My boyfriend, Tyler, and I submitted our applications for the Peace Corps weeks before the early admission deadline and yet we found out that we would not leave until April, 2009!
The Peace Corps has always been associated with young people who are either running away from their problems or searching for meaning in their lives. I have talked to many friends who have said they would consider going if a tragic event occurred, such as the death of a loved one. They would use the Peace Corps experience to get away from their problems or to "find" themselves.
Family Guy, for example, had an episode where Chris was unhappy with his home life and so spontaneously joined the Peace Corps. In the cartoon he flew to Africa the very same day he signed up. The truth is, however, the Peace Corps is not a spontaneous decision. In reality, joining the Peace Corps is a very long slow process. To get accepted and depart, it takes anywhere from six months to a year or more. Unfortunately for us, it is going to be a year or more.
We are highly disappointed with the outcome of our application. Not only is a year a very long time to idly wait for our departure, but on top of that our preferences of what we would like to do and where we would like to go are not at all reflect in our nomination.
There are eight regions of the world that volunteers can be assigned. On the application and in the face to face interview we had the opportunity to rank the different regions in the order of our preference. Yet we were assigned our least favorite choice, Eastern Europe.
In addition Tyler and I stated we were business and marketing majors and thus wanted to do business related work but were assigned to youth development. And finally Tyler made it clear that his only concern with going was with issues of safety. He wanted to be in an environment where he did not have to worry about me being on my own. Our job is not only youth development but youth development among 18 to 21 year olds dealing with issues of prostitution, gangs and drug use.
Needless to say we felt less than safe with this offer. We declined the nomination. I want to request another nomination and hope we get luckier with the next time around, but Tyler sees it as a sign that maybe we shouldn't be going. I feel you only live once and this is something that I really want to do in my life. So I want to at least keep that door open as a possibility.
What do you guys think? Should we give up the idea all together or does it not hurt anything to put in another request and see what they nominate us for next?
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