Runners, Take your mark!

It's getting down to the wire and I still have a lot of stuff that needs to be done. I have not gotton my Visa and Passport sent to the PC office (It was supposed to be in 2 weeks after I was excepted.) The problem is I haven't been able to get my Visa photos. For some reason they are asking for 3 professional wallet sized photos (unlike the small passport photos.) Well the other day I took a 30 minute bus ride into the next town to a Target Portrait Studio. After pleading with them, they told me that they would get to me in 10 minutes. After almost 2 hours of waiting, someone finally asked me what I needed the photos for. Upon telling them they informed me that I wouldn't get them for another month. I better go to another store that does digital photos. Ok three hour trip for nothing. I then call this other place and they do passport photos not wallet sized!! Why do these photos have to be wallet sized?!? Why?!? Next thing on my list...Dentistry. Tried calling my insurance company to find a local dentist and was informed I am not longer covered under my parents--as of the day before my 23rd B-day. Bought Ameriplan(offers discounted prices). Called dentist and I can't get in until Dec. 8th. I had a goal to have every Peace Corps and school issue dealt with by Dec. 1st, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I just hope the PC hasn't given up on me!! I'm comin' it just takes me a while to get to the startin' line.

Ideas Happen

An RPCV in Cameroon 00-02 and on awhim decided to enter the "Ideas Happen" contest where the winner receives $25,000 to execute her/his idea. She plans to use the money to return to her village to refurnish the local secondary school and provide the students with textbooks, desks, and fund other projects for the children. Out of something like 15,000 ideas submitted, hers is now in the top ten and you can help her WIN by voting at Ideashappen.com. As a PC Invitee, I can only imagine what it would be like to return to the village that I served for 2 years with $25,000. I'm sure every RPCV out there would love to go back with a wad of cash to carry out everything you previously wanted to do. Please help her out! Votes have to be cast by Dec 1.

Motivation Statement-More PC Essays

MOTIVATION STATEMENT
Peace Corps service presents major physical, emotional, and intellectual challenges. You have provided information on how you qualify for Peace Corps service elsewhere in the application. In the space below, please provide a statement (between 150-500 words) that includes: Your reasons for wanting to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer; and How these reasons are related to your past experiences and life goals.

There are so many intangible benefits that the Peace Corps has to offer, despite all the benefits I am a firm believer that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” That is my primary goal in serving with the Peace Corps: to give all myself to a community for two fully absorbed years. During these two years I plan to first learn about the community in which I will be serving, by developing relationships and understanding differences and similarities between our cultures. This would enable me to serve them according to their needs and at the same time, fulfill my desire to learn about the intriguing world outside of the US. It was three years ago that I realized a life full of servitude is my purpose. I saw an ad on television asking for money to end world hunger that I had seen many times before. It brought me to my knees in tears with a hunger for justice, wanting so desperately to cure their hunger. My heart swelled with compassion and love after having seen the pain within the children’s eyes. I felt I couldn’t possibly live the rest of my life without trying to help the “less fortunate” (or economically less fortunate). I soon met a Peace Corp recruiter at an information booth, picked up a flier and decided this was the first step I wanted to take in aiding international development. Since then I have devoted much of my life to service-learning, leadership, problems associated with developing countries, appreciating complexities of other cultures and befriending those who are foreign to this land.My passion for culture and understanding began in the summer of 2001, with my first exposure to life outside of my Colorado bubble. I found it difficult dealing with forms of racism while working in the south, so I began and am still searching for explanations behind the hatred I saw and felt. Even though the explanations do not justify certain behavior, it allows me to dig to the roots of the problem instead of touching the surface. I firmly believe that the help one can offer is greatly restricted by the lack of understanding of the others background, values, and beliefs. As a Peace Corps volunteer I will be allowed the opportunity to develop relationship enabling me to recognize their needs on a deeper level, thus, causing a greater change. In my heart I want to change the world and cause an end to all suffering, but I know that this cannot be done over night or two years in the Peace Corps. Each step I take brings be one step closer towards that goal.

My PC Essays

Thought I would post my essays on here for people going through the application process to look at. It helps get the ball rolling on your own thoughts. I think these were my final drafts. Keep in mind I am not a writer nor have I ever proclaimed to be one.

CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIENCE

Peace Corps Volunteers must be open to ideas and cultures different from their own. Give an example of a significant experience that illustrates your ability to adapt cross-culturally. You may draw from experiences in your work, school, or community in the U.S. or abroad. Please include the circumstances of the experience and dates.

Adapting to Segregated Communities

Summer of 2001, I had just completed my first year of college and was recruited for a summer internship with the Southwestern Company. Feeling independent and very sure of myself, I set off for Nashville, Tennessee where our weeklong training would take place. We spent 14 hrs days learning the process of door-to-door salesmanship and how to make a successful summer. Despite the intensive studying and preparation, nothing could prepare me for the emotional struggle I was about to face.
In a blink of an eye our weeklong training was over and we were sent to our separate destinations. Myself, along with 7 other people were sent to Mobile, Alabama. Our first couple of days there was spent knocking door-to-door trying to find a place to live (under $30/person/month). The three girls I was staying with and myself went out to a randomly picked neighborhood and began asking. It wasn’t long before we had a number of gentlemen following us around yelling out obscenities. We quickly decided it was better for us to go to churches asking for help rather than wondering around an unknown neighborhood. We found a church with a women working on the outside of it. We approached her asking if there was a pastor around in whom we could speak to about finding a place. She began crudely telling us that we’d better get out of that neighborhood as “our kind” was not welcome there and began to vulgarly tell us what would happen to us if we didn’t. I was so completely shocked that it rendered me speechless as I walked to my car with three girls nearing tears trailing behind me. My sheltered childhood in a community where the Latino population was just about half misled me into believing that all races across the US intermingled and accepted each other as I was accustomed to in my hometown. It was because of this near color blindedness that I was unaware that racism still existed in everyday situations.
Each day that passed I came across more people that expressed their prejudice against each other in one form or another. I refuted and rejected their beliefs such as, “People are on the streets doing drugs [in the black parts of town].” When I encountered a child who had been hurt by members of another race I sympathized with their pain, but would try to explain that you find some kids that are mean regardless of race. It was not long before I came to the realization that this kind of hatred and/or prejudice was etched into the hearts of many and wasn’t something I was going to completely fix in one summer of selling books. I resolved that the way I could affect those I encountered was to live by example showing love to all, for “if you judge people, you have no time to love them.”