I've been seriously considering it and wanted to get some first-hand feedback on it if possible. If you've served, when was it, where did you go, and was it ultimately worth it? Thanks.
My friend joined the peace corps. He is currently teaching in Burkina Faso. It can be a rewarding life experience but it is quite the commitment He is going to be gone for a total of 26 months. Also his little place has been robbed twice. The Peace Corps didn't help out at all and his family had to wire him money.
My friend joined in his late 20's. He was sent to Albania to teach english and economics. It was very rewarding for him- he made a lot of friends. Then Albania had some civil unrest and the us military had to come in and fly all of the Peace corp people out in helicopters. Very exciting and certainly something to remember for the rest of your life.
I never served in the peace corps but i did serve in the militant branch of the salvation army. Very exciting times.
A good friend of mine was in Senegal for peace corp back in ~2000-2001. Even after all these years, she gets choked up talking about it and still can't talk about stories with any specificity, other than to say it had a huge impact on her life and that she rarely felt secure. And she's not a pansy, either, so if she was concerned for her safety, there were probably reasons for it. She always says it was a very meaningful experience for her, but not one she would ever recommend to anyone. I'm sure that's not representative of everyone's experience in the peace corp, but it was hers.
I had a friend that joined several years back. After a month or so, he got robbed at gun point for the first time. He was robbed several times after that as well. No thanks. There's just something about being tied up with duct tape, an AK-47 shoved in your mouth, then having your nose broken with the butt of a revolver......all while trying to help those very same people that are robbing you. Other than that, he said it was great. BTW They got the equivalent of $3.17
Mrs. gifford1967 was in the Peace Corp in Zambia. In spite of some really difficult stuff that happened at the end, she found it an incredibly rewarding experience and strongly reccomends it for others.
