Update

I want to thank everyone who participated in the Water Challenge with me. At the end of April I sent checks that totaled over $400! That will provide 400 people clean water for a year or 100 people clean water for 4 years. Thanks again for the support, I could not have done it without you.

Final Interview!

Finishing up some last minute paper work so I can be assigned a Placement Officer!
So excited! I will know where I'm going by the second week of August by the latest but hopefully sooner!

After I send in these papers I'll have a final interview with my PO and be placed and sent an official invitation. Can't wait!!!

The Water Challenge

As many of you know this is my last semester at IU before I graduate and leave to serve in the Peace Corps. Although I could take my last semester easy, I want to do as much as possible while I’m in the states to start helping the people of the continent that I am going to move to for the next two years.

I found the Water Project organization online (http://thewaterproject.org) and would like to do the Water Challenge. The water challenge asks you to drink only water for two weeks and set the money that you would have spent on other beverages such as soda, tea, coffee, alcohol, etc aside and donate it after two weeks. I want to get a group together to do this with me to help the cause. You may think I’m crazy for giving up the luxury of other beverages for two weeks, but really it’s a small contribution that I can make. I know some of you may think you need your caffeine and if you truly cannot give it up then I ask you to contribute the money that you spent on those drinks anyway.

As a microbiologist I know the importance of clean water and what can be in water. Nearly 1 billion people still don't have access to clean drinking water and a $10 donation will give 1 person clean water for 10 YEARS—that’s a dollar a year! I know I grew up taking clean (clear) water for granted and now would like to help others have access to water I like do.

If I haven’t convinced you yet here are some facts that I think are astounding and gives even more reason to help:

• At any one time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases.
• Over one-third of the world's population has no access to sanitation facilities.
• In developing countries, about 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions.
• 1 out of every 4 deaths under the age of 5 worldwide is due to a water-related disease.
• In developing countries, it is common for water collectors, usually women and girls, to have to walk several kilometers every day to fetch water. Once filled, pots and jerry cans weigh as much as 20kg (44lbs).
• Only 1% of the total water resources on earth are available for human use. While 70% of the world’s surface is covered by water, 97.5% of that is salt water. Of the remaining 2.5% that is freshwater, almost 68.7% is frozen in ice caps and glaciers.
• Canada controls about 20% of the earth's fresh water.
• Up to 30% of fresh water supplies are lost due to leakage in developed countries, and in some major cities, losses can run as high as 40% to 70%.
• About 90% of sewage and 70% of industrial wastes in developing countries are discharged into water courses without treatment, often polluting the usable water supply.
• A person living in Sub-Saharan Africa uses about 10-20 (2.6-5.26 gallons) litres of water a day; on average, a Canadian uses 326 litres (86 gallons) a day.

If you would like to be apart of the water challenge with me please let me know so I know how many wristbands to request for the group. I encourage you to invite your friends and family to participate as well. If you can’t give up your beverages for whatever reason but would like to make a donation for the project I urge you to a. send one in online/buy a water bottle or shirt or b. donate it to my efforts in my water challenge.

I know many of you may be giving to Haiti relief now as well, but the beauty of this project is that it just redirects the money that you would have spent on beverages anyway and not coming out of your pocket as more of a donation (unless you choose to give that way). I also believe that many charities will be overlooked now due to the tragedy in Haiti and I still want to help those in need in other areas of the world too.

Please let me know if you would like to help the cause.

Checking off the Checklist

Progress! I was told last Friday that my application wouldn't be reviewed for 4 more months. Although that may be true for the medical portion, it was not for my dental. Only two more circles to fill with a check before I find out my assignment. My original goal was to know by Christmas. Although that would awesome, I'm happy right now just knowing that it could be sooner than 4 months.

To respond to the previous post: the paper work, the driving, the hassle---it's paying off.

Going Through Hoops

After 6 years of planning on applying for the Peace Corps, I finally submitted my application in late July. After turning in more paper work in August I finally got a call this week about an interview.
Today I had my interview for the Peace Corps. Needless to say it went extremely well. My recruiter, Ken, said that I am a bright candidate and interviewed very well. I started asking him questions about how soon I would/could be placed because about a week ago I got a job offer for the summer. He found a project that starts in September of 2010 in Africa to teach science at secondary schools and also do a project on AIDs on the side. He said that my background fits extremely well with this project and I'm excited to be a part of it.

I was very shocked to be placed in a program during my interview because normally you would hang up the phone and have to wait a bit in order to be nominated. Instead of waiting he nominated me on the spot and then reserved my space for my project. He said I'm about half-way through the application process (which is going by extremely fast considering it takes 9+ months normally to get approved and an assignment and it's barely been 2 months for me). I have to do a bit more paper work and hopefully will be on my way.

In preparation for leaving, I have started this blog, which I hope to update semi-regularly while I am gone. For those of you who want updates or just interested in what I'm doing check here. I'll be posting more specifics later as I receive those details.