How many hours a week does a Peace Corp volunteer work?

Question

Do they have weekends off? Basically i'd like to know how free they are to pursue other things in their life besides volunteering. Thanks!

Answer 1

It's a full time job -- and often more than that. Your work as a PeaceCorp member is expected to be your priority during your service.

Answer 2

For many its like a 9-5 job, but in a foreign country you are like a local ambassador, so embarassing the United States or the host country is a no-no. You may be in a fairly primitive place so there may not be a lot to do besides help people with English, and learn the local language, and play sports. Some will just drink away their free time, same as at home. With Direct TV, more remote TV is possible..

When I did it 30 years ago, you needed 10 letters of reference, two each from: employers, teachers, ministers, family friends, and personal friends.

Answer 3

I figured I was doing enough at 60 hours a week during the school year and 0 on the breaks. It varies. You are not expected to be super-human, but there is always something else you can do, if you want.

You must have known teachers who worked nights and weekends on the school newspaper / band / yearbook and were scout leaders too; over-achievers who made every other teacher look like a slacker by comparison. There are probably people at your church who work 20 hours a week for the church, on top of their regular jobs. Ours has a couple like that. They make the rest of us look tepid. There are super volunters, ordinary volunteers and lazy volunteers. The latter usually leave early.

You get vacation time and weekend time (or the equivalent.) There are some hobbies you can't have - hunting and amateur radio are the obvious ones. (They don't even want to hint that you might be a soldier or a spy.) I wrote quite a bit, travelled within my province and took lots of pictures.

Your social life goes on hold, for the most part. Most of the people in my group just didn't date as we would have as young adults in the USA. I went to a lot of parties and festivals, though.

Read more, if you like

http://www.tedpack.org/pchead.html

There's an "s" at the end of "Corps", just like Marine Corps or Salvation Army Corps.

Answer 4

absolutely.....off nearly every weekend....and work 6-8 hours a day during the week.

Answer 5

Being a Peace Corps Volunteer is a twenty-four hour job.  Though your working hours are limited (you won't work eight hour days, and probably not even four hour days), you will all-day everyday be a volunteer, and that can be taxing on a person.  Your days will be filled with learning a new language, a new way to communicate with people, and making new friends.  Nights will be filled with activities to pass the time and sleeping conditions in which you thought you'd never find yourself sleeping in.

It was the greatest--and hardest--thing I ever did.