Everywhere, food brings people together. Participating in the daily rituals around food—whether growing, preparing, cooking, or eating it—is an essential part of the Volunteer experience in communities abroad. Here, Volunteers share the food traditions that made their service special.

I first learned about the Peace Corps while studying abroad. At the time, I was enrolled at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Our approach to development centers on people-to-people connection.

“I wanted to join the Peace Corps because I wished to further connect with my Latin American heritage, to exchange with another Hispanic culture and better understand the intricacies of the Latinx identity” - Yvette Garcia, a community economic development Volunteer in Dominican Republic.

World Wise Schools has been an invigorating part of my classroom for the past 20 years.

Though they represent less than 5% of the overall Volunteer population, Americans over the age of 50 are a valuable asset to the Peace Corps community.

There is a tradition among Peace Corps volunteers of touring houses of worship soon after installing at site.

Florence sits on her porch in the shade, her face painted white.  

"There's a turkey here that hates me!" says Eve Breckenridge, an Agriculture Volunteer serving in the central highlands of Madagascar. 

For many of the people in my community in rural Madagascar, I am the first African-Dominican they have met.

The community would have been satisfied with fresh bread, but that was before Tropical Cyclone Enawo hit Madagascar’s east coast in March 2017.

Few things are more particular to time and place than the fruits we eat, especially when living without paved roads or refrigerators. 

If you were to line up the Peace Corps Volunteers living in northern Madagascar, what would you see? 

Mother nature and I have been playing a game.

Anyone hoping for an expenses-paid vacation to Senegal would have been disappointed, but for Health Volunteer Anna Lehmann, the Malaria Bootcamp in Dakar was a chance to geek-out with other Volunteers serving across the African continent.