Blog It Home: Couple shares the rewards and challenges of blogging with limited internet access
It’s not easy blogging from a country where Peace Corps Volunteers have infrequent access to slow internet service. But Jennifer Klein and Joshua Cook, a Volunteer couple serving in Ethiopia and recent winners of Peace Corps’ Blog It Home competition, think blogging is well worth the effort.
As they put it, their blog allows them to easily share “the good, the bad and the interesting” of Ethiopia with their friends and family back home.
“Our Internet is spotty and slow, so we have to reduce the size of pictures and write our blogs offline and wait for a good internet day to upload everything. We’ll upload several photos, go to lunch, and then come back to see if it’s finished uploading yet!”
Even with those challenges, the couple describes blogging as “an easy way for us to communicate with our two large families, our friends all over the world and even our Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools classroom, all at the same time. They’re always asking for more posts. They love hearing about Ethiopia and about our lives as Peace Corps Volunteers.”
Blogging for Jen and Josh isn’t only about easily keeping in touch with their friends and family. The couple explains, “Blogging is a really effective way of achieving Peace Corps’ third goal of sharing other cultures with Americans. It reaches new audiences around the world while also keeping a personal account that we can look back on to remember our service.” They also find that it’s a great way to stay busy.
“When our work at site is moving slowly, blogging is a great way to remain constructive. After all, sharing our experience with our American audience is 1/3 of our job as Peace Corps Volunteers!”