My 'Stage'

So since the PC is run by the government, there's tons of annoying lingo to learn, and one of the first terms you learn is "stage," a French term loosely used to refer to your training group, with each trainee knows as a "stagiaire." So this is my original stage of 14 fellow trainees plus 4 women who joined us midway through the year after having been evacuated from Guinea, when the PC temporarily suspended its program there.

Since I mostly see people who live near me, the person I probably talk to the most here is Tami, 2 down from me in the white t-shirt, hat and glasses. Also of note is Bonnie, who has an IWP connection for those of you who work for my former employer. She's standing on the far left, in the bright blue t-shirt and visor, behind me. She is apparently friends with Erica of the environment group and came from Baltimore.

This photo was taken at a PC-sponsored training back in March, and features the whole stage plus the Togolese work partners we brought with us. The partner I brought, Sakran, is in the back, directly behind the woman in white directly behind me. I love Sakran -- he's affiliated with my NGO tho now works in a village around 50 km from Sokode. A lot of volunteers, especially female volunteers, are not big fans of Togolese men since they can be rather sexist, but Sakran is one of the warmest, kindest people I've ever met and had no problem relating to me as an equal. He works on environmental and agricultural projects with kids.