My First Day

I'm back in Thies, staying at the volunteer house with the rest of the new arrivals. There's 12 "newbies", which is apparently a record for Tostan (the previous was 6, so our group is definitely a big one). This includes 1 volunteer from France, 1 from Sweden, 1 from Canada (me!) and the other 9 from the USA. It's a very eclectic group of people from all different backgrounds, but we're all really excited to start working. Half of us still don't know what we're doing yet or where we're going to be posted, but we should find out by Wednesday morning. I'm keeping my finger's crossed that I'm NOT in Dakar - I don't want to get stuck in another big city, and I want to be able to escape the office and explore once in a while without getting harassed. Here's hoping it's not Dakar!

We are moving to the CCDD this afternoon, which is Tostan's beautiful training ground just outside of Thies. Normally this is used for conferences, seminars, and presentations, but we're going to be staying there for the next 5 days as we complete our training (and then we're off!). There's even a rumor going around that the bedrooms have air conditioning, which would be a huge treat. We were over at the CCDD yesterday for lunch, where we got to meet Molly (the founder of Tostan), Ann (the chair of the board of directors), Sarah (the volunteer co-ordinator) and a bunch of the outgoing volunteers. It was a wonderful chance to get to hear Molly speak on what her motivation was to found Tostan, and some of the principles and ideals that it is based on. It's been a big year for Tostan having won two major international awards in less than 10 months - many are saying that this is going to be Tostan's "break-out" year so we're all extremely excited to be a part of it. While we are a bit nervous about only having 5 days of training (compared to the 3 months that the Peace Corp gets - lucky them!) it's reassuring to realize that we were all interviewed and selected for the skills and experiences that we all ready have - we're hitting the ground running, but at least Tostan thinks that we're more than capable to take on whatever they throw at us. All we can do is try not to trip and learn as fast as humanly possible. I've got to run off and pack my bags up for the move, but I'll be sure to update once I have more news. Ba beneen!