I am not a spontaneous guy. I have always sought the comfort of structure and floundered without it. This may explain why I am borderline obsessed with filling out forms. When I am handed the medical history checklist in a doctor's office, the pleasure center of my brain lights up like I've just been given chocolate. I'm pretty sure that I've had my identity stolen by a scammer pretending to be my bank and asking me to fill in personal information. What's that? You don't have my social security number, address, passwords or account info? Man, this must be my lucky day! I thought the Peace Corps application would fulfill my craving of organized forms and I was hoping there wouldn't be any surprises.
Peace Corps policy allows a volunteer to apply one year from the date he/she wants to leave. My girlfriend and I decided to apply in October of 2008. We read that Peace Corps required couples to be married for six months before they leave the U.S., so our original plan was to have a small family-only wedding in February, followed by a large bash in the summer and then leave for our service in the fall. A nice structured plan.
The first part of the Peace Corps application requires a potential volunteer to submit a lot of personal details online and then go to a local office for an interview. Tens of thousands of people enthusiastically take this first step each year. However, Peace Corps can only accept about 8,500 volunteers, so competition is fierce.
Even though Peace Corps was my girlfriend's dream, seeing the online document brought out my desire to complete forms and I felt the need to finish before her. The application asks for education, health, work and volunteer history, skills, and two essays: one about cultural experience and one about why you want to join the Peace Corps. You also have to send in three references from a friend, volunteer supervisor and work supervisor. The best part of the application for me was listing the top three regions of the world where I wanted to volunteer. There are no guarantees of being placed in your top choices, but it was exciting to picture myself on different parts of the globe. We breezed through the requirements and sent the info off to the recruiters in the Los Angeles office on October 1, 2008. For the record, I finished first.
Two days later, I was driving back to our apartment in Venice Beach, when I got a frantic call from my girlfriend. Her tone varied between anger and confusion as she explained that the Peace Corps was now requiring couples to be married for one year before they leave for service. Apparently there were problems with couples that were married for only six months before moving to a foreign country. Our options were to get married as we had planned in February of 2009 and leave later than we hoped, or drive to Vegas the next day and stick to leaving in the fall. We got this news on a Friday, so a shotgun wedding in Vegas would have to happen that very weekend as both of us were going to be traveling for work the rest of the year. We chose Vegas!
We called our immediate families with the news and sent a text to our friends (yes, a classy text message wedding announcement). My fiancé went to find a suitable wedding dress at 4 p.m. A wedding on 24 hours notice was a little out of my comfort zone. I searched for some structure by going to do laundry while excitedly answering the most texts I have ever received in one day.
On October 4, 2008 we drove the four hours to Vegas, constantly making eye contact followed by laughter. We checked into a fancy five star hotel. The front desk attendant told us she dreamed of joining Peace Corps and immediately upgraded us to a suite larger than our apartment. (She was the first person to give us something free, while telling us she wished she could do what we were doing.) My beautiful bride's dad and stepmom flew in from Boston to join one of my brothers and a bunch of our devoted friends for the memorable ceremony. As we held hands and said our vows, we were both in a love struck daze. The random Vegas minister instructed me to kiss the bride. Next, it was time to hit the tables and earn some money before volunteering!
Online application? Check. Married? Check. The next part was the in-person interview in the Peace Corps office. We went for the interview in mid-November when we were both home again. Our lovely recruiter, who was also the first person to know we were getting married, told us to bring résumés, transcripts, any certifications we have, an explanation to fulfill financial obligations while we would be away, fill out a questionnaire if we are vegetarians or serving with or without our spouse, and a birth certificate or naturalized certificate for naturalized citizens. And yes, we also got to bring our fancy new marriage license that was mailed to us from Vegas... with advertisements for quick divorce. Oh capitalism!
The interview consisted of a lot of questions on how we would deal with adversity. Recruiters want to know how a potential volunteer will handle learning a new language, not having work or programs move fast, deal with missing family/friends, what region of the world we want to volunteer in and reasons for volunteering. They asked us about our flexibility, and we kindly reminded them we got married on 24 hours notice. I was interviewed with my wife and we were also interviewed separately. Maybe by dividing us the recruiter could see if one of us would crack. After the interviews we had our fingerprints taken for a background check. Our recruiter told us she was recommending we move to the next phase in the process, which is trying to place us in a country. Peace Corps staff works hard to match volunteers' skills, with a country's needs in a region of the world where the volunteer hopes to work.
Part one was finished. As we walked out of the office, I knew I had a trump card for anyone that said I wasn't spontaneous again! If you are ready to sign up for the Peace Corps click here.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. To honor this occasion I will be writing blogs about my experiences as a currently serving volunteer. It would be impossible to capture the unique differences of all 200,000 plus volunteers that have served since the Peace Corps started in 1961. However, I am hoping to provide more insight into what a volunteer goes through from the time they decide to apply until they get to the country they are serving and all the funny, somber, and moving stories until the day they leave.
Peace Corps - The New York Times
Cicely Wolters: An unabashed advocate for the Peace Corps
I wanted to address the cynics here who see Peace Corps as a boondoggle, a vanity assignment, or "useless" in doing good works. The thing Peace Corps applicants have to realize is that this job requires a whole heaping lot of flexibility, initiative, creativity, and, especially, self-motivation. Unlike high school or college, there's not going to be someone standing over your shoulder, telling you what to do all the time. You'll certainly have some skills and knowledge when you get to your site (during a 10-week training you'll get 200+ hours of tech training and even more language training), but you'll also have to have a work ethic and motivation to get out of your comfort zone, and hut, to get things done. And you'll have to make all new friends -- probably in a new language. It's damned hard psychologically.
Those volunteers who don't assimilate tend to sit in their huts, complaining about the organization, and getting progressively more bitter. But those who succeed -- the majority of volunteers, I would say -- make great new friends, do good things, and find Peace Corps the experience of a lifetime.
You get out of it what you put into it.
I thought it also might help some of the people posting comments to know that I am 32 and my wife is 30. The average age of a volunteer is 28 and we have a good mix of ages in this group. I'll save more of the details for the next posts. Let's keep the conversation going! Thanks.
However, US AID does seem to do good work. And Peace Corps experience looks good on a resume if you want a job with the State Department or something.
What the Peace Corps has a worse time preparing volunteers for are the HUGE cultural differences, and, say, how it feels to be denied a prime seat on the bus because you are a woman, "for your protection".
Great column: will come back for more.
Theo (In laaandaan (London) England)
The kicker, though, was that their window for accepting or rejecting the position was extremely narrow, basically crippling my ability to apply for other jobs. That application is way too much effort to not have some kind of back up plan...
Anyhoo, it didn't work for me, but I hope it works for you. Happy marriage, or whatever.
One of my best friends in PC Kenya was a vegetarian for just about as long. She couldn't stay the course. Any guess why? Offending people. Let's say your neighbors invite you over for dinner. They're dirt poor, usually unable to purchase meat except for special occasions. So they dip into their $2 of savings and buy a 1/4 kilo of meat for dinner to honor you as their guest. Are you going to refuse it? My friend couldn't. She ate it. She couldn't stand hurting people buy refusing meat. That's a very hard thing to do.
I think you would have found that the reasons many become vegetarians don't exist in developing countries. Chickens roam free. Cows have free range of fields and goats go everywhere. Domestic animals (livestock--not pets) are treated better in developing countries. They live better lives. Many vegetarians who didn't eat meat on animal welfare grounds didn't see the same issues overseas.
You would have been fine "not willing to kill animals." You would have encountered a barrage of questions constantly, and you might have offended a few folks. But so what. You would have been okay. Plus, I bet some places are more accepting than Africa.
Sure, offending people is bad, but at the same time, it's also ridiculous to do something you think is wrong to please others. Would they expect a Jewish or Muslim person to eat pork? Sure, it'll lead to awkward conversations, and may lead to offending some people, but they'll deal. Worst case scenario, say you're allergic to whatever meat it is...awkward conversation averted. "It'll make me sick." or "It'll kill me." is a conversation ender.
I know lots of stories of this happening too. I met a woman living with an Embera tribe in Panama who had picked up fish since living there. Sometimes it's necessary, and I understand that. Assuming that I felt that my role at my assignment was important and valuable, then I'd take up what I needed to for my health. Not for people's feelings, though.
The whole thing was just weird. I am considering reapplying after my current job is done, but they said that my abandoned application will remain on record...which won't bode well.
I think that Peace Corps asks recruits the "vegetarian question" to get a sense of how flexible that person is, more than anything else. If you aren't willing to move out of your comfort zone at times, you're not likely to be a successful volunteer with viable projects. And you're more likely to leave early ("early terminate" or "ET" in Peace Corps parlance) -- leaving your village, and Peace Corps, in the lurch, at considerable expense to the organization. So it's understandable that they're interested in a recruit's flexibility as it relates to diet, housing, living conditions, and so on.
I know you as an award winning author, a Peace Corps Volunteer and now as a great blogger and story teller. I’m excited to follow your adventures and maybe your frustrations (I know you’ll handle them well). GOOD LUCK
I have the medical kit sitting next to me right now...it's been sitting next to me for 4 months now. I've read and on abcnews.com, seen, too many less than good things about the PC. It's a shame, this was my 3rd time expressing interest in it. The other 2 times I wasn't ready, but this time I was and am, but this time, I had the time and the patience to dig deep and find that there's more to it than the hype. That's usually the case, isn't it?
Be careful for what you wish for and go in with your eyes open. The novelty will wear off and you'll realize that 27 months is actually a long time, esp when you're living in conditions that are challenging to cope with for some people.
As a former Peace Corps volunteer, I must say that this is just a good yet rather naive way in which you can go abroad as an American, "do something", feel special (and be reminded by family, friends, and the rest of America on how special and great you are) and be baby-sat for 2 years while you're abroad. It's the safe way into the big wide world, but not a "real" one, I think.
The other thing I'd say about Peace Corps for 22-year olds is: It's not the end of your education about the world, just a beginning. You may be "naive" when you begin, but you're a whole lot less naive when you're done. Then you've got the rest of your life to figure things out further. Peace Corps is an invaluable foundation -- particularly for Americans, who may be the people in the world least curious about other cultures.