Volunteer Resource: Peace Corps Blogs

No Comments | May 9th, 2007 | Trackback

One of the best ways to get a feel for whether you’d like a job or volunteer position is of course to speak to someone who’s done it or better yet to several people; as most of use are unlikely to know a couple hundred Peace Corps Volunteers though, Peace Corps Journals, a large and well-organized collection of blogs, is a pretty awesome substitute.

One person’s account is just that: one person’s account, and an official site of course features the official answers. But what’s nice about this resource is that you can peruse the blogs of, say, twenty people in Azerbaijan, or fifteen in Ecuador, and see what, if anything, elements they have in common. Also, as the bloggers seem to be required to point out, their views are their own, and do not officially represent those of the Peace Corps – and they do seem to cover both fun and frustration, which to me is a sign of authenticity.

If you’re not familiar with the Peace Corps, it may be news that, yes, participants need to be US citizens, and in fact the Peace Corps is part of the US government. I think that even if you’re not going to join the peace corps but are interested in living or volunteering abroad, these blogs as a group are a good read and provide quite the insight.

Comments that stuck in my mind – and no, I don’t recall where I found them exactly – were to the effect of “I spend a lot of time waiting,” “The school says the landlord should pay and the landlord says the school should pay, so no one will pay,” and “Now that the stray dog that hangs out in our neighborhood has his shots, we don’t care if he bites anyone.” Some were no doubt written with a sense of humor, and I don’t meant to pull out negative comments – but I think these blogs do an interesting job of sharing the adventures and achievement along with the challenges, and not to mention the perseverance of the authors.