I have officially accepted a job with Church World Service in the Nairobi, Kenya OPE office.
CWS Nairobi is the overseas processing entity (OPE) for Sub-Saharan Africa. They contract with the US State Dept. to process refugee resettlement cases. The position is called a Pre-USCIS caseworker, which means that I will conduct interviews and prepare casefiles for refugees applying for resettlement in the U.S. I will not be making decisions about who goes or stays, but instead just getting things in place for the US State Dept. (USCIS) to come and assess the files, conduct interviews again, and make determinations. There are four different interviews that a Pre-USCIS caseworker conducts, and two of those interviews must be conducted by US citizens. "Quality assurance" is the catchphrase for this job.
The job requires travel throughout Sub-Saharan Africa on circuit rides. During a circuit ride, you will travel to a location (like a UN compound) to conduct interviews. Your day is pretty much spent listening to refugees tell their stories and gathering the specific information needed for the casefiles. Some common criticisms of this job is that it can become monotonous conducting interviews over and over and the issue of having to travel to remote locations. Sometimes the accommodations are nice hotels, other times they are more primitive. Some of the circuit rides are in Nairobi so travel is not guaranteed, but as needed depending on the refugee populations and the focus of US resettlement activities. Overall, I'm pretty excited about the job and think I'll really like it regardless of the downsides. I think it will be a great way to learn about the international side of resettlement, see refugee situations on the ground, hear personal stories from refugees and make contacts with INGOs doing refugee work.
The crazy thing is that this job starts on Jan. 4th. That's less than a month away (and I just received the job offer today)! In addition, I still have to finish my independent study research paper, take finals and hopefully receive my Masters. I will be completely finished with school by Dec. 17th. Then, starts the traditional crazy Christmas family festivities! It's going to be a busy time of visiting people and packing up.
We had to make a quick decision because they wanted to know by...the next day. The whole process started in late October when I applied for the job. I had my first interview in November, then had to wait four long weeks for them to contact me again for a second interview. After the second interview, I submitted references and received a job offer within a week. We've had time to think about the possibility of moving to Kenya so we felt good about saying yes.
Justin was a bit upset with me for posting the announcement on Facebook just a few (or less) hours after I found out. I'm sorry, but I just get too excited and lack patience. I want everyone to know at once, immediately. Justin wants to be much more intentional and relational. Let's call everyone individually and have a two hour conversation about it. I don't disagree with that method, but when you're in the last two weeks of your graduate program, time is something you have an abundance of. In fact, I probably shouldn't be writing this blog right now, but I just finished my reading for tomorrow and decided that I probably wouldn't be too productive trying to start something new since it's after 11:30 pm. My mental functioning drastically declines as I get tired.
The hardest part of leaving will be saying goodbye to family and friends. It's hard to leave. It's hard to be away. We don't take moving overseas lightly. We value our relationships and community. While it's exciting to go somewhere new, you miss out on so much. Life goes on without you. Keeping in touch can be challenging, but we hope to be intentional about maintaining friendships and connections. We don't know how long this move will be for...6 months, 1 year, 3 years, indefinitely. Justin still wants to get his PhD eventually, but you never know how things will turn out. We're open-minded and plan to follow the best path before us.
Anyway, that pretty much sums up my crazy day. Now I am waiting to hear back more details and logistics about how relocation process will work. Already, I have been running thru to do lists and questions to ask. I've made an appointment to get vaccinations and found a friend to loan me Swahili language learning cds. I just LOVE planning. I get really psyched up before a big event or new life phase and start obsessively planning and learning every possible thing I can about every facet associated with said event/life change. My enthusiasm can verge on the point of scary, but I usually calm down and adjust to normal upon commencement of the event. And I've never really suffered any negative effects from being over-prepared, so I have no real incentive to change my behavior. But, I somehow have to channel my energy back into school for the next week and a half. I can do this!
CWS Nairobi is the overseas processing entity (OPE) for Sub-Saharan Africa. They contract with the US State Dept. to process refugee resettlement cases. The position is called a Pre-USCIS caseworker, which means that I will conduct interviews and prepare casefiles for refugees applying for resettlement in the U.S. I will not be making decisions about who goes or stays, but instead just getting things in place for the US State Dept. (USCIS) to come and assess the files, conduct interviews again, and make determinations. There are four different interviews that a Pre-USCIS caseworker conducts, and two of those interviews must be conducted by US citizens. "Quality assurance" is the catchphrase for this job.
The job requires travel throughout Sub-Saharan Africa on circuit rides. During a circuit ride, you will travel to a location (like a UN compound) to conduct interviews. Your day is pretty much spent listening to refugees tell their stories and gathering the specific information needed for the casefiles. Some common criticisms of this job is that it can become monotonous conducting interviews over and over and the issue of having to travel to remote locations. Sometimes the accommodations are nice hotels, other times they are more primitive. Some of the circuit rides are in Nairobi so travel is not guaranteed, but as needed depending on the refugee populations and the focus of US resettlement activities. Overall, I'm pretty excited about the job and think I'll really like it regardless of the downsides. I think it will be a great way to learn about the international side of resettlement, see refugee situations on the ground, hear personal stories from refugees and make contacts with INGOs doing refugee work.
The crazy thing is that this job starts on Jan. 4th. That's less than a month away (and I just received the job offer today)! In addition, I still have to finish my independent study research paper, take finals and hopefully receive my Masters. I will be completely finished with school by Dec. 17th. Then, starts the traditional crazy Christmas family festivities! It's going to be a busy time of visiting people and packing up.
We had to make a quick decision because they wanted to know by...the next day. The whole process started in late October when I applied for the job. I had my first interview in November, then had to wait four long weeks for them to contact me again for a second interview. After the second interview, I submitted references and received a job offer within a week. We've had time to think about the possibility of moving to Kenya so we felt good about saying yes.
Justin was a bit upset with me for posting the announcement on Facebook just a few (or less) hours after I found out. I'm sorry, but I just get too excited and lack patience. I want everyone to know at once, immediately. Justin wants to be much more intentional and relational. Let's call everyone individually and have a two hour conversation about it. I don't disagree with that method, but when you're in the last two weeks of your graduate program, time is something you have an abundance of. In fact, I probably shouldn't be writing this blog right now, but I just finished my reading for tomorrow and decided that I probably wouldn't be too productive trying to start something new since it's after 11:30 pm. My mental functioning drastically declines as I get tired.
The hardest part of leaving will be saying goodbye to family and friends. It's hard to leave. It's hard to be away. We don't take moving overseas lightly. We value our relationships and community. While it's exciting to go somewhere new, you miss out on so much. Life goes on without you. Keeping in touch can be challenging, but we hope to be intentional about maintaining friendships and connections. We don't know how long this move will be for...6 months, 1 year, 3 years, indefinitely. Justin still wants to get his PhD eventually, but you never know how things will turn out. We're open-minded and plan to follow the best path before us.
Anyway, that pretty much sums up my crazy day. Now I am waiting to hear back more details and logistics about how relocation process will work. Already, I have been running thru to do lists and questions to ask. I've made an appointment to get vaccinations and found a friend to loan me Swahili language learning cds. I just LOVE planning. I get really psyched up before a big event or new life phase and start obsessively planning and learning every possible thing I can about every facet associated with said event/life change. My enthusiasm can verge on the point of scary, but I usually calm down and adjust to normal upon commencement of the event. And I've never really suffered any negative effects from being over-prepared, so I have no real incentive to change my behavior. But, I somehow have to channel my energy back into school for the next week and a half. I can do this!
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