Ping: Past and Present Peace Corps Volunteers

[Izulde]

I'm pondering joining the Peace Corps after I get my undergraduate degree and I wonder if anybody here has either gone through that experience or is presently going through it. I'd be interested in hearing your stories and what it was/has been like.

[albionmoonlight]

I didn't do Peace Corps, but I did do the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (http://www.jesuitvolunteers.org/) and it was awesome.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I'm pondering joining the Peace Corps after I get my undergraduate degree and I wonder if anybody here has either gone through that experience or is presently going through it. I'd be interested in hearing your stories and what it was/has been like.
I didn't do it, but Lady H_B joined the Peace Corps right out of college. She was sent to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (I had never heard of it either) in western Africa. Per the usual it was 2 year stint, but she had to leave after 4 months because of medical reasons.

I think Mauritania is one of the toughest assignments. First, as you can gather from the name, it's an Islamic country which makes things difficult from a cultural perspect right off the bat, especially for a woman. Also, the Peace Corps has only been there for a few years and is not really established meaning their role has yet to really be defined. For example, Lady H_B was sent there to teach English. She found out while over there, that they had Mauritanians teaching English, but they were all fired by the local government because they knew they could get Peace Corps volunteers to teach for free. Also, the first host family she stayed with had a slave. She quickly requested a new host family.

Other than that, it was an amazing experience. You get to see how the majority of the world lives and can really help out in certain places. I will ask her to write something up and I will send you a PM.

[KevinNU7]

My sister was in the Peach Corp for 2.5 years in West Africa (Senegal). PM me if you have specific questions.

[JeeberD]

I have an uncle who was in the Peace Corp in the early eighties...went to South/Central America if I remember correctly. Let me know if you would like to talk to him and I can send him your contact info...

[JeeberD]

My sister was in the Peach Corp for 2.5 years in West Africa (Senegal). PM me if you have specific questions.

Is the Peach Corp like the Brownies or something? ;)

[KevinNU7]

bite me :)

[dixieflatline]

I'm pondering joining the Peace Corps after I get my undergraduate degree and I wonder if anybody here has either gone through that experience or is presently going through it. I'd be interested in hearing your stories and what it was/has been like.

I almost did this after graduating as well. It was a really close decision and they really wanted me to go down to south america and teach(I had just missed getting a spanish minor by a few classes). Actually, they were a bit too pushy with me IMO as I just wanted some time to decide what to do next. Even though I didn't decide to go everything I saw was extremely positive and would recommend them to anyone just graduating(I think this is really the best time to do something like that).