peace corps. what's it about?

[Q Classic]

i'm just curious.

i'm at a point in my life where i'm not sure where to go.

naturally, as hair-brained ideas are, i somehow got to thinking about the peace corps. (probably for all the wrong reasons...)

so i'm wondering, since i'm already talking to recruiters, does anybody know anyone who's been in it? and their impressions of it?

[Ted Striker]

Well that's certainly something to do if you don't know what to do in your life.

Americorps is another organziation similar to Peace Corps.

[Dis]

it's about peace

you might meet hot chicks there. It's a noble cause. It's a good thing to do if you are young. I would be uneasy about where I go though. Because of Bush, everyone hates america now. And I don't like living in conditions where insects are prevailant . I don't need to be living with roaches. And going without A/C. hmm, not for me. I don't mind working in hot temps. In the navy I have been in reactor compartments that were 140 F (60 C)., but when I was finished I could crawl into an air conditioned rack and sleep

[chequita guevara]

Americorps is safer. After I heard a Bolivian woman recount her story about how she and the other villagers castrated two PeaceCorp workers I vowed never to join the PC.

[Dinner]

The Peace Corp is for college graduates who have degrees in select fields which are of use to developing countries. They are paid next to nothing and they normally live in primative conditions amongst people in the third world. If you want to get into a really competetive graduate school then Peace Corp experience can help other wise there is little to gain other then the chance to learn a foreign language and the knowledge that you've done some good in the world.

[Az]

Americorps is safer. After I heard a Bolivian woman recount her story about how she and the other villagers castrated two PeaceCorp workers I vowed never to join the PC.

*******s, why did they do that?

[Pekka]

peace corps... well, my friend serves in Eritrea, Africa right now..... And I had another friend who went to Balkans some years back.. thought about it myself if I should go.. I don't know. Maybe I'll put the papers going, I don't know. I'm not super interested. But hey, lots of beer drinking and fake jewelry from locals for cheap prices. And prossies. And I'd get to have my own assault rifle again, I miss her so much. My Erika....

[Dr Strangelove]

My older brother was in the peace corps over 30 years ago. At the time he was given the opportunity to write a prospectus for his own project. He chose to go to India and introduce Indian teachers to the concept of using science demonstrations and projects as a means of teaching science to Indian school children. What he failed to take into account was the pride of Indian teachers, most of whom were considerably older than he and resented the idea of being shown how to teach by a young American. His classes were not well received.

He did however meet a girl there, whom he later married. He returned to the US, completed medical school and Residency, then came back to Virginia to practice. After my father died, he offered my mother a job as receptionist in his office. She did a good job and was well liked by ther patients, but she became jealous of my mom's good relationship with the patients. Eventually she convinced my brother to fire my mom. Her plan was to talk mom into taking an overseas vacation, then to fire her just before she left. I suppose she hoped that having her away from town for the first few weeks after termination would reduce the impact on my brother. What she didn't count on was mom dying during the trip. This hurt my brother deeply. He blamed himself for her death. To compound matters she then convinced him to break off ties with the rest of the family. She considered us to be beneath her, a strange idea coming from a woman who hadn't even completed high school.

I didn't see my brother for several years, then one day I got an urgent call from North Carolina. My brother had attempted suicide and was in an ICU at UNC. He recovered from his injuries minus sight in one eye, but he was never the same. He returned to medical practice for a year or two, but became progressively more addicted to alcohol. His wife divorced him, he lost his license, and now he lives in a rescue mission.

Go ahead, go overseas, but be careful about what you bring back with you.

[Az]

EDIT: NOTE TO SELF, READ POSTS TILL THE END.

I am really sorry about that, Strangelove, I never got to THAT part.

[Pekka]

uhh are these peace corps the same I'm talking about? I mean blue berrets? Doing UN missions, carrying weapons and never firing them? Those peeps.

Dr Strangelove, oh man that's a sad story. Sorry about your brother....

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Pekka
uhh are these peace corps the same I'm talking about? I mean blue berrets? Doing UN missions, carrying weapons and never firing them? Those peeps.

Dr Strangelove, oh man that's a sad story. Sorry about your brother....

You're thinking of the Peacekeepinmg force, a multinational armed police force under UN supervision. The Peace Corps is an American organisation founded by President Kennedy to enbale young Americans act as ambassadors of good will to the developing world.

[alva]

Sad story Strangelove

[Sprayber]

It's survivor without the cameras

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Azazel

Americorps is safer. After I heard a Bolivian woman recount her story about how she and the other villagers castrated two PeaceCorp workers I vowed never to join the PC.

*******s, why did they do that?

They had been pushing sterilization as a method of birth control, to help villagers keep their family sizes down. The idea being that peasants are poor cuz they have too many kids and that they were unlikely to practice birth control responsibly.

The U.S. has been pushing this for a little over thirty years. Puerto Rico was especially hard hit, with the high point being 42% of women of child bearing age being sterilized in the early 90s. Today it's around 35%.

The head of USAID said in the early 70s, better to kill a revolutionary before he's born.

I had always planned on joining the Peace Corps. The Bolvian woman's story clinched my not going. At the time I was interested, the late 80s, being in the PC wasn't very safe. You were expected to do reports on the village you were sent to, which were usually read by the CIA, and forwarded to local security organizations, who might show up and disappear someone you had mentioned. This would make you a target for any local guerillas.

On the other hand, you might identify with the people you were trying to help, write reports about how the government is screwing them, and get your ass disappeared by the local government.

Still, three Peace Corps volunteers came back to the U.S. thinking, if Americans really knew what was going on in the 3rd World, they'd be less supportive of our government's policies. The founded New World Resource Center, a lefty bookstore where Bunnygrrl and I were once managers. One of the founders then returned to Chile, where he was murdered during the coup against Allende.

[Q Classic]

ok, so the number of horror stories vastly outweighs the number of "it's great!" stories i've heard from all non-pc sources.

is it seriously that bad? i'm not all thrilled about going to the third world, but i don't exactly want to stay in america to work for the americorps (which i'd already sorta discounted, but after hearing all of this, i'm starting to consider it again...)