Peace Corps: Bolivia

Last Monday I finally received my invitation to the Peace Corps as a Basic Sanitation volunteer in Bolivia leaving May 5th. I had actually predicted that this would be my invitation so I spent my evening thinking and talking to family and friends and on Tuesday I accepted the invitation.

What's this Peace Corps thing? The Peace Corps was started in 1961 by John F. Kennedy with the purpose of:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Volunteers work in several areas including education, health, business development, youth/community development, agriculture, environment, and information technology. They serve for 27 months total, which includes 3 months of training in-country and 2 years of service in a particular community. In-country training consists of language classes, cross-cultural studies, and technical training with other volunteers. During pre-service training, each volunteer is assigned a host community based on their skills and the needs of the communities

So what will I be doing? According to my little welcome booklet, my duties may include:

• Providing technical assistance in water and sanitation project design and implementation
• Working with elected officials and other formal and informal community leaders to improve community awareness and responsible management of water systems and sanitation facilities and processes
• Overseeing water and sanitation project construction and developing maintenance plans with a strong emphasis on sustainability
• Organizing and facilitating training for water committees
• Identifying sources of funding/materials for water projects
• and the list goes on.....

While Basic Sanitation is my project area, I can also do secondary projects based on my interests and the needs of the community. I hope to perhaps teach English or even dance - I'm not sure if anyone will be interested in learning ballet, but it could be fun! I think getting involved in teaching would provide me with at least one consistent activity since sanitation work may be intermittent.

How am I qualified for this? Because I built fences with dad and learned how to make tiny theater sets in college. Kinda. My basic construction experiences are apparently what qualified me, and that includes doing random projects around the house with dad, industrial tech in Middle School, Tech Theater in college, and participating in house builds in and around DC. My pre-service training will (hopefully) provide me with the nitty gritty skills I need to do my job.

Why Peace Corps? Ummm, why not Peace Corps? I have always wanted to live abroad and I felt that I could spend that time doing something beyond teaching English or paying a bundle to volunteer through a private organization. Through the Peace Corps, I will get the language training I desire (yes, I will ideally be fluent in Spanish upon returning, and may also be learning an indigenous language) and also develop skills that will be useful when I come back to the U.S. It is a big commitment and it will be very difficult at times, but the time will fly and I hope to have some amazing experiences to offset the bad ones.

I have long since given up my notion that I will be drastically changing the lives of the people I will be working with. Peace Corps is hard work and while the volunteer is largely responsible for the amount of work they accomplish, there are major obstacles and difficulties along the way that can prevent projects from getting off the ground. I hope to provide a good example of what Americans are really like and to learn about Bolivia and pass on that knowledge when I come back home. Obviously I hope that I can have a successful project, but I am also preparing myself for the fact that it just may not happen.