Hey, word.

Hey guys, i bet you've been avidly wondering what i've been doing, right? no? Okay, well, then, I don't really blame you, but a lot has happened between the last time I wrote. I won't be able to justly cover every item i need to update you on, but hopefully I can give a good synopsis.
Okay, the last upheaval the bureau has been able to throw at us has been our potential transit house closure. The idea caused shockwaves through our PCV community and added new renewal the effigies that volunteers burn in their villages of our dear country director. She toyed with us for a couple weeks, making sure we got the message "the transit house is a privilege, not a right" and then finally letting us off the hook to state that we would be moving to a smaller house and that it would all be done in the next two months. This notification came two weeks ago, and our current house will be off limits by the end of this month. Can we say, good times? For the month of August, there will essential be no transit house to use, while they move all the items of the old house to the new house, of which, is about half the size of our current house. The coordination with ALL of the country's PCV to make sure they have access to their items before house closure will be tricky and will probably end up causing a few PCV's inconveniences due to the storage they already keep at the house may not be transfered as needed. Lot's of challenges logistically with this move and it could end up being a great big f@@king mess. So I'll keep you posted. I'm sort of involved with the moving, but not officially. I'm just on the volunteer advisory comm. and all I can really say is, "this is not working" and "no, don't throw that away" for the new house. I'll keep you posted on the process, if possible.
Before all this mess with the bureau, I directed a cross sectoral conference meant to train other sectors on the basics of Health activities they can incoporate in their secondary projects. It was a weekend conference that i had 3 other peers come in and prepare the sessions, whereas i kept track of all the coordinating details with the bureau, house, etc. We had 14 volunteers attend, spread amongst the other 3 sectors and it turned out really well. The feedback was really positive and hopeful for continued cross sectoral conf's of the like in the future. I'm pretty happy about it, despite turning in the follow-up report to the bureau and recieving no feedback whatsoever. Got love the support the bureau doesn't give to realize the volunteers here are even better to make up for it.
I'm currently in my second phase of my compagned to improve the knowledge base of AIDS and malaria in my village. I've got a local contractor showing films with one of my friends sensibilizing during the showing, wheil my theater troupe is doing performances on the same subjects throughout my village and area. I start the final phase when I get back to village this week to do a secondary survey to measure the success of the compagnes. After that, I'm done. no more health activities for me and my village. I've asked the bureau for an early close of service at the end of August, but it probably won't be granted. If not, hopefully I'll be home by Sept 18 for month before meeting some PCV friend in Europe for a couple weeks tour of Budapest, Prague and Dublin. Any takers??
The last note will on my major, who I thought was a really good guy, but just last week got caught fooling around with a student nurse while his family was sitting at their house 30 yards away. Not cool. His wife, a strapping woman went ballistic, started fighting and knock him a couple good ones. He then struck her back, so now we have domestic violence in my nearest neighbors household. Oh, by the way, I saw it all go down, not a pretty sight. So my newest major, isn't all that great, and Mme Sawadogo, my best friend in village who I share my dog with, wants to kill our dog. Long story with that, but let's just say, it's something she could have waited to do after i was gone and didn't. Needless to say, I'm close to the dog and I'm pretty mad at her and upset about the dog. So when i go back to village, the dog will be gone.
Well, as you can see, lots of stuff has been happening and it's been a mixture of both good and bad. I left some stuff out that I may get back at later today, but that's enough for now. Hope to see you all soon!