UFSIZ (Update From Stevie In Zambia)

Hey everyone! Below is the latest UFSIZ (Update From Stevie In Zambia)...
-Maya

Well if there is one thing both Peace Corps and the Zambian education system loves- it's acronyms. For example, currently I am a PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) in the middle of PST (PreService Training). I am in the RED program (Rural Education Development). Most of my trainings are at FTI (Farmers Training Institute). The PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) has given me a total of 8 shots thus far and more are coming. I am about to go on my SSV (Second Site Visit) where I actually get to see where I am moving. Then hopefully after PST I will become a real PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer). Tomorrow I have interviews with the CD (Country Director), and TD (Training Director).

And that's just the beginning. The Zambian ministry of education (MOE) loves them even more! Every position has it's own acronym. Schools are broken into zones. Each zone has somewhere between 10-30 schools. In each zone, there is the ZHS (Zonal Head School), with a ZIC (Zonal Inset Coordinator), an acronym within an acronym inset (In-Service Training), and every school has an SIC (School Inset Coordinator). The ZHT, ZIC, and SIC make-up the ZEST (Zonal Educational Support Team). Then there is SPRINT (School Program for Inservice of the Term- Not sure how that one works...). SPRINT is baiscally any training or meetings for teachers. Like... a TGM (Teachers Group Meeting) or a SIMON (School Inservice and Monitoring) or a GRACE (Great Meeting at Resource Center)... And the list goes on and on- seriously that is just a few!

Now you can be a pro! I am afraid after my COS (Close of Service), I will never be able to speak in complete sentences...

Mwane!

-Stevie