Peace Corps Kid (cont.)
My Peace Corps dream didn't become a reality until a few years after I graduated from college. I was working with US Airways to gain work experience and for the opportunity to travel. I was also volunteering at Refugee and Immigration Services where I tutored survival English and made friends with recent refugee and immigrant arrivals in the area. It was while I was working with US Airways that I decided that I had waited long enough and that it was time to apply to the Peace Corps. I sent in the application, did all the medical exams and I waited, and waited, and waited. Did I mention that, at the time, I didn't have much patience?! Finally the invitation came and I learned that I would be going to Paraguay as a rural health Volunteer! Wait, where?! I ran to get the map.
One of my biggest fears about joining the Peace Corps was letting myself down. Could I really live for 27 months in another country, without my family, without Taco Bell, and without life as I knew it? I balanced and weighed, as Libras tend to do. In favor of being a Peace Corps Volunteer: A fabulous opportunity to do some good for other people, a chance to learn two languages, to meet new people, to learn their culture and to share the American culture with Paraguayans. Not in favor: Fear of not being able to do it, strange food, distance from loved ones. Mostly fear. Twenty-five months later I was calling my parents to break the news: I was so happy as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay that I was going to stay for another year!
My service as a Volunteer has changed my life. It was only until I became a Peace Corps Volunteer that I understood what it means and how wonderful it is to truly know a culture. In these three years I have learned more about the Paraguayan culture, about myself, and about life than I ever would have anticipated. I lived my Peace Corps dream with humility and humor, with successes and failures. I feel I have left mostly invisible, but deep impressions on my Paraguayan community. The many presentations I have given on dental health, nutrition, parasite prevention, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS education have planted the seeds of better health for this and future generations in Paraguay.
My experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer are similar to many individuals who volunteer. Just like Baby, I wanted to make a difference. Being a Volunteer means to give yourself to a cause in which you believe. You take the initiative, step forward, sign up, submit yourself, and take the plunge. You volunteer your time, efforts, energy, expertise and heart, because that is what caring citizens of this world do. Maybe you are one of these caring citizens of the world and that you are already stepping forward, making a difference, and caring about others. Maybe you are a Peace Corps kid, too.
