"All the 411" (Episode 2)

Jess writes:

New site, new organization, new home… so we have some new tidbits of contact information and other little randoms as well. We’ve copied over the pertinent sections here (from the first post) that require some updating.

So, as promised, here’s the newest episode of our informational mini-series, "All the 411"!! Be sure to keep in touch!

Time Difference:

• To make things simple, just know that currently we are +6 hours from EST, +7 hours from CST, and +9 hours from PST. We will update again when your daylight saving time ends, so no one’s brain explodes… he he!

Follow Us:

• Our Stories: Blogging is reasonably painless (i.e., not too expensive), so we will continue to do so as often as possible! Enjoy!!
• Our Photos: Photo uploads are a little bit pricier, but not exorbitant. So we will continue to update all photos in the "Albums" section of Jess's Facebook page (find link at right), whenever possible.
• Other Chit-Chat: We check our Facebook pages (find links at right) on almost a daily basis, as our internet phone has a great Facebook app. This is the easiest way to contact us, and much faster and more efficient than even our email accounts. So leave us FB comments, messages and good ol’ love and we will do our best to get back to you!!

Phone Us:

• WE HAVE CELL PHONES!!! Don’t forget to dial 011 to dial out of the country and South Africa’s calling code is +27, so it should work like this:

Jess: 011.27.72.180.7656
Adam: 011.27.79.341.0847

• See previous “All the 411” post for other phone-related details, including all emergency contact numbers for Peace Corps South Africa.

Skype Us:

• Turns out, Skype can be a bit pricey on our end, especially if we attempt to do the video chat. So for now, we’re relying more on Facebook and phones… but, we’ll let you know if we plan any Skype marathons at the end of the month (when we may have extra data on our hands to burn)! • See previous “All the 411” post for other Skype-related details.

Mail Us:

• Mail has gotten a little complicated… We are trying to get a P.O. Box in a nearby town… and we will let you know when that occurs… if ever… Grrrr South Africa.
• See previous “All the 411” post for other mail-related details and we’ll update later with specifics at our new postal locations (hopefully).

Alphabet Soup:

As you may have read last time, Peace Corps service is a wondrous world of abbreviations, acronyms and “initialisms” (our friend Paula’s favorite term! Ha!).

So here’s an update to the on-going list of such shortenings to keep you "in the know" (and make reading our blogs possible!!):

• APCD: Associate Peace Corps Directors (current for CHOP: Matseke & Kori)
• CBO: Community-Based Organization (Grassroots, usually non-profit)
• CDO: Country Desk Officer (current: Fernando Moyle)
• CHOP: Community HIV/AIDS Outreach Program (our service program)
• CIP: Comm. Integration Period (current 3 months; aka “Lockdown”)
• DIC: Drop-In Center (for children; Swa Vana has 3 of these in our area)
• ET: Early Termination (personal decision to leave Peace Corps)
• HBC: Home-Based Care (a common health program in SA)
• HC: Host Country (i.e., South Africa)
• HCA: Host Country Agency (ours is “Swa Vana Youth Project”)
• HCN: Host Country National
• ICD or CD: In-Country Director (current: McGrath Jean Thomas)
• IGA: Income Generating Activities (a primary focus for Swa Vana)
• IRC: In-Country Resource Center
• IST: In-Service Training (short stints during service, as needed)
• KZN: Kwa-Zulu Nataal Province (other CHOP volunteers' province)
• LCF: Language & Culture Facilitator (ours was MamaSimongele)
• LP: Limpopo Province (other CHOP volunteers' province)
• MI: Master's International Program (my Master's Program)
• MP: Mmpumalanga Province (the province in which we reside)
• MST: Mid-Service Training (ours will be held January, 2011)
• MTCT: Mother-to-Child-Transmission (primary HIV transmission cause)
• NGO: Non-Governmental Organization (synonymous in SA with CBO)
• NPO: Non-Profit Organization (synonymous in South Africa with CBO)
• OVC: Orphans and Vulnerable Children (the primary focus of Swa Vana)
• PA: Program Assistant (current: Jan Molomo)
• PC: Peace Corps
• PCD: Peace Corps Director (current: Aaron S. Williams)
• PCI: Peace Corps Inductee (prior to staging & departure)
• PCMO: Peace Corps Medical Office
• PCPP: Peace Corps Partnership Program (donor program for PC)
• PCT: Peace Corps Trainee (during Training)
• PCV: Peace Corps Volunteer (current)
• PST: Pre-Service Training (2 months prior to service)
• PTO: Programming & Training Officer (current: Lisa Jordan)
• RPCV: Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (alumni)
• SA or ZA: South Africa
• TM: Training Manager (current: Victor Baker)
• WWS: World Wise Schools (correspondance program with U.S. schools)

As always, we’ll keep you posted!!!