Description of Service

COS and DOS

At Close Of Service (COS) PCVs must write a Description of Service (DOS). It is basically putting the last two years of your life as a PCV into a one page summary. Below is my DOS, proof that I am now an RPCV, no longer a PCV, and that I made it for the whole two years. Next, I'l be doing some traveling before heading back home to Oregon for the holidays. Thank you to everyone who has supported my efforts here over the last two years, I could not have done it without all of you.

Description of Service

Ms. Christine Boyer

Math/Science Volunteer 2009 – 2011

Kenya

After a competitive application process, stressing applicant skills, adaptability and cross cultural understanding, Ms. Christine Boyer was invited into Peace Corps service. She was assigned to serve in Kenya as a Math/Science Volunteer teacher in the education sector.

Ms. Boyer entered into training on November 04, 2009, participating in an intensive nine week training program in Loitokitok, Kenya. Language training in Kiswahili consisted of 135 hours. Other training included: 65 hours cross cultural, 95 hours technical, 22 hours medical, 22 hours safety and security, 22 hours field-based training and development, and 9 hours Peace Corps policy and administration. Ms. Boyer obtained a Kiswahili proficiency of intermediate-high on a language proficiency interview.

After successfully completing training, Ms. Boyer was sworn in as a Volunteer on January 6, 2010. She was assigned to Bande Girls' Secondary School under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. At Bande Girls’, Ms. Boyer taught biology, chemistry and Life Skills classes as her primary assignment. She worked closely with her Kenyan colleagues to promote the implementation of varied teaching methods and through these efforts over 100 students improved their grades in the sciences.

Ms. Boyer also undertook several secondary projects within her school and community. Her activities within the school included the formation of a health club and subsequently acting as the club’s advisor, serving as the head of the guidance and counseling department, conducting computer training courses for school staff, serving as an advisor for the science congress competition and organizing a scholarship program for students in conjunction with an international charitable organization. In the community, Ms. Boyer organized and carried out a workshop for the staff of a local primary school on the importance of educating girls, strategies for creating a student-centered school and the elimination of corporal punishment. Ms. Boyer also worked with a local non-governmental organization, LALMBA, assisting at community outreach clinics.

Within the Peace Corps/Kenya organization, Ms. Boyer served as vice-chair of the volunteer run Gender and Development Committee (GAD), which organized a week long girls' empowerment camp for over 80 girls and included over twenty Kenyan counterparts, where she served as camp director. She also helped to establish a GAD small grant program in which Peace Corps Volunteers in Kenya can apply for funding for gender and development related projects in their communities. Additionally, Ms. Boyer worked with other members of the committee to create a manual for volunteers on how to organize girls’ empowerment camps. She also assisted with Peace Corps pre-service trainings and in-service trainings for new Peace Corps Volunteers. Ms. Boyer completed her service on November 29, 2011.