Peace Corps

Over the last three months while at work I’ve been able to talk with a number of people about Peace Corps.  I’ve taken many questions such as what it is and what the costs.

When did it start?

The idea started with an early morning speech on the University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus on October 14, 1960 by then Senator John F. Kennedy.  The key question posed to the assembled students was how many of them would be willing to serve their country and the cause of peace by living and working in the developing world?  The first volunteers headed off after his election in 1961.  Ghana was one of the first countries to host volunteers.

The Peace Corps is a U.S. Federal Agency with the mission to promote world peace and friendship.  Three goals support this mission:

1)     Provide trained men and women to meet a need in a host country

2)     Promote a better understanding of Americans among the people they serve

3)     Promote a better understanding of other people among Americans.

Who can go?

Peace Corps typically requires a 4 year degree although there are some exceptions for work experience or growing up on a farm.  The minimum age is 18.  There is no upper age limit.  People in their mid to late 80’s are currently serving.  There are opportunities to serve as a couple.  My wife and I were planning to serve as a couple after the kids were established in their careers.  A few, either the wife or husband, serve while their spouse holds down the fort back in the states.

The average age is around 28.  Many are just or very recently out of college.  About 7% are like me – over 50 years old.  Most, 62%, are female – showing that women are better when it comes to these sort of things.  It was my wife’s idea for us to volunteer for Red Cross local disaster services, St. Vincent de Paul, and the Peace Corps.  I think that the world would be a better place if women were better represented in business and government leadership.  Certainly, women should be more empowered and supported.

The Peace Corps works with interested developing countries to determine what needs the Peace Corps can support.  The arrangement is very much a partnership between Peace Corps and the host country – from the Country Director and national leaders working together down to the individual volunteer and community member.

So you how do you go exactly?

Obviously, there is an application process, interview, medical clearance (which I have), and legal clearance (which I’m waiting on).  The process can take up to a year.

Before flying to the country of service everyone in the group will “stage” in an American city.  For Ghana, mine was Washington D.C. and for Eastern Caribbean it will be Miami.  At staging you meet the people you will share the good and bad, highs and lows for the next couple of years.  There is some paperwork to be completed, some initial ground rules explained, and one last chance to back out before going overseas.  For Ghana this included an overnight stay. before the long flight to Accra, Ghana.  Because of travel logistics some people arrived the day before “staging”.

The typical duration overseas for a Peace Corps volunteer is 2 years plus some amount of time in training before service – typically 2 or 3 months.  The training covers Federal paperwork and regulations, safety and security, technical, cultural, and language.

The volunteer lives with a host family or families during training and will live in the community, possibly with a host family, during service.  The volunteer is not behind embassy walls, but pretty much living like the people they are serving.  In Ghana I had three rooms – kitchen, bedroom, living room in a concrete walled building of 4 units.  Three other teachers lived in the other units.  The rooms had plywood ceilings rather than open to zinc roofs.  Most other homes in my village were mud brick flat roof structures and dirt floors, although some homes were much nicer than mine. 

I did not have running water and used a water filter for drinking and cooking water.  I pooped in a hole, and took a “bath” with a bucket.  I had electricity most of the time, but with high and low voltages that damaged electronics.  I generally but not always had access to the internet – enough during certain hours of most days for text message, voice over IP, some internet.  No downloads of videos, music, and long waits to upload blog entries without pictures.  Uploaded pictures had to be low resolution.  Email had to use low speed format.

Some countries and sites are better, others are rougher.  I had friends in other African countries in single room mud huts with thatch roofs, no electricity, and no internet at site.  Other lived in nice apartments, wifi, hot showers, access to washing machines, and a short modern rail trip to a modern capital city.  The sites can greatly vary within a country.

During training, the Peace Corps staff tries the figure out the best site for each volunteer.  Sometimes a person can move to a different site during service, but that is not always an option.

Are you alone?  Is it safe?

You go as a group to the country and you train as a group – but when you go to your site – you might be the only Peace Corps volunteer in the area – the transition can be difficult.  However, the Peace Corps is very concerned about volunteer safety.  Even if you might not be near another volunteer for daily or even weekly contact, you will be part of a community.  The Peace Corps works with the community so that the volunteer will be known and supported.  In most cases the volunteer is very well supported and protected by the local community.

However, there have been problems and the Peace Corps has not always been as responsive as it needed to be to protect the volunteer.   All volunteers, but I think particularly young female volunteers, have to deal with issues around safety and security.  There are risks.  But there are risks driving to work in the U.S. as well.

What does it cost?

Peace Corps provides a passport, any visas required, along with anything else – like residences permits for Ghana volunteers.  They fly you there and back, pay you to live like an upper middle class villager (living allowance), give you some money to see the country during service, and cover all prescriptions and any health issues that arise.  They also pay you about $8,000 at the end of two years as a “readjustment” allowance back to the US – but many volunteers use some of that money for some pretty nice “Close of Service” (COS) trips. 

You do not need to spend your own money while in the service, but many volunteers do use some “American money” to make life easier.  I did not, only using my living allowance for food and essentials.  During my first year I was somewhat malnourished and had to very carefully budget my spending.  Volunteers got a raise in the living allowance to account for decline in the value of the local currency in my second year and it was much easier to budget, although still necessary.  It would have easier if I had used some of the “travel” money for food and phone credit.

So you are there for 2 years?

You can leave anytime.  It is unfortunate, but some volunteers land in their country of service – and the sights, sounds, smells, or something makes them want to leave while still at the airport.  The Peace Corps arranges the flight and they are back home as soon as possible.  None in my group did this.  Some leave during training.  One out of the 25 in my group did this.  Some leave in the first few months of service at site.  Two in my group did this.  Some leave around the end of the first year.  Zero in mine.  Some extend for up to a third year.  Although several wanted to, only one was able to extend from my group.

There is also Peace Corps Response – which is a shorter assignment – 3 to 12 months that generally requires specialized skills, has less training, and typically with in a higher level job in a larger city with less chance to “live like the average villager”.   There is also a program for medical professionals.  I don’t have personal experience with either program.

Why do you go?  Is it worth it?

I spent a good deal of my life working so my family could have what I thought was necessary.  As we grew older my wife introduced me to volunteering.  There have been many times when the actual act of volunteering was hard, difficult, frustrating, uncomfortable – standing in the freezing cold in the middle of the night with a family just made homeless from a fire or sitting in a rundown trailer home with a single mom trying to keep the water on. 

But there is something about trying to help others and make the world a better place.  I coming didn't like going out, felt uncomfortable at times, but I never regretted the hour, or two, or more when it was all done.

Peace Corps is like that for two years.  Of course, it is not the only way to make the world a better place and not for everyone.

Love always,

John