Next Target: ????

After several days of intense waiting and having vague thoughts about my unknown assigned place, site announcement is finally over; C’est finit. It definitely was a great event and well planned by the staff and current PC volunteers who drew a huge map of Mauritania on the sand and placed nametags on the cities that we were going to be situated. One by one, the Program Director’s started to call out the names of the trainees announcing what would be our fates for the next two years of our lives. Noahdibhu, Atar, Celibaby, Rosso, Kifa, Ayoun, Nema where some of the cities mentioned and after waiting one of the longest half an hours of my life, I finally heard Madame Siham, the GEE Director, call my name: !Luis Pablo Solorio, your going to…!

Well my site’s name is Guerrou. The cultural report that Siham handed me over reveals that Guerrou is a big and beautiful village that’s 55km away from Kiffa, the regional capital of Assaba. The population is about 21,000; Moors are the predominantly ethnic group; it’s a very conservative and traditional site; and Arabic Hassaniya and French are the most spoken languages. It appears that Guerrou has all the basic services that a city should have (some friends are going to spent the next two years without electricity or running water). There is a Girls Mentoring Center (GMC) which Andrea, the only PCV at the site, just courageously opened to address the problem of a high dropout rate among female students. Besides teaching English, computer and other academic lessons at the GMC, I will also going to be partnering with other international organizations such as World Vision, UNICEF and UNFPA; local organizations such as Women’s Co-ops and Parents associations; and the local Government officials, to promote Girls Education and Empowerment at Guerrou.

I will be leaving the Peace Corps Center at Rosso tomorrow morning. The ride is supposed to be an 8 hour drive with other 8 trainees. We will arrive first to Nouackchott and then we will take the road to Kiffa. Once we get there, I will meet with Andrea and leave with her to Guerrou the next morning so she can introduce me with Government Officials and active members of the community. I’m going to stay in Guerrou for one week to get to know the place and other work related information.

Although I don’t know what to exactly expect, I am very excited to be at Guerrou. It is definitely going to be an awesome PC experience, filled with different types of emotions and feelings. Yet again, this is one of the reasons why I decided to come to Mauritania and I know that with the help of God, it’s going to be awesome. Inshallah