The New Generation of Peace Corps Volunteers

As I sat with another volunteer browsing through the various blogs of our Peace Corps colleagues, she mentioned how each person’s blog says something about that individual – perhaps the way he wants to be perceived, what’s important to her, or what aspects of the Peace Corps experience lie at the forefront of his life. So naturally, I inquired about her perception of what my blog says about me. “That you and the people reading your blog have a particular image of what Peace Corps is.” I agreed with her, and the wheels were set in motion for me to better define (yet again) what the Peace Corps experience is for me personally.

As I have said before, the physical aspects of my experience were not quite what I expected (running water, electricity, my own office, and even well-compensated laptop-toting work travel) but I still find myself writing about the picturesque, romanticized aspects of my experience in Kenya more often than not in my blog – running on red dirt roads with barefooted school children, participating in a project that uses innovative plowing techniques with camels, and picking up trash around my local community. It could even be seen as ironic, or perhaps the infrastructural paradox of the developing world, that I’m writing about water shortages via my wireless modem-connected blog.

To further contrast, or perhaps orient, my Peace Corps experience with one of a past volunteer, enter: Paul Theroux’s May 2009 Conde Nast article “The Lesson of My Life.” Having served in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi) in 1963, some of his experiences rang so true with my own life that I literally got goosebumps reading his article. Other, more superficial, aspects couldn’t help but make me smile; the following in particular: “Everything I owned in the world fitted into the small suitcase I had with me. I had nothing in the bank, no property; did not own so much as a chair. I was superbly portable. I had just turned twenty-two.”

I went on to read the following: “For the two years I was in Malawi, I never made a telephone call and my only contact with my family was in letters that took up to a month to arrive. This suited me fine. The instant connection in today’s world tends to distort the experience of being far from home. What sort of a life is it when, on the days when things are going bad, you are able to dial Mom for consolation?” And with a combined sentiment of deflation and amusement, I thought, “That’s me!” so adding to my contemplation of what this whole experience is truly about.

He continues, “The experience should involve remoteness, inconvenience, hardship, even risk; isn’t that the whole point of being away?” This is more like it! I think to myself. Apparently Peace Corps Kenya doesn’t quite agree, though, hence my thoughts on the emergence of the new generation of PCVs. Remoteness, inconvenience, hardship, and risk are a recipe for disaster and liability in the litigation-happy America we live in today, where news that travels faster than wildfire often influences fragile diplomatic relations, and helicopter-parenting has sent many from my generation into the world needing full-body armor and endless I Could Be A Millionaire lifelines. I’m certainly not about to digress into Peace Corps Kenya’s policies (because I understand why they are in place) but when we aren’t allowed to ride motorcycles, travel at night, hitchhike, stop taking our anti-malaria medicine, drive a car, or even ride a bicycle helmetless without the risk of being shipped home, I would argue the quintessential rugged Peace Corps experience cannot avoid being watered down slightly.

So what challenges will this new generation face, with access to ever-advancing technologies rapidly expanding? And what is our purpose, if not to become fluent in the local tribal dialect or appreciate tapped water after hauling buckets from a river 5km away? Ultimately, Theroux argues, the Peace Corps experience is about answering the question ‘Where is my place in the world?’ and walking away without making the “mistake in thinking that you will make an important difference in the lives of the people you’re among. The profound difference will be in you.” I would have to agree. So regardless of how often the power is cut off, or if you even have power at all, I have come to understand that the essence of the Peace Corps experience for past and future generations does not lie in the niceties of rural life but in the eye-opening experiences that shape an individual’s world view.

As the new generation of Peace Corps volunteers begin entering the global community, myself included, let us remember what is at the heart of embarking on this experience. As we constantly update our blogs and pat ourselves on the back for being able to bargain for a tomato in the local language (while most of our verbal skills have yet to develop beyond superficial exchanges), it’d be a shame for us to lose sight of the ultimate goal of gaining perspective. People say globalization is inescapable, and I would extend that to Peace Corps as well. So in the rapidly globalizing world, there will naturally surface a new generation of volunteers that break from the traditional, romanticized image of the Peace Corps JFK envisioned. I often struggle to come to terms with being part of this new generation, however, the actuality of my situation is unavoidable and I hope to do nothing less than make the most of my experience. So to those who have made it to the end of another of my lengthy pieces of writing, I hope I have succeeded in more clearly defining what the Peace Corps experience is for me and shedding some light on what I have come to call the new generation of volunteers I am a part of.