F.A.Q.'s

I figured I would put the answers to some frequently asked questions in a separate post.

1. Where is Liberia?
       Liberia is in West Africa, between Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.  It is at about 3 degrees latitude, so you might see a future complaint about the heat from a certain girl who grew up in Colorado :).

2. Why did you decide you wanted to go to Liberia?
       I didn't.  I decided I wanted to join Peace Corps for a variety of reasons (see previous post), but you don't get to pick where you go.

3. Be careful.  Is it safe there?
      While no place is PERFECTLY safe, Peace Corps does an excellent job of only assigning Volunteers to REASONABLY safe regions, of making sure our living sites are secure, and of training us to be as safe as we possibly can while we are at our post, and while traveling.  All things considered, Liberia seems to be a pretty good place to serve.  The Peace Corps was a strong presence there from 1962 to 1990, when civil war broke out.  After two wars in two decades, the country stabilized, and Peace Corps began to return to Liberia in 2008.

4. Will you be able to keep in touch while you are over there?
     Probably some.  The internet there is very slow, but exists at many posts (not all).  However, if I do not have internet at my home, I will be able to occasionally get to a larger town and get online.  Please do send me email, just know that it may take me some time to get back to you.  The same is true for cell phone reception- exists in most but not all places.  For those of you that have my US phone number, I have set up a basic Google Voice, so I can get voicemails as emails (not texts though).  I will also hopefully be able to get an international SIM card so I can still use the same number/phone, but it may prove cheaper to get a local phone, in which case I will provide the new number by email.  Snail mail is also an option, though letters may take a month to arrive.  Still, I'd love to get mail, and I will write back!  You can send to this address:
Sharon Beltracchi, Peace Corps Volunteer
Peace Corps
Post Office Box 707
Monrovia, Liberia 

5. What language do they speak there?
       Liberia was created as an American territory, to be a place for freed slaves from the US to return to Africa.  As a result, the main language there is English.  There are still many indigenous local languages spoken throughout the country.  I will be given language classes when I arrive in whichever language is common in the town where I am assigned (and no, I don't know where that will be yet).

6. What exactly will you be doing?
Right now, as far as I know, I will be teaching math at the junior high level, though it could change based on the needs of my community. It will not necessarily be the same math as is standard for American junior high students- Liberia's infrastructure and education system was destroyed in the civil war, and the schools are just starting to recover.  In addition, many people growing up during the war were left uneducated, and are going back to school now, so it is possible I will have students my age or older returning to 8th grade.  Without a doubt, it will be WAAAY different than my previous math-teaching experience in Palo Alto. ;)

7. Will you be mostly on your own, or with other Peace Corps Volunteers?
    For training, I will be in a large group of PCVs- there are about 45 going at the same time as me (though I will live with a host family).  After that, I will share a house at my site with another PCV from my group (I think almost everyone is 2 people per house right now, though my group is the biggest yet, so some house may have 3).  I think it will be nice to have an American roommate to share the experience with, though- this doesn't happen in all PC posts- several are MUCH more isolating, so I think I'm lucky in that regard :).

8.  How long will you be there? Can you come visit the US somewhere in the middle?
       A Peace Corps assignment is 27 months long, which is 2 years doing the project and 2-3 months of training.  I do accrue some vacation time while in the Peace Corps, so I will likely vacation to the US at some point in the middle of my service, though I will also probably use some of my vacation days to travel more in Africa.

9. What will you be doing afterwards?
        Probably graduate school, probably in animal cognition and communication.  But Peace Corps is a time for a great deal of personal growth and self-discovery, so my plans could change.


That's all the questions I can think of at the moment, but I will add more to this post if you ask (the blog just started, so I'm hoping the comments section works).