So... Where are you going?

It is time to talk a little about Comoros. When I tell people that I am leaving for Peace Corps service the first thing they want to know is where I will be going. The second question is "uh, where is that?" Which is the same question I had when I received my "under consideration" email.

Comoros is a chain of three volcanic islands off the coast of eastern Africa. It sits in the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. At just over 700 square miles between all of the islands, it is one of the world's smallest countries. To put it into perspective (for my US readers) Rhode Island, the smallest of the US states, is more than 1,200 square miles. For readers back home, Comoros is smaller than Jacksonville, FL. It is also among the world's poorest countries. They speak a language called Shikomor that is divided into island specific dialects. Travel between islands looks difficult; one of them is inaccessible by ferry. There is very little in the way of public transportation, and access to electricity and water is limited away from the cities. 

These facts have interesting consequences for Peace Corps service. Recently we completed a placement survey that asked us to honestly consider the conditions that we could work in and live under. I did my best to answer honestly rather than provide the answer that I knew the Peace Corps wanted to hear (which was actually rather difficult. Who wants to admit to being inflexible?) But a major difficulty was that while I was considering the conditions I can withstand in Comoros, I was sitting on my comfy couch, in a temperature controlled room, on my wifi-enabled laptop, drinking a nice cold beverage. 

Right now what I want for my PC placement is to be at a rural site, off of the main island. That would likely mean a house with no running water or electricity. There would probably be very little transportation available on the islands, and we are not permitted to casually travel off the island. The school where I would work (teaching English to secondary school kids) will likely be open-air, with no electricity and few textbooks or other materials for the students. This is the kind of site I have requested, but will I be able to hack it when I get there? I also suspect that the level of English spoken in the villages is very limited. That will make it all the more important to learn my local language, which is intimidating. I think the trick will be to have low expectations and a large amount of resolve!