The cat's out of the bag!

So it's official. Everyone at Sloan-Kettering knows and now I can shout it from the rooftops, I'M GOING TO SENEGAL WITH THE PEACE CORPS!!! Can you tell that I'm a little excited? Also, a teensy tiny bit terrified, but I guess that's to be expected. I'll be leaving on March 9 for training in Philadelphia and then a few days later, Dakar here I come!


Now on to some details for all of you readers (is anyone reading this?).


Within the Peace Corps, I will be acting as a preventative health educator within a program known as PROSPERE (PROjet de Sante Preventative et d'Education Relative à l'Environnement). This health project is designed to address behavior change related to the main contributors of disease; for child health this includes malnutrition that compromises child health, making children susceptible to illness and death. Infectious disease such as acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, and malaria account for the greatest proportion of infant and under-five mortality. Hygiene promotion plays a major role in mitigating the impact of both diarrhea and pneumonia illness and disease. 


My main role will be to work as an educator, a facilitator, a catalyst, a liaison and a mentor to assist my community members to work collectively and individually to:
1) Address the major environmental health and nutrition problems of their idea through non-formal education (with youth, women and other community groups) and community actions (funded and non-funded projects). Environmental health includes access to potable water, improved sanitation conditions, solid waste management, prevention of mosquito-borne diseases, access to clean energy, land restoration and tree planting). 
2) Improve the health of vulnerable groups (mothers, babies and children) through the implementation of communication for behavior change strategies and the promotion of good health practices. 


Phew! That was a lot! I'm tired just typing it all out. But honestly, it sounds great to me. For those of you that don't know me well (or in some cases, at all), this is something that I've been thinking about for a long time. Now it's finally the time for me to just dive in head first and see what happens. I've thoroughly enjoyed working at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for the past 2 and 1/2 years, but I can't wait to have a job that allows me a more hands-on focus. I want to be able to see the people I'm trying to help as opposed to just talking to them over the phone. 


Thanks for reading, I hope you all come back soon!