Pre Service Training (PST)

Pre Service Training (PST) Overview:

This page is all about PST, Pre Service Training. The Peace Corps does not just drop us off in sites to start working immediately. They instead provide a pretty robust training program. Our particular PST is a 10 week program focusing on language, cultural, medical, technical, and safety/security training.

Training is Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm. We have a 2 hour session followed by a 30 min morning tea break. Next are another 2 hour session and then a 1 hour lunch. We finish up the day with a 1.5 hour session, a 15 minute break, and then a 1.25 hour session.

Most days, the first session is language. There are seven different languages being learned so we have been placed in small groups. My Afrikaans group is 6 people and our teacher is Mike. He is a teacher by profession, and has been very helpful. We are not expected to be fluent by the end of training, but are expected to be at a certain level. Learning Afrikaans is difficult as learning a new language tends to be, but I have no concerns about it. Learning will be an ongoing process throughout my time in country.

Our other sessions include cultural, medical, safety/security, and technical training. Cultural sessions teach us about the customs, values, and behaviors of Namibians. Medical sessions focus on our physical and mental health. Also, Peace Corps Namibia is heavily supported by PEPFAR, so we have a lot of sessions on HIV/AIDS. Oh, and we are also getting more shots each week for various things (rabies, typhoid, meningitis, hepatitis…). Safety and security sessions are taught to make sure we know how to keep ourselves and our possessions safe. Being from America we are targets. Overall, it seems that common sense will go a long way to keeping ourselves safe. Technical training is specific to being a Community Economic Volunteer. We have learned about what to expect, what is expected of us, and what skills/methods/tools will be useful for us.

PST CED Activities:

Training to be an effective CED volunteer requires us to do more than just sit through classroom lessons. We are fortunate enough to be able to put our lessons to work during training.

·         Business partners

o   Each business volunteer has been paired up with a small business owner here in Okahandja. The purpose is to work with them over a few weeks to help them learn new business skills, and to have them participate in Market Day (see below). My business partner owns a small Minishop in her suburb. I helped her learn bookkeeping skills to manager her inventory and cash flow.

·         Business Training Workshop (Aug 19-22)

o   Also as part of our training, we are held a four day business workshop. We had business owners and aspiring business owners come to the training center. Each day we covered different topics such as business management, marketing, finances, and HR. It helped us learn to present to a Namibian audience.

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   Market day (Aug 30)

o   This was a trade show for business in Okahandja. We had our own business partners as well as other business owners come and sell/market their products/services at town hall to the community. Unfortunately my business partner could not participate. I instead managed the bouncy house we rented. It was complete chaos.

 

PST Social Activities:

Training can be pretty draining. Fortunately there are some planned activities that take us away from the rigors of classroom learning.

·         Trip to Windhoek – Heroes Acre, Malls, Market, Expo (Aug 2)

o   We took a bus to the capital. Heroes Acre is a monument outside of the city that honors the Namibians who fought for their freedom. We then went to malls to purchase phones and whatever else we needed. Next we went to Single Quarters which is a food market selling meat, worms, fruit, etc. Lastly was an Exposition were livestock was being sold. Other crafts, clothing, and food were being sold at the Expo as well.

·         Traditional Cooking Day (Aug 9)

o   This was a really awesome day. The families and trainers got together and cooked traditional dishes for us. I couldn’t tell you all the things I tried (because I don’t what most of it was), but I did have goat, donkey, ostrich, and worms. It was all…interesting.

·         SUPEP Fun Day (Aug 16)

o   SUPEP are the education volunteers. They put on a Fun Day (like a Field Day) for school children. We played games (lots of soccer) and many of the children showed off their traditional dance skills. The education volunteers also registered the children for Holiday School (since school is out right now), so that they could practice teaching in a classroom setting.

·         Shadowing (Sept 3-7)

o   We shadowed current volunteers to get a taste of what service would be like. I went up north to shadow Alex, a CED volunteer. It was nice to explore a new community and get to see some work that he was doing. It was also nice to just get out of Okahandja, and have some fun social time with our peers.

·         Von Bach Dam trip (Sept 13)

o   The Von Back dam is just outside of Okahandja and is a small reservoir with a resort. We went here for a braai (BBQ). It was a blast. The water didn’t look the cleanest, but that didn’t stop us from swimming. We also jumped off the dam itself. It was probably a good 35 foot drop and was a ton of fun.

·         USA Culture Day (Sept 20)

o   This was our chance to show our trainers and host families all about American culture. We split up into regions and made different dishes. The Northeast made pizza and chili dogs. Other regions made chips & guac, gumbo, brats & sauerkraut, peach cobble, apple crisp, and much more.

Other:

While training and planned activities take up a lot of our time, we still manage to do things outside of the training framework.

·         Sport – A lot of us get together to play ultimate Frisbee, soccer, football, etc.

·         WIFI – While some lucky individuals have WIFI at their homestays, most do not. We often get together at places like Garden Café, Wimpy’s, or Rhinos for WIFI.

·         Hiking – There is a small mountain in town that can be hiked up in 45min to an hour. It’s a fun activity, provides some good physical activity, and the top has some great views.

·         Bars – Sometimes we just got to relax with a cold refreshing beer. Some of the bars we frequent are Club Opuri, Rhinos, Purple Blues, Reit Club, and The Car Wash.

Wrapping Up PST:

·         Supervisor Workshops (Sept 23-24)

o   Our supervisors and/or counterpart from our host organizations came to Okahandja for the final week of training. We presented on different topics to them to give them a better sense of what the Peace Corps is all about.

·         Swearing In (Sept 25)

o   We officially became Peace Corps Volunteers. Enough said.