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.”