Three Goals

Hello internet! I don't actually know who is reading, so hello in general.
I know that people outside of the Peace Corps process don't generally know a lot about it, so today I'm going to talk about the three goals of the Peace Corps, which have been unchanged since the program's inception in 1961. All PCVs know and live out these goals as their mission.

Goal 1: Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.

Since many countries where PCVs serve do not have comparable infrastructure to train teachers, community organizers, health educators, etc., the PC provides those men and women with skills to integrate into communities across the country. It is most definitely and assuredly a collaboration between the country's government and the US government, which is what I love so much about it. So much aid/charity does not take into account what the country needs or wants, or attempts to give aid to the country unasked. Specifically I'm focusing on the interested countries part of the goal, in that PC does not set up shop in a country uninvited.

And to those who may say that it would be better to train in-country nationals to do the jobs PCVs are doing, I agree, and that is what we are doing. As one of my fellow PCVs in Morocco once said, the best job a Volunteer can do is make themselves unneeded.

Goal 2: Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

I take for granted the idea that America is all sorts of things and has all sorts of people. But around the world, other countries have a limited amount of media to base their opinions on, much like America has limited amounts of media to base our opinions of other countries on (elaborated in the third goal). And so part of being a PCV is being an ambassador of sorts, in that my background and experiences put another piece in the puzzle to help others understand the many different types of people who call themselves American.

Goal 3: Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Much like the second goal, but continues for much longer after a PCV returns. There is even an office with the PC called The Office of Third Goal and Returned Volunteer Services (OTGRVS). I will become a permanent primary source of information about my country to my family, friends, and everyone I meet. Sometimes it is hard for people in the USA to imagine other countries as they imagine their own: families trying to get by, sending their kids to school, hanging out with friends, working towards careers and the like. But I maintain that we are more alike than different.

I imagine I will have to break a lot of stereotypes on both sides, and I hope that will be refreshing. I always strive to learn who people really are, despite who I've learned them to be.

If you'd like to learn more about the Peace Corps as a program, please visit http://www.peacecorps.gov/about/.