Back at it!

 First and foremost, my apologies for dropping the ball on this blog in my second year of Peace Corps service; year two turned out to be extremely busy with girls’ camps, latrine construction, hand-washing station implementation, Dogon country exploration, advisory committees, getting caught in Malian coup d’états, microfinance womens’ group profit development and a moringa plantation; the blog took a backseat, and eventually was left alongside the road somewhere

Guinagourou Girls at             

Camp GLOW 2012   

Handwashing station implementation    

     Latrine Construction

                                         

Girls doing yoga at Camp GLOW

Guinagourou Girls' Soccer Team

                                                             

A healthy baby

 My Beninese family 

                                                                                 

However, after many subtle suggestions from my mother, I have decided to return to this blog, only this time on a new adventure.  My Peace Corps service in Benin ended after 29 months of service in September 2012.  After a bit of exploring and WWOOFing through Europe for 2 months, I returned to the States just in time for the warmth of Thanksgiving.  I remained in the States, job searching to no avail, until March, when I took an internship with a private foundation working to eliminate malaria in Namibia via a cross-border initiative involving Namibia’s northern neighbor, Angola. 

I spent the first month in Namibia observing the intricacies 

of the program and how it all worked efficiently. The second month was spent working on the program in Angola, where program efficiency was not its’ strong point.  I worked to increase efficiency via program structure revision and communication.  Following this second month was a one-week, malaria elimination themed conference in Zimbabwe, with an emphasis upon cross-border initiatives.  After the conference, I spent a brief, but exciting, weekend in Livingstone, Zambia at Victoria Falls; I canoed on the Zambezi River amidst hippos and crocodiles, explored both the Zambian and Zimbabwean sides of the falls, then bungee jumped off the historic Victoria Falls Bridge, precisely between Zimbabwe and Zambia.  It was a fatuous pursuit, but I knew I would regret not doing it, much to my mother’s chagrin.

I returned to the United States on May 15, then started my long-time dream job: working on a tall ship.  I boarded the beautiful Windjammer Angelique out of Camden, Maine on May 18 as the assistant chef. I originally applied to be a deck hand, but without experience, it is a hard position to fill. Captain Mike McHenry took a leap of faith in hiring me as an assistant chef, whose primary responsibility is making desserts.  It is easy to romanticize the idea of working and sailing upon a windjammer, especially one as bewitching as the Angelique, painted an elegant green with evocative red sails, but the work was as real as the sting from a barnacle cut.  Learning to bake lemon squares in a lunge while heeling at 9 degrees to the horizontal then acting as if it was your true and original intention to give people the option of lemon squares or lemon crisps was one of many lessons quickly learned.  And amidst the limited space, green faces and baking blunders, there were still the star-saturated night skies, the fantastically craggy Maine coast, first-class crewmates and the unbelievable satisfaction and sense of harmony in harnessing nature, the absolute epitome of the great wild, to your advantage; an enchanting experience.  

After the second week aboard, I received an offer from the foundation that sponsored my internship, for a permanent position stationed on the border in Northern Namibia, coordinating the Angolan program and crossing as frequently as possible.  It was an offer I could not refuse and involves many long-term potential opportunities.  Sadly, I told Lynne (the Angelique Admiral) and Mike of the offer, to which they could not have responded in a more positive, supportive manner.  On July 15, I left the Angelique.  My experience aboard the Angelique, no matter how fleeting, was invaluable, in large part due to the genuine and sincere couple that ran the ship.  If you are looking for a truly extraordinary experience and an incomparable adventure, I can promise you will find it aboard the Angelique.

http://sailangelique.com

Our salty crew.

Captain Mike performing one of his sundry talents, marrying two passengers on the shore of Babson Island

                        

Following a hectic 2 weeks involving a speedy trip to NYC to charm the Angolan consulate employees into giving me a visa, a perfect camping trip with my favorite people on Mooselookmegunitc Lake, and emergency q-tip and fruit snack runs, I boarded a plane to Namibia and arrived July 31 in Windhoek.  I am currently in Angola working to improve program efficiency and helping with a study being conducted by Harvard researching cost-effectiveness of cross border malaria initiatives compared to efforts conducted from one side of the border.

I hope this provides a general update and overview of things as they stand now.  More information will soon be on its’ way.