More About Peace Corps Response

Things are moving along – after I told Peace Corps I was going, I told a bunch of friends – which means I’m really doing it! I downloaded the Peace Corps Philippines Welcome Book and printed it out – after I read it I will share some interesting tidbits here. But first – medical clearance. I filled out a lengthy questionnaire and rode the bike into town to fax it today. For Peace Corps, you have to be through medical and legal clearance before you get an invitation, but for Peace Corps Response, my official invitation is on its way to me FedEx and the medical clearance happens in a streamlined manner due to the quick turnaround required for me to leave on June 7. That's pretty typical - they try to have volunteers in the field 8-10 weeks after a position is posted. I did have a full physical when I left Morocco, including some of the tests required, and I had another checkup when I got to Chicago in March, and I passed both of those. I have a dentist appointment and a doctor appointment already scheduled for my May visit to Chicago, so I should be able to get dental X-rays and any required forms filled out in time. I did have an eye issue when I left Morocco and had my eyes examined in New York a couple of weeks ago; was told to stay the course – and I read that a vision check isn’t required for Peace Corps Response, so again I should be okay. All the same, I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch, but I couldn’t wait until the clearance was finished to tell people. As it was I felt I was keeping things from people during the week I was weighing the offer; I guess people always ask what you’re up to and how you’re doing but it seemed as though a lot of people asked that last week!

Anyway – more about Peace Corps Response, from www.peacecorps.gov. It used to be called Crisis Corps and was created in 1995 to allow former Peace Corps volunteers to provide short-term assistance during natural disasters and humanitarian crises. The first assignment took people to Antigua after Hurricane Luis. The name was changed in 2007 to broaden the scope and skills of the program. Crisis Corps is still a part of it, for disaster relief (in fact, they sent over 250 Crisis Corps Volunteers to the Gulf Coast after Katrina, their first domestic deployment; 74 went to Thailand and Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami). There’s a press release on the name/focus change at http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1275 (I’m linking to it as much for me as for you, so I can refer back to it – the Peace Corps Response part of the web site doesn’t include this background). Even with the name change, they try for a quick turnaround, with eight to ten weeks from the time a position is posted until they leave. Medical clearance comes after the invitation (as opposed to before, for regular Peace Corps nominees, and then the invitation comes after the clearance) and is expedited.

Peace Corps Response Volunteers (PCRVs – yes, a new acronym!) work in five main areas: humanitarian assistance, HIV/AIDS, natural disaster relief and reconstruction, disaster preparedness and mitigation, post-conflict relief and reconstruction (I guess mine counts as humanitarian assistance?). Since its inception as Crisis Corps, more than 1000 volunteers have served in over 40 countries, in Latin America, Africa, the Pacific, Asia and Eastern Europe. You can go to http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.former.response for more, including recent projects and FAQs. But I hope to answer any questions that you might have here!