Why?

I've been asked this question lots of times by lots of people since I started the application process for the Peace Corps last May.

Here's the short answer:  There aren't a lot of teaching jobs, it's something I've wanted to do for a long time, and this is the time to do it (right after grad school).


The long answer takes a little more explaining...
I think the idea of joining the Peace Corps must have started when I studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa during the spring of my sophomore year.  The program I participated in was unique in that each student had an internship three days per week, which allowed us to participate in the community and city in which we lived.  I was lucky enough to intern at Christel House South Africa, a school set up by a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to "helping children around the world break the cycle of poverty."  What many people do not understand is that while apartheid as a government policy is no longer in place in South Africa, the people are in no way living in "equal" conditions.  Many of the non-white citizens of South Africa still live in townships, which are informal settlements outside of the city.  The children in these townships do not have adequate food, sanitation, or health care.  Christel House gives many of these children a top-notch free, private education as well as 2 meals per day, school uniforms, school supplies, medical care, and transportation to and from school.  I absolutely loved working at the school as an intern and getting to spend time with the students, teachers, and staff.  This gave me a firsthand glimpse of a way that I could use my passion for working with children and desire to help others in a non-traditional way.  I had wanted to be a teacher for a long time, but I had never really thought about traveling and working in other countries until my experience in Cape Town at Christel House.  In addition to the internship, I also loved experiencing and becoming immersed in another culture.  It made every day a new adventure and learning experience.  I had definitely caught the travel bug!

After I returned from Cape Town, it took a long time for me to wrap my head around the impact that the experience had on me.  However, I knew right away that there was an impact.  I looked at my peers in my education classes (I had begun taking classes in my major during my junior year), and realized how much the experience had forever changed the lens through which I viewed the world.

My friend Josh, that year, asked me to chaperone a trip he was leading to work with an organization called Simply Smiles in Oaxaca, Mexico.  I had heard a lot about the organization and decided to go for it, even though it meant missing classes for a week.  After one trip, I was hooked and returned twice more after that.  While in Mexico, I was lucky enough to do things like play and do art projects with children at a children's home,  build a house for a woman who makes her living finding recyclables in the city dump, and distribute monthly food packages to thousands of starving people living in the jungle. 

The things that I learned during these trips and from working with the Simply Smiles staff, Bryan Nurnberger, Pete Allen, and Kristen Graves, have really impacted the way I view my interactions with others whom I am helping.  Simply Smiles' work is about building relationships with the people they help and improving their lives in a respectful, dignity-building way.  When I was asked to write my "aspiration statement" upon being accepted into the Peace Corps, I wrote about a lot of these same ideas.  In addition, Christel House's core belief that education is the best way to break the cycle of poverty is something that I will always believe.

I think that my experiences working at Christel House South Africa and with Simply Smiles in Mexico and their impact on my life have led to my decision to join the Peace Corps.  I hope that everything I have learned from these places and people will help me to be a successful Peace Corps volunteer!