Does anyone know anything about the peace corps?

Question

My daughter is wanting to join them and I just don't know enough about them.If you know anything about it I would appreciate you telling more.

Answer 1

Here is their website. I am thinking of joining them as well.

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shel...

Answer 2

Jenewalk said almost everything I would have said, only she writes better than I do. I was a PCV many years ago. Our daughter is one now. You'll worry; it is like when they go off to college, only twice as bad since they will be going much farther and to a country you don't know much about.

Some PCVs get raped and/or robbed, and a few have been murdered. So have some college co-eds in the USA. Many PCVs get assigned to small towns, the kind of places where people don't lock their doors at night. I was safer in Borneo than I was in Berkeley, and our daughter is safer in her town in Peru than she was at UCLA.

On the good side, she will make life-long friends, learn a language, learn about herself, gain confidence and change the world. PCVs don't change much of the world, and they don't change it much, but change it they do.

You can write to me via my profile if you would like.

Answer 3

Lesa,

The Peace Corps really is a great organization. First and foremost, since you are a parent, I will tell you that they take safety very seriously. They absolutely do not place volunteers in countries that are unsafe, or sites that are unsafe. They check each site and each host family thoroughly to make sure that it is safe and will be a conducive environment. If anything dangerous to the volunteers arise in their personal site, they will be moved, and if something arises in the country the volunteers will be evacuated (such as the recent Georgian-Russian war, all the volunteers were evacuated to Armenia immediately).

Okay, the rest of it will start at the beginning:

The application process is pretty long. First you apply online by filling out the personal application and health application form (used later), write 2 essays, and supply 3 references. Then your daughter will be sent the "legal kit" as I call it. This includes a background check form, cards to get fingerprinted with, transcript request, 2-3 sheets describing possible work areas they could assign her to, and the same amount of sheets requesting more specific information on her skills in those areas. Sending that back in, she'll be contacted for an interview in which she answers questions that are typical like "describe a time..." as well as asking questions about preferences and things she may encounter (ie. do you have a preference on the region you go to, what do you think about a community that has different gender norms), and even questions about your personal life (how does your family feel?) since even that affects her service. If she's qualified enough, they will give her a nomination (ie. "we may send you to X region to do X work in X month/year")--its not set in stone and may change, and quite often they ask people to get more volunteer work in the mean time. She'll then be sent a medical kit that always includes a physical, eye appoint, and dental appoint. She will complete those, and send them in and basically wait to be "medically cleared" once she is medically cleared, then she'll wait again to hear from her Placement Officer about being invited (the official acceptance to the PC, saying your country, work, and exact date).

The Peace Corps is a 2 year service, but actually 26 or 27 months. Each country has a 2-3 month training, plus the 2 year service. Ultimately it is 26 or 27 months service. During the Training, your daughter will live with a host family and will train as a group with the rest of the volunteers. She will learn the language of the country so she is proficient in it and communicate with the locals. She will be trained in whatever work area she is assigned to (teaching? health? business? agriculture? IT?). Other training she will receive is in health, safety, food, and other things. Usually, all volunteers are given a slew of shots in country to keep them from contracting anything--so that's also a good thing!!! Volunteers in countries with malaria will be given daily or weekly malaria medication--that is *required* and if a volunteer is found to not be taking it, he or she will often be shipped home. That's how seriously they take the volunteers health and safety.

Mentioning the health aspect, it should be said that there is an in-country Peace Corps medical staff that is on call at all times, and if it is a dire emergency they will actually come to the volunteers site. They will also supply any necessary medication/prescriptions. If a volunteer has something happen that cannot be treated in country, he or she will be "evacuated" to either the United States, or the closest country that can provide a cure. (ie. a friend was in uganda when she found out she needed gallbladder surgery--completely irrelated to the PC--she was flown back to the US on the PC's dime and I believe they covered her medical costs, she just returned to Uganda a few weeks ago).

After training, your daughter will be sworn in as a volunteer. Its probably one of the most important times. Officially going from a Trainee to being an official Volunteer. At this point, your daughter will have been assigned to a site (her community) and she will go to live in her community. There may or may not be another volunteer in the community--and every now and then if there is another volunteer, the person may be from a British organization called VSO. More often than not, the volunteer will live with another host family for 1-3 months. They usually then find their own house or apartment to rent. They get to know their community and find the most effective way to make a difference through work, clubs, etc that relates to their work. Sometimes they will have a very specific assignment (ie. a health volunteer may work at a clinic for certain hours, a teacher will be assigned to certain classes at the school), while some have more flexible assignments. No matter what, nearly all volunteers start up "secondary assignments" that can range from