And the journey begins...

I was recently selected as a volunteer with CUSO-VSO. CUSO-VSO Canada is one of the best volunteer sending organisations in Canada. Their approach to international development is rooted in partnership building through sending skilled volunteers overseas to work with local organisations. They have a number of goal areas that they work on including "Secure Livelihoods" - which is the area I will be working in.

I am going to be a Social Communications Specialist at a non-governmental organisation called CAPLAB. Their programs are focused on women and youth. They offer opportunities for training to improve employment skills. They also offer microcredit to entrepreneurs. I'm really excited to see how this all works! Since I will be working on Web 2.0 technology I figured I'd better dive in and start this blog! It will hopefully give me the chance to try out what works and what doesn't. I invite feedback and discussion on any points of interest... after all that's what social media is about.

It's been a bit of a whirlwind for me. I had a super-fast-tracked process sped up by my willingness to pick up and leave, and the great fit between me and my placement. CUSO-VSO keeps reminding me to make sure I tell people that my case is unusual because the process can take up to a year to find the right fit. So if you're thinking about applying it can take six months to a year!

I spent all of last weekend in training with some fantastic people. I couldn't believe the wealth of expertise and experience in that training room. Most people had been overseas many times! In addition to meeting others in the same boat, I learned so much about myself this past weekend. We did a lot of hands on learning which is not really my preferred learning style since I always end up spending eons agonizing over what I did wrong. But it really gave me an opportunity to get to know myself a bit better and to learn about how to deal with a wide variety of cultural situations.

So here I am at the beginning with so many unknowns and so much still up in the air. Regardless of what happens I hope that you'll enjoy living vicariously through me and this blog!