Why I am Joining the Peace Corps

I decided to apply to the Peace Corps and eventually accept my invitation to serve as a volunteer for many reasons. First and foremost, I needed a reason to start my own online blog. Nothing in my life warranted the creation of a blog up until this point, and I must admit that I'm pretty stoked.

Haha

All joking aside, the real motivation behind this decision is my desire to make a realistic difference in the world by helping struggling individuals. Who could imagine that a liberal 22 year-old would dare to have such idealistic thoughts.

Maybe some context can help you understand why I'm choosing this path. My entire life I've lived a life free of fear or struggle. Almost everything that I've ever needed has been provided to me by my parents. I'm grateful for this, but I'm even more grateful that my parents helped me learn humility and the pleasure in helping others. Without their direction, I doubt that I would be heading to Africa in a couple of days for two years in the service of others.

I started to tinker with the idea of joining the PC as soon as I began taking classes at UCLA that opened my eyes to the harsh realities of the world we live in. I suddenly realized that I wanted commit myself to helping in ways greater than just donating money whenever a global tragedy swept through the news. All I needed to do was discover which avenue I was going to take to carry out this goal.

I always knew that the PC existed, but as I further examined the organization and its mission in developing countries, I knew that I found my next step in life. An important difference between the PC and other international service organizations is the policy to send volunteers abroad for 27 months instead of shorter 6-12 month stints. I am all for this policy because it is the perfect amount of time for me to truly learn the culture, assimilate myself into my host community and learn what the actual needs are.

The PC is going to be hard. Probably harder than anything that I've done in my short 22 years of life. But I'm ready to take this challenge head-on, knowing that the end result of positively impacting the lives of the Burkinabé will make it all worthwhile.

Something valuable that I learned from my former volleyball coach John Speraw is the mentality that true competitors cherish the opportunity to compete against a formidable opponent at their full strength. I will carry this mentality with me to Africa. I will embrace the challenges that are put in front of me and take them head-on, excited by the chance to solve difficult problems facing my community. 

One thing that I'm not too worried about is the lack of amenities that I'll be living with. This is clearly a very naive thing to say since I've never lived without electricity/running water, but I'll survive. If my neighbors can live in such "basic" conditions then so can I. 

I will be a Community Economic Developemt (aka Business) volunteer working primarily with small farmers or women's groups to advise on basic business planning and new income generation techniques. Once I have a more specific idea of what I'll be doing, I'll be sure to let you guys know. 

Anyways, I cannot wait for this arduous, yet rewarding adventure to begin!