Ryan L.

1. What got you interested in the Peace Corps?

I first became interested in Peace Corps after I got back from a study abroad program during my junior year of college. I really liked traveling, learning about new cultures, trying new food, and meeting new people. I began to research ways to work and travel in this type of way, and I came across the Peace Corps. Ever since learning about the Peace Corps, I became very interested to apply and be a Volunteer. I saw the pictures of Volunteers in their communities and heard stories from some people, and I knew that it was something I had to do!

2. What projects are you working on?

As a Community Economic Development Volunteer, I work in the schools doing youth entrepreneurship classes with professors during the school year.

During the summer, I assist the police with swim lessons for kids in the community and teach a guitar class.

Other projects include a community savings groups I started in collaboration with teachers and institutions in order to help community members and students establish the habit of saving money, and women’s economic empowerment workshops to support women in starting or better managing their own businesses.

Finally, I am working with the local municipality on a sustainable tourism project. We are creating more community greenspaces and tourist sites that will hopefully attract more tourists and create more economic opportunities for community members. As part of this project we organized two successful workshops, resulting in more than 40 participants who are now able to create and sell a product. We also plan to bring in a tourism specialist who will discuss how entrepreneurs can start ecotourism businesses.

3. What strategies have you used to integrate into your community?

I have had a bicycle since about the first week of my service, which has helped me meet people in different areas of the community. Almost everyone knows me since they see me on my bike all the time. I joined a bike group and have friends I ride bikes with on the weekends every so often. I also played volleyball almost every day the first 4 months here, which helped me get to know community members and neighbors in my annex. I have taught English classes with my fellow Volunteer, Cristina, which has helped the parents get to know us better. I’ve also attended and danced at a lot of local fiestas; somehow I always managed to show up on social media where everyone saw me dancing. For U.S. holidays like Thanksgiving, Cristina and I shared about the holiday and made a dessert that my family eats in the U.S., which we also shared with community members and students.

4. What is a highlight of your time in service so far?

The highlight of service is working with the community members and seeing them want to work together to improve their community. They are very passionate and have great ideas. They take the lead, and I just try to motivate and support in any way that I can, but in the end they are the ones who will benefit, so seeing them work together has been a very special part of service. Seeing ideas get developed from start to fruition has been very special. I am excited to come back in the years to come to see how what impact it will have.

While on vacation during service I and three other Volunteers traveled to Iquitos to participate in the Amazon River Raft Race, a 3-day rafting race down a part of the Amazon River. It was a great adventure!

5. What have you enjoyed most about the community where you are serving?

The community I live in is small and very spread out. There are 8 annexes spread over 25 miles along one road. The road goes through the main town and up to the higher annexes farther away, but past a certain point it’s all a dirt road, so it’s much harder to get to. My site is perfect for riding a bike. I’ve made great friends, and we go riding together. Biking has also been a great way for me to get out of the house and destress. Being able to bike places allows me to meet and talk to a lot of people I normally wouldn’t have gotten to meet, and this makes it more of an adventure for me. One reason I joined the Peace Corps was for the new experiences and variety. Biking enables me to see and do new things, meet new people, and start new projects.

6. What are some of the most important things you’ve learned from your community?

I’ve learned the importance of having an open mind. When I listen and follow the lead of the community partners, they show me a new perspective. I might think that a meeting isn’t going to go well because people are late, for example, but I am often surprised by the amount of people who show up. It has taught me the importance of having a plan B and has also improved my ability to improvise and be creative.

7. How do you spend time when you are not working on a project?

Playing guitar and riding my bike are hobbies that I really enjoyed in the U.S., and it’s been great to continue my passions here by biking with a local group and teaching a guitar class in the summer.

I also have friends who live in town or in another town close by, and we like to cook together, ride bikes, or hang out and talk. It’s nice having friends close by because they help me connect more personally with locals, and we can talk about more personal stuff in our lives.

8. What are you looking forward to in your remaining time as a Volunteer?

I am looking forward to spending more time with friends and my host family as well as community partners. Since we have been working together for over a year, we have formed nice relationships, and it’ll be great to continue over the next couple months before service ends. I’m also looking forward to visiting more destinations in Peru. It’s a beautiful country, and I love learning more about the different cultures, trying new food, hearing local indigenous languages, and seeing new biodiverse landscapes. All the travels have added to the experience and given me more of an appreciation of Peru and all its cultures, past and present.

9. Once you finish your service, what will you do differently when you return to the U.S.?

Once I finish service I have plans to apply for a master’s degree to continue global development work, specifically economic development. I really enjoy this field, and it allows for a lot of flexibility and creativity while working with community members in rural areas.

I think I will be a lot more patient and flexible. I was already a flexible, open-minded person before, but being a Volunteer has made me incredibly more resilient and flexible. The cultural differences that might seem like a big deal in the U.S. are no big deal or easily worked around in Peru. Being flexible will help with working with others back in the U.S. to advance in whatever career I pursue.