I received a request to speak with a new Peace Corps Volunteer who will soon depart to a South Pacific Country but they do not know where yet. Here is most of the text of my response . . . placed here because . . . well, you will see.
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If I have the time and inclination I always love to talk about Peace Corps and my experience . . . albeit that was over 20 years ago which shocks the hell out of me every time I think about it.
I was in Fiji 1985-1987. It was tough but also one of the times of my life one never forgets. Simply staying the first six months was an accomplishment in and of itself. You will alternately hate and love it. It will change you forever, alter your outlook on the world and your soul, turn you into a different person, a better person and forever let you more easily adopt the outlook, feelings and perspective of the 'other' . . . whomever and however you conceive of what and who the 'other' is. You will be afforded the rare and valuable opportunity to be an outsider, first, upon your arrival to your adopted home and then perhaps even more importantly, upon your return to the United States. The reverse culture shock can be amazing and even more impacting upon your psyche in some ways than your initial culture shock entry.
I envy you this chance, this opportunity although I am very happy in most parts of my life. I once was married to a Fijian Nurse (divorced many years ago) but return to Fiji now and then to meet old friends, visit my ex in-laws, look for work and try to find meaning in how my heart and soul was captured by the people and culture I grew to love so much. I eventually completed a Masters in Community Psychology degree at the University of Hawai'i and my thesis was on Fijian Values. I lived in Hawai'i for almost ten years and after Fiji was really the only place I felt at home, at peace, comfortable in my own skin and that I belonged (despite being an outsider forever because I am a 'white boy from the suburbs!'). Yet I have been that way since I was born . . . my dad was an Air Force pilot and I lived all over the bloody place, Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Virginia, New Mexico, Germany. So my Peace Corps experience is an extension of my life and values with the emphasis on Peace and not the War Corps. Still though, even now I am an ER nurse and work at the San Francisco VA hospital. In my heart of hearts I yearn so to once again depart these storied shores not only to seek adventure but to be able to contribute and try, oh so hard to make a difference. You can in Peace Corps but the changes wrought upon you will be ever so much greater than those you can even dream to attempt to make in your host country and adopted home.
In rereading this sudden and unplanned outpouring (really!) I regret that I made this more about me but I guess I did it to show you the deep and lovely changes that Peace Corps allowed me to experience, the person that it helped me become. In my final words here and now as you read this I leave you with this brief story. I graduated UCLA in Political Science and then left for Peace Corps. When I asked my philosophy professor about doing it or not doing Peace Corps he said that I had nothing to lose, that I would look back in my life and ask myself if I would have been happy not knowing? You have already decided, made the leap, the commitment so the story may be somewhat irrelevant but I thought it worth repeating.
You are in for one of the adventures of a lifetime. Keep a blog, a journal, sights and sounds. Go, love, enjoy, work hard when you can but most of all, learn to let go and be comfortable with uncertainty, with not knowing what to do or how to do it. Learn to be a baby in your new culture. Be a 'hard driver' but not too hard. Learn to soak it all in. Learn to shut up, to be quiet, to observe, observe, observe. We Americans fill our heads with endless chatter, we have to sell and resell and package ourselves all the time. That may not work wherever you are going depending on your work and who you are with.
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