Telling stories since 2005
As a psychiatric nurse practitioner in training (circa 2024), I am *somewhat* qualified to talk on this topic. Even back while I was in the Peace Corps, I had some experience working in mental health as a psychiatric RN having graduated in 2017 with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing. So professionally, I had a…
This time a year ago I was peeing and pooping in a hole. I had my own little house chamber pot cleverly disguised as a plastic bucket. And I regularly took baths by using a few liters of water and pouring water over my head with a cup. It was the Peace Corps and I…
If we are being honest I was simultaneously bummed and relieved to be medically separated from the Peace Corps. Bummed because I came to do a job and despite all the issues at site, quitting was never an option. Relieved because medical separation gave me an ‘out. Physicians and Physiotherapists in Kigali couldn’t get me…
I guess by now you know that I left the Peace Corps; I was medically seperated from the Peace Corps due to an injury I sustained while at a Peace Corps’ training. I returned to Greenville, spent the night with my best friend, and made my way to my little country house where Miss Molly…
Wait? Are you still in Rwanda? The Peace Corps? The short answer to that question is no. No, I am not. As of February 3, 2020 I left Rwanda for what I think will be the absolute last time, but I’ve learned to never say never. Earlier this year I was medically separated from the…
There’s a long version and a short version of what happened. Short story: I was medically separated from the Peace Corps on January 4, 2020 after being evacuated on December 23, 2019. I was shipped out of the country just before the government shutdown started. PC’s theory was, and it seems plausible, that the impending…
Peace Corps’ friends are a different breed of friends. They start out as government issued friends. Over time and sometimes due to proximity, they become lifelines. Meet-ups in the local regional hub when you just can’t handle village life anymore–PC bestie is there. WhatsApp calls for speaking in English when the 8-hour time difference to…
This may not be the most politically correct post I’ve written. If you are easily offended, you’ve been warned. Back when I worked in the hospitals, occasionally some misguided soul would yell out ‘hey, respiratory,’ as I walked by. I’d continue to walk on by. And then the misguided soul would continue ‘hey, I’m talking…
A List of Things I Do and Don’t Miss about village life long commutes (my Rwanda house is less than a five minute walk to the health center; my SC house is a 40 minute drive to the hospital) sitting in front of a computer at a desk all day for work housing prices (so…
Small town life I have lived most of my life in South Carolina [other states include North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee] — a state with roughly 5 million people in it, and just prior to departure, I moved back to the area I grew up in. The town I currently reside in has approximately 800 people…