As a tenured professor of 18 years and an associate dean at the highest level of the University of Texas at Austin leadership, I quietly started my application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer late one evening in 2008. I'd just attended a friend’s memorial service, the sixth such service in a two-year time span.
This is the second in a series of Q&As with returned Peace Corps Volunteers who identify as first-generation college students and/or new Americans. Learn how they navigated the challenges of the decision-making process and service abroad.
When I first arrived to my little village in Cambodia, I was convinced that I would spend hours at the health center every day because I am a community health education Volunteer. Little did I know, I would be doing so much more than I could’ve imagined.
Around the globe, Peace Corps Volunteers work with local counterparts to design and implement safe, affordable and sustainable water and sanitation projects.
Whether you're a Volunteer in Cameroon or Cambodia, Jamaica or Georgia, Tonga or Togo, there is one constant of Peace Corps service: you're going to see some pretty awesome sunrises.
Each time I pass the volleyball court on the campus of the Kampong Cham Provincial Teacher Training College (PTTC) in Cambodia, I notice that it is exclusively dominated by men, even though my school is 75% women.
