Does anyone have an opinion on the Peace Corps that they'd like to share? Good or bad, informed or otherwise. Discuss for my edification pretty plz.
Does anyone have an opinion on the Peace Corps that they'd like to share? Good or bad, informed or otherwise. Discuss for my edification pretty plz.
Drought was over. Where was I? Drinks were on the house.
For mixers, my love, you'd poured--what?--even the rain.





The CIA won't hire you if you have worked for the PC.





I think it's the other way around. You can't join the Peace Corps if you have ever been in the intelligence community because the PC is not supposed to be a tool of the CIA, etc.
I assume it would go both ways, according to the PC's thing about keeping intelligence and service separate.
I was hoping for opinions like "My brother who served in the North Pole said they suck/rule" &c. Army Sgt, do you know anyone who's served?
Drought was over. Where was I? Drinks were on the house.
For mixers, my love, you'd poured--what?--even the rain.
My friend's sister served with the Peace Corps in Uganda shortly, but she freaked out about AIDS or Ebola and came home within a few months.
I would consider joining one of the branches of the US military to do the same kinds of things, plus you get a handy gun to tote around.





I think your right. Might even be an EO from JFK when he started the org.
If I have those persons would have never admitted to it. I think it would be cool though. For me the outdoors and old tech are sort of hobbies. So I think I would like a trip to central or south america to build water wheels, vaccinate livestock, build a clinic with solar, test wells and drill new ones. Yeah I would enjoy that sort of thing. Teaching not so much, building would be cool though.
Wow, TOTH, that's a great idea for you. I don't know anyone who's served in the Peace Corps but I can see you really loving it! Would you teach or what?
I might consider it if I were younger and had no responsibility, but I wouldn't want to go to Africa. I'd go to southeast Asia though, and teach. I think I'd have liked that.
I've met a number of people who have worked in the Peace Corps and what sticks out in my mind was this one girl who told me she was scared shitless for the first 8 months because she was living alone in the jungle somewhere ( can't remember the country now) and the closest other volunteer was miles away. She also said she eventually got used to it and it was a great experience.
There are lots of other organizations if you don't want to commit to 2 years .




I met a ton of PC volunteers in South America and Africa.
I have a lot of respect for professionals who donate their time.
Recent college grads...that can be tough. In a lot of situations, you have some early 20's kid trained for 3 months that goes into a village and tells adults that their ways are all wrong, and this is why they should adopt American teachings.
In other places, PC is misused by local governments and displaces jobs that should otherwise be done by locals. One example that sticks out in my mind were some volunteers i met that were teaching in rural Kenya.
My friend's parents, however, were teachers, they went to Belize and built a library and got books donate from the states to stock it. That was cool.
**This just an anecdotal opinion**
The PC does some great work. It can just be a mixed bag. I did Americorps and liked that.
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If you have never lived in a third world country, I would strongly suggest doing a short term volunteer project just to see how you deal with the isolation and such. Especially if you are looking into a country where they do mostly rural placements. Ecuador is a great country to volunteer in for the short term, there are tons and tons of organizations that can do placements for as little as a month...and it is not THAT far away.
PM me if you are looking for ideas. I've done a lot of volunteer work here and abroad.
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This is pretty much the distillation of my two greatest fears. See, I have these 2 conflicting beliefs: First, that all people of the world should have access to healthcare and sanitation. While I don't adore all aspects of Western Medicine, I firmly believe that antibiotics are good; overused, perhaps, but good. Sterilization, antispectics and autoclave are all good. Anesthesia is good. OB/GYN is good. I could go on but you get the point.
However-- and this brings me to belief #2-- I don't really relish the idea of being a pawn in the game of Let's Make The World Safe For Democracy And Capitalism. And yet, this seems to be an inevitability of such a type of service. When you introduce modern healthcare to formerly subsistence-lifestyle peoples, the infant mortality rate decreases drastically and invariably, and life expectancy inches up. A larger population = strain on subsistence economy = need to (sooner or later) embrace capitalism = TotH, here to teach you English so you may work in a tech support call center that we're going to build right here where your cassava patch used to be!
Am I being too pessimistic, dogmatic and paranoid? Clifford Geertz (my ethnographer hero) says that it's insulting to a culture to assume that it cannot or should not change... and yet... I get kind of sad thinking that I'd contribute to the ruin of the sorts of places that I'd like to keep around (even though that, in itself, is a pretty anthropologically shitty way to feel).
I have lived and volunteered abroad... well, in Central America, so not "abroad" like across an ocean. The people I met were all extremely happy that we were there, not because we were all that helpful, but because the bunch of us gringo do-gooders were extremely entertaining and scandalously squeamish. I don't know how much my work actually accomplished, but I know everyone involved learned a lot. I adored learning about the local culture(s) and I know that our hosts got some kicks from us, since basically everything made us scream.
Blah. I want to do something with my life that entails (a) moving the fuck out of Sarasota, (b) going someplace new, (c) helping or teaching people who want to be helped and/or taught, and (d) learning some skills that I find personally enriching, but I'm at a bit of a loss for what exactly this is.
Drought was over. Where was I? Drinks were on the house.
For mixers, my love, you'd poured--what?--even the rain.




I know you probably want to go somewhere far away and exotic, but have you thought about teach for america? There are a lot of interesting places to go in our diverse country and domestic stuff can be cool.
Have you graduated from undergrad yet? Have you thought about applying for a Fulbright?
Yeah, I know it is tough to become a Fulbright Scholar...but a lot has to do with the relavency of your project and which country you apply for. Western Europe is super competative, but there are a lot of smaller developing nations that don't have as many applicants and it would be really cool to do research there for a year.
Try looking into some fellowships, it helps to be right out of school, but recent grads can apply to a lot of them too.
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I had to add, I am getting such a kick out of this thread b/c I was exactly in your same mindframe 6 years ago....right when I graduated from college. Actually by this time I had made it to Ecuador to begin what would later turn into a couple of years in South America.
I feel sooooo oooolllld!!!!
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My statement about the gun was meant to be facetious, but IMO no lone young female should consider venturing into a Third World country/dicey situation without some sort of armed authority to request assistance from, if need be.





*Bump*
Does anyone have anything new/interesting to share? I've been thinking about it...just thinking... I'm going through my "I Want to Help Humanity" stage.![]()
I feel so freakin' popular when my threads gets bumped by someone other than me
BTW... it's funny that last year I wrote in this thread that I wanted to move away from FL, as I am know pretty certain I am going to stay here, with the ultimate goal of enrolling in USF's Master's International in Public Health program: http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/peacecorpsmi.html
And eeee! I start my first 2 core courses next Monday!
Drought was over. Where was I? Drinks were on the house.
For mixers, my love, you'd poured--what?--even the rain.
^^^
First congragulations TOTH!
Second, I know somebody who was in the PC who also happens to be a (not very active) member of this site so I dont want to give out detailed information, but esp being a woman I would NOT EVER NEVER NEVER NEVER join the peace corps. It's not what it used to be , if you know what I mean.
I had a friend who went to Africa with the Peace Corps. I think she did something with irrigation systems there. She LOVED it, and talked about it as one of the best experiences she had ever had, she learned so much about the country, and she wanted to go back some day. However, she also came back with a terrible case of giardia that she never seemed able to get rid of for as long as I knew her (about 3 years, then she moved away and we lost contact).





After the military steals indigenous peoples resources, they send the peace corp to assimilate them and make it seem all nice. That's fucked up.




I know a girl who worked for the peace corps on some island in the carribbean. She said she partied & drank constantly & got sent home after a few months. Now she works at the vegan deli by my house.




I had a friend who was one of the first Peace Corps members back in the days. She went to Liberia, taught, helped with agriculture, hygiene, etc. She came back very positive about the experience, felt a bond with the people she worked with.
About twenty years ago, she and some others went back to Liberia to visit the village where they had served. That was when the revolution broke out. They had to be hidden and smuggled out of the country. She saw many horrible atrocities, the worst being a young boy about twelve lying dead in the road with his hands, feet, and testicles chopped off. The testicles had been shoved in his mouth and he had been left to die.
She went back to teaching at a private school in Florida, but suffered from Post Traumatic Shock Syndrome. She would become irate if somebody said something like, "I'm starving. When do we eat?"
In between her two trips to Liberia, she was on the research team that developed the microchip.
Last edited by UtahMike; 08-19-2008 at 08:40 AM.





Oy. I already have an anxiety and panic disorder due to the military--and I'm still recovering. If it's anything like being in the Armed Forces, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for me.![]()
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