Peace Corps Job
The United States Peace Corps: The Hardest Job You'll Ever Love
What do you want to be when you grow up? It's a question that we hear from the time that we're children, up to the time we settle on a major for college. What sounds appealing one day may very well lose its luster the next. Yesterday you wanted to be a doctor, today it's a firefighter, and tomorrow who knows? Nonetheless, we all want to be somebody special. We all desire to do something worthwhile with our lives, yet so many people end up in dead end jobs with no real merit to them. But what about escaping the ocean of cubicles and trying something completely foreign in your life? In the United States Peace Corps, volunteers spend two years in a foreign country living their lifestyle, speaking their language, and working to develop and improve their new communities of service. They help to make a positive change in the world, while at the same time improving and developing themselves. Service in the United States Peace Corps, apart from benefiting the community of service, has a life-changing effect on a person's strengths, desires, skills, and commitments.
The Peace Corps is a whole lot more than just a job, it's a total emersion in a new way of life. Volunteers have to go through a lengthy set of interviews, training, and evaluation before they are officially admitted in the Peace Corps. This is designed to weed out everyone but the truly committed. (UPSC Website) This is not a job that just anyone can do. They have to deal with being thousands of miles away from their homes and families, living in third-world villages among a completely foreign culture. The comforts of home are replaced by long, hard days at work with only a tiny hut to look forward to at the end of the day. If a person doesn't have the wholehearted commitment to their cause, then they are almost guaranteed to grow homesick and miserable in the first month. Through the experience of being shipped off to the middle of nowhere, Peace Corps volunteers develop a great deal of personal strength. They have to rely on their own body and mind to survive. They learn just how far they can push themselves to make a difference in the lives of others.
The Peace Corps was founded by President John F. Kennedy in 1960. (USPC Website) Volunteers are sent out to do all sorts of tasks in their specific region of the world, but some of the major areas that Peace Corps volunteers work in are education, small business development, and HIV/AIDS awareness and treatment. (USPC Website) The main goal of any Peace Corps project is to enrich and develop the community of service. Since it was formed, there have been over 182,000 people of all ages, races, and religions who have made the commitment to service and gone abroad to help change the world. (USPC Website) Most of the people that volunteer are those who have recently graduated from college and are itching to get out into the “real world.” (Wilson Interview) Although I'm not there yet, I know that the time right after graduation is a period of huge decisions. The transition from the structured certainty of college to the real world will probably be terrifying to the majority of graduates who don't know what they want to do with their lives yet. I think this is part of the appeal of the Peace Corps. It is a relatively structured environment in which graduates can expand their horizons and develop their own personal strengths. (RPCV Website)
The concept of personal strength is something that we have all experienced. Our world is full of challenges that we must overcome, and every time we push through our struggles and rise above them we become stronger. Inner strength is something that Peace Corps volunteers will learn a lot about. They are placed into remote villages in the far corners of the Earth, miles away from anything familiar. They speak the language, dress the style, eat the food, and make their homes in the manner of the people around them. (USPC Website) According to the official United States Peace Corps website, volunteers are all placed into different villages in their regions of service, and it can be weeks to months before they see another American. (USPC Website) Volunteers have to learn how to adapt to their new environment and rely on their own personal strength to get them through the two hardest, but most rewarding, years of their lives.
It's never easy to know exactly what you want when making a big decision in your life. Whether you're deciding where to go to college, what to choose as your major, or if you want to get married or start a family, figuring out what you desire can be very difficult. When someone chooses to enter into the Peace Corps, they show that they have a strong desire to make a difference in the world and see the many amazing locations that the Earth has to offer. They show that they are ready to step up and do something amazing with their lives. People who enter into the Peace Corps have a huge desire to make a difference in the world.
The Peace Corps does not accept just anyone. Potential volunteers have to demonstrate an enormous level of commitment to their cause before they will even be considered for service. In an interview with Peace Corps recruiter Tori Wilson, she said that “A candidate for Peace Corps is different than most jobs” and they need to see that they are “passionate about service and making a difference in the global world.” (Wilson Interview) Without a wholehearted commitment to service it would be nearly impossible to endure the hard work and isolation of Peace Corps service.
Service in the Peace Corps does not come without risks. Since its formation, there have been 264 Peace Corps volunteers who have died in service to their country. (Fallen Peace Corps Volunteers Project) Most of the fallen volunteers died from injuries in car accidents, boat accidents, or native diseases, but some deaths have been the result of violence. (FPCV Project) Earlier in 2007, Juan Duntugan confessed to the murder of freelance journalist Julia Campbell at her Peace Corps post in the Philippines after she went missing during a hike. (Suspect Admits on TV to Killing of NYC Freelance Journalist in Philippines) According to the article, she was killed by multiple sharp blows to the head while trying to defend herself from her attacker. The spokesman for President Gloria Macapagal Aroyo said that Julia had become a “beloved personality here in the Philippines because of the work that she has done in Bicol region." (Suspect Admits…) This is why volunteers have to be so dedicated to what they are doing. There is always a chance that their quest for peace could end in violence and tragedy. But if volunteers are able to find the strength and courage to go beyond their personal limits and strive for peace, they can truly know the meaning of selfless service.
With so many wonderful effects on a volunteer's life, it is sometimes easy to forget that the most important aspect of the Peace Corps is the astonishing benefits that happen to the community being served. After having a smart, dedicated volunteer in their community for two years, villages are able to take what they learned from their volunteer and apply it to bettering their community. (USPC Website) In the article The other side of the Peace Corps, an interview with Romanian citizen Petruta Moisi, she talks about how Peace Corps volunteers are received in Romania. She talks about how Romania, a country that was under communist rule for many years, is now working to develop new businesses and organizations with the help of Peace Corps volunteers. (The other side of the Peace Corps) Developing new businesses is just one way that the Peace Corps is working to help improve people's lives around the world. They are also working on efforts to help with all aspects of life across the world. They have volunteers across the globe teaching English, building schools and homes, working to help incorporate new technology into their lives, and teaching at-risk youth about HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. (USPC Website) Volunteers do whatever is needed in the community.
Although the Peace Corps does offer a small stipend to help volunteers adjust back to normal life, the only real things that volunteers bring home are stories, pictures, and experiences. In an article for Essence, Dara-Renee Hollinsed talks about how her time volunteering in a small Mongolian village had a powerful affect on her. She worked as an English teacher in the village of Bayandelger, a far cry from her upbringing as a big city girl in New York City. (The Other Side of the World) I can only imagine what it must be like to go from the glitz and glamour of the city to a tiny hut without running water or electricity? Hollinsed talks about how the middle aged parents, who grew up in Soviet-controlled Communist Mongolia, are now raising their children in a free democratic society. She talks about watching the women of Mongolia adjust and adapt to an entirely new world. (The Other Side of the World)
In the book A Life Inspired: Tales of Peace Corps Service, The Peace Corps has put together thirty essays from returned Peace Corps volunteers about what they learned in the corps. In Karen Schaefer's essay, Where Credit is Due, she talks about how the women of the Mzumbe village in Tanzania set up the Mzumbe Women Workers Club to help each other save money. Each month, the women would all put in the equivalent of about fifty dollars, and one woman would receive all the money. Schaefer talked about how she was confused at their system, because the women just came out of it with what they put in. The women then explained to her that in order to save money in their society, they had to keep money tucked away. “It's not possible for us to save money, if it's in the house, someone will spend it. Our husbands will find it and use it to buy beer, or we will need it for school fees or medicine for one of the children. This way, once in a while we will have money to buy something nice, maybe a pretty tablecloth or a new set of dishes.” (Schaefer, A Life Inspired)
These two women were both volunteers in different towns in different countries, but they both experienced the same sense of global understanding. In many third world countries today, women are gaining more and more power and freedom. These two volunteers were able to experience firsthand what it is like for women who have been mostly suppressed their entire lives to come into their own as free citizens. I cannot imagine a more powerful or moving experience than to help give someone a new sense of freedom.
Passion is something that is essential to every aspect of a volunteer's life in the Peace Corps. They need to have a strong passion for service in order to get through every day. However, that passion is hardly lost upon their return home. Most Peace Corps volunteers will carry that spirit of service for the rest of their lives. In Caroline Kennedy's article “Making a Difference at Home”, she talks about how many returned volunteers carry the spirit of service that they developed in the Peace Corps over into their civilian lives. She writes: “I had always heard that the Peace Corps was a life-changing experience, but I assumed that after spending two years or more living and working in a developing country, often without electricity or running water, most of these young American volunteers would return home to pursue less arduous, more comfortable lines of work. Instead, many bring back the lessons they learned abroad and seek lives of purpose in struggling U.S. communities.” (Kennedy) An experience as radically life-changing as Peace Corps service is bound to change the attitude that volunteers have towards serving their fellow man.
According to Kennedy, many volunteers take up teaching as a way of giving back to their communities. Jeff Fontenot, a teacher at Brooklyn International High School and former volunteer in the Slovak Republic, said that his service in the Peace Corps: “Made me realize what is important is not the go-go-go, get-get-get attitude that we have here in the U.S., but time spent with others and being part of a community.” (Kennedy) For returned volunteers, the selfish desires of youth are replaced by the drive to make a difference.
Teaching seems to be a prime way that former Peace Corps volunteers spread their spirit of goodwill. Not only do many Corps members find enriching work improving the educational systems of their assigned countries, but returned volunteers will quite often gravitate towards teaching in the American public school system when they return home as a way to keep giving back. The striking similarities between the basic needs of all students worldwide makes returned teaching volunteers prime candidates for teaching positions back home. (Kennedy)
Upon the return home from service, Peace Corps volunteers have a world of possibilities open to them for what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They have such a diverse variety of experiences in their two years of service that you could say they are “up for anything.” The infinite amount of knowledge and experience that they gain in their seven hundred and thirty days in their assigned country will apply to all sorts of careers and post-corps activities. What better candidate for any job could an employer look for than someone who has the passion, dedication, and commitment to make a difference?
Careers for returned Peace Corps volunteers are not just limited to teaching. Many volunteers will work as guest lecturers for schools, businesses, and colleges across the country. (USPC Website) They use the extensive and incomparable variety of experiences and lessons that they have learned halfway across the globe to teach valuable lessons about cultural respect and understanding here in the United States. (Peace Corps Slots in High Demand)
Service in the Peace Corps has an entirely unmatchable effect on a person's character. They become confident, driven, and enriched individuals with a deep sense of passion and an incomparable commitment to enriching the world they live in. They learn how to put aside a sense of personal gain to help work for the greater good of humankind. They learn to get over their fears of homesickness and uncertainty and work to help improve and enrich the lives of others. In an interview with an unnamed Colorado University alumni and returned Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Georgia, she said “It is really important to keep in mind the bigger picture. I was so passionate about what I was doing that it [homesickness] was completely worth it. It gave me perspective so that when I came home I appreciated my loved ones so much more.” (News Team Boulder, Interview)
The benefits of service may help in a person's career and employability future, but the greatest profit is internal. Knowing that you can push yourself so much farther than you had ever dreamed possible is a powerful feeling. The Colorado University student interviewed said that “The most beneficial thing for me was gaining a sense of confidence and trust in my own abilities as a human being.” (News Team Boulder, Interview)
We all have the desire to do something meaningful with our lives, but for those select few that answer the call to service, the Peace Corps is their way to make a difference in the global community, as well as in their own lives. They will do something extraordinary for the world, and they will lead fulfilling and amazing lives. I greatly admire those who have made the commitment to service, and the countless more who will continue to do so. In the words of the Peace Corps motto: Life is calling, how far will you go?
Bibliography
Burman, Erica. "The other side of the Peace Corps: an interview with Petruta
Moisi."Faces: People, Places, and Cultures21.3 (Nov 2004): 30(4).General
OneFile. Gale. Montcalm Community College. 23 Sept. 2007
<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.
Hollinsed, Dara-Renee. "The other side of other world: a sister lives for two years in a
tiny Mongolian village and finds that, as different as life is from anything she has
known, her own dreams are much the same as her
neighbors'."Essence36.11 (March 2006): 117(2).General
OneFile. Gale. Montcalm Community College. 23 Sept. 2007
<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.
Interview with Peace Corps Recruiter. Dir. Barry Tu. Perf. Tori Wilson. 2007.
Kennedy, Caroline . "Making a Difference at Home." TIME 29 Aug. 2007: 7 pars. 14
Sep. 2007 <http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1657256_16
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Mack, Chelsea, and Donna Mack. Fallen Peace Corps Volunteers. 11 Mar. 2007. 21 Sep.
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"Peace Corps Slots in High Demand; The agency is a popular destination for
business majors looking to make a difference in the world -- and on their career
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"Suspect Admits on TV to Killing of NYC Freelance Journalist in Philippines.(Julia
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Outline
Thesis: Service in the United States Peace Corps, apart from benefiting the community of service, has a life-changing effect on a person's strengths, desires, skills, and commitments.
I. What the Peace Corps does
A. Background
B. Global Projects
II. Character Building
- Volunteers' stories
- Personal Strength
- Desires
- Commitment
- Risk
- Passion
III. Experiences
- Mongolia
- Tanzania
- New freedoms across the world
III. Returning Home
- What volunteers go on to do with their lives
- Teaching
- Skill Set
- Lecturers
- Why returned volunteers make powerful workforce candidates.
IV. Conclusion
- Summary
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