Eastern Europe
• 04/24/2012 – We find out that we are accepted through the PC website on our profile page, but no specifics are provided as to where we are going or when. We have to wait for a packet to ship in the mail that contains of the specifics.
• 05/04/2012 – Packet received. Looks like we are going to Namibia, Africa on July 23^rd, 2012. We actually got on youtube to figure out how to pronounce Namibia correctly. 

Total time from original application to acceptance = 13 months, 3 days

Over the next month and a half, we had to get a Yellow Fever Vaccine and send an aspiration statement stating why we wanted to serve. Smooth sailing compared to the rest of the application J


-Tim