What's next?

Independence Day is coming up, on September 15, with parades and all that good stuff to celebrate. I have been all over the country lately-  for training at the beach with the rest of my group, another HIV workshop in San Vicente, and meetings in San Salvador.

In my site I'm getting started on a mural project at the school and working with a youth group doing leadership and gender equity activities mixed in with a bit of soccer here and there. These two projects are going to take up a lot of my last 6 months in site. Along with the camps and other things I have going on around the rest of the country, I will be happy if I am able to finish up everything I have planned before my COS (close of service) next March.



A new group of volunteers comes to El Salvador every 6 months, and my group is now the next scheduled to leave. Six months is quite a while, but time can fly when you are busy and that will definitely be the case for me until March.

Our scholarship committee WYD is throwing a halloween costume party to raise funds this year, and we will be awarding the next round of scholarships before the end of the year.

Being on the scholarship committee and working with the HIV prevention initiative have been two of the most successful parts of my time as a volunteer here. They have both been positive ways to collaborate with other volunteers and see more direct and big-impact results than some of the smaller-scale projects I do in my site. We have literally trained thousands of Salvadoran young men and women on HIV prevention through the workshops, and because of WYD, 25 people who wouldn't be able to otherwise are attending school. I definitely feel good about my service knowing that I have been a part of both of these projects in addition to the work I do in my site.


I realized the other day when I was in the capital that I know San Salvador better than I know Kansas City. And it's not even close.

I get a lot of questions about what my plans are for when I get back. Here is my short list of things to do when I get back: USA road trip, Brooke's graduation in May, write a book, get a job.