Mind the Gap!

So, there has been a very long gap since my last post. Part of that is because I went back to America for the holidays. It was fabulous...and horrible...and totally worth it. I ate LOTS of great food and drank lots of really good beer (there is only average beer in Benin).

While I was in Seattle, I got a call from the Congressional Hunger Center, where I had applied for a fellowship back in November. (see previous post) They said they wanted to interview me. Not only that, they wanted to interview me in person, so could I come to Washington, DC - on their dime - for an interview. Sooo... I went to bed at 10:00pm on New Year's Eve so I could get up at 4:00am on New Year's Day to catch a 7:00am flight to DC. Got in around 5:00 that evening, checked-in to my hotel, got some dinner, went to bed and got up the next morning for a 10:00am interview. Finished the interview around 11:00, went back to the hotel, checked-out, had lunch with a friend from MCC and flew out that evening at 7:00.

The interview was fabulous. I have done quite a few in my lifetime, but never one that went as well as this one. I was in the room with the Director of the fellowship program, the Associate Director of the program and the Deputy Director of the entire Center. It didn't even feel like an interview; it was more like a conversation. We talked for about 45 minutes and it was effortless. I answered their questions from my heart and everything was just...right. If it had been a gymnastics routine it would have been a 9.95. I was on cloud 12 as I walked back to my hotel - even though the shoes I had bought for the trip were making KILLER blisters on my heels.

Needless to say, I was pretty stoked when I got back to Benin.

But, as has been the case lately, there is no rest for the weary. I flew out of Seattle on Monday, landed in Accra Tuesday, got to Cotonou on Wednesday and then turned right around and went up to Parakou on Thursday so I could give two presentations for the PSL 21 SED/ICT In-Service Training on Friday. When I got to Parakou after no email for three days there was a message from CHC telling me I had been selected as a finalist for BOTH of the fellowship placements I applied for. Yeah! Better still, later the same day I got another email from the organization in South Africa saying they wanted to schedule a finalist interview with me. So suddenly, an interview I thought I would have weeks to prepare for was going to happen in FOUR DAYS!

That Wednesday, I sat down in a small conference room in the Peace Corps bureau and took a conference call with five other folks, two in DC, two in South Africa, and one in Chicago. This one wasn't quite the perfect "10" that the previous one was, but I'd put it at a solid "8" - so I couldn't complain too much. That was on January 14th. On January 16th, I received the following email:

Dear Steven,

We are happy to inform you that you have been selected as the AFR-02 ANSA/NASTAD Fellow for the 2009-2011 class of Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows! The CHC staff, ANSA, NASTAD and Ikamva Labantu are impressed with your motivation and qualifications for the position. Moreover, we believe you will be a valuable addition to the upcoming class of Fellows.

Please notify us by Friday, January 23 if you are willing to accept this Fellowship placement. We of course would be happy to answer any specific questions that you may have about the Leland Fellowship as you make your decision.

Thank you for your interest in our program, and congratulations!

That's right, I'm going back to South Africa! I will be leaving Benin in late June - whether by COS or ET I don't yet know - and I will be in Cape Town by August. World Cup 2010, here we come!!!

For information on the Congressional Hunger Center click here. For information about my specific fellowship placement, click here.