It’s not all beaches and rum drinks…

Back when I was a lowly trainee, we were briefed on blogging.  Running a blog is a great way to accomplish the Peace Corps third goal: cross-culture sharing to those back in America.  We were told don’t post pictures of your house.  Don’t write where you live.  But maybe the oddest was do not write when you’re having a bad day.  I found that this paints an unfairly rosy picture of life as a PCV.

Serving in the Peace Corps is HARD.  For example, check out this great article written by a Marine turned PCV.  Perhaps one of the most astonishing quotes is the following: “You might also be surprised to learn that the Peace Corps has its own legacy of sacrifice, with more of its volunteers killed on the job than Central Intelligence Agency officers.”

His story is not unique.  I’ve known PCVs who’ve gone through any number of horrible experiences.  My service hasn’t been a walk in the park either.  My resume includes being pick-pocketed 3 times, my house robbed once, having amoebas twice, hospitalized once, countless run-ins with bacterial infections, parasites, worms and, as of this very moment, we can add mysterious debilitating infection to the list.

Even though I’m breaking code and writing during a bad day (bad week is really more like it), I still look for the silver lining.  As I mentioned, nearly all PCVs face adversity during their service but few give in when the going gets tough.  Not one of the other 20 volunteers I came to Nicaragua with left because they couldn't hack it anymore.  In fact, amongst all of the PCVs that I know, 8 are extending their service another year and 1 is already married to a host country national.

In conclusion, being a PCV is not a piece of cake, but it’s sure worth it.