Peace Corps can be a life-changing experience
Yes, it’s Peace Corp Week. I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer for three tours — every 20 years or so. My first assignment at age 23 was the most memorable and I’ve returned several times to my small community in Chile. My last visit in 2011 was fantastic. There was a dinner in my honor by a mayor who never knew me. One of my building projects was being converted into the elementary school due to earthquake destruction of the previous school. The community was adding bathrooms and a kitchen.
Another friend during my PCV Chile tour was then a general in the Chilean Army. I didn’t get to see him, but he put me on a military jet with just a pilot who dropped me off on Easter Island — 2200 miles from the mainland — and flew me back to Santiago after three days. Figuring how to get to town, where to stay and what to do for three days was no major challenge for a former PCV.
My second PCV assignment in 1972-73 was teaching Freshman English in Liberia on a new campus funded by the UN. The UN provided Freshman English reading materials that would be used in a U.S Freshman English Class. My students could not relate to the stories at all. I convinced the UN to provide funds for local books with stories about daily life, sex, and magic. That caught students’ interest and we moved ahead enjoying that reading.
Students also started writing their own stories. That work, plus parties including colleagues and other embassies counterparts in my apartment resulted in the American Ambassador nominating me for the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service. I served with state in various countries for 20 years.
After retirement, my final PCV assignment was in 2008 to Swaziland — now Eswatini — with the mission to help with teachers leaning English and providing training for teachers to work with special education students. That was too ambitious a goal to achieve quickly. With some health issues related to working in country, I was medically evacuated and ended that tour early.
From my experience, the Peace Corps staff members in the country of assignment are very helpful, making sure volunteers remained healthy physically and otherwise was and is their priority.
Peace Corps no longer has records of my service and that of others for the dates served. In trying to get the specific dates of my PC service, I talked with a PC national staff member. His best advice for future PCVs is to keep all their own records and not to rely on D.C. Peace Corps to have those records.
Peace Corps service will likely be a life changing experience for new volunteers and a connection to a place and people that will never be forgotten. If you’re so inclined, go for it!