In the Peace Corps, we use a seemingly endless amount of abbreviations and other lingo, so here’s a quick cheat sheet.
PCV – Peace Corps Volunteer (that’s me!)
PCT – Peace Corps Trainee
PCVL – Peace Corps Volunteer Leader (Eastern is Lee)
RPCV – Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (once returned back to the U.S.)
PCV Response – Response positions are between 6-18 months long and they are RPCVs who are working for the Peace Corps in a country (normally) other than the one they served in. They work in specific departments. For instance, working closely with Malaria or HIV/AIDS prevention or food security.
Extension – After you complete your 27 months of service, you have the opportunity to extend your service for 1 year in the same country you served in (this is what Buck (the PCV I am replacing) is doing).
**Peace Corps Zambia has the highest extension rate of any Peace Corps Country**
LIFE – program in Zambia: Linking Income, Food, and Environment
RAP -program in Zambia: Rural Aquaculture Promotion
CHIP – program in Zambia: Community Health Improvement Program
RED – program in Zambia: Rural Education Development
PST – Pre-Service Training — lasts for 3 months prior to swear-in.
PCT – Peace Corps Trainee
Intake – the group of PCTs in your particular project that you come into country with — these are the 27 LIFE project trainees I when through training with.
Fly-In – the day you fly into country. There were 52 of us between LIFE and RAP projects.
Swear-In – The day we take our oath and go from PCTs to PCVs (mine was April 30th, 2015).
Posting – The process of shopping and preparing to move to our sites.
Site – our individual villages (mine is Chiparamba, Chipata District, Eastern Province).
Community Entry (CE) – a three month long period when we first move into our sites. We are not allowed to leave our districts (mine is Chipata) for this duration of time. The point is to complete Community Assessments to determine what projects we could/should do during our service. We are not supposed to start or implement any large projects during this time. Community Entry will be May 5-July 26 for my intake.
IST – In-Service Training — occurs directly after community entry for about a week. Ours begins July 27 in Lusaka, LIFE project only. This is the first time we will all see one another in three months.
Mids – Mid-Service Training — occurs about halfway through service, again about a week long. LIFE project only.
COS – Close of Service — another week long training session that wraps up our service.
Community Exit – a three month long period at the end of our service. We are not allowed to begin new projects and should *try* to stay in our districts as much as possible (aka no vacation).
LCF – Language and Cross-Culture Facilitator — they support us throughout training and teach us our local languages (mine was A Kelvin).
PPC – Provincial Program Coordinator — they oversee all the projects in Peace Corps Zambia (LIFE, RAP, CHIP, RED) in each province. Eastern’s is A Sunday.
PCMO – Peace Corps Medical Officer (we have three — Walter, Irene, and Shebo).
CD – Country Director — the American in charge of the Peace Corps program in any given nation. Zambia’s CD is Leon Kayego.
PM – Project Manager — LIFE’s PM is Ba Don.
SSM – Safety and Security Manager (Ba Allan)
ET – Early Termination — when a PCT or PCV does not complete service, may occur for any reason
Med-Sep – Medically Separated — when a PCT or PCV must leave country of service due to any medical issue
Admin-Sep – Administratively Separated — when a PCT or PCV must leave country due to Administrative issues (i.e. not wearing a helmet while riding a bike, riding a motorcycle, etc).
**Zambia uses a model of three generations of Volunteers, who serve over a six year period at the same site in the same project. This model is not specific to Zambia but is not used in every Peace Corps country. Zambia uses this model due to the rural nature of our program.**
First Gen – first generation volunteer – years 1-2 of 6
Second Gen – second volunteer – years 2-4 of 6
Third Gen – third and (likely) final volunteer – years 4-6 of 6 (this is me!)
**Some sites may have fourth generations or may receive a new volunteer in a different project depending on need.**
GLOW – Girls Leading Our World — a training program that occurs each year to promote gender equality and self-confidence for young girls.
ELITE – program that uses soccer and sports clubs to engage young boys to support and promote gender equality and health.
CAMP TREE – an environmental program to teach young girls and boys about protecting our environments. Currently occurs in Luapula and Northern provinces but should be expanding to others this year.
Giraffes and Wild Tea 