Returned PCRVs

A returned Peace Corps volunteer is an RPCV – a Peace Corps Response Volunteer is a PCRV – but I don’t think a returned Peace Corps Response Volunteer is an RPCRV. At any rate, I know two of them so I decided to contact them while I was still evaluating the decision.

Motasim (his Moroccan nickname), my predecessor (he now works for USAID) did disaster preparedness training in the Caribbean (at one point in his service he sent photos of his building under several feet of water from a hurricane! Dean, I think it was. So he had a chance to see how effective he was!). He said he couldn’t recommend it or not recommend it, but he was glad he did it. To him, it was like Peace Corps without PST (pre-service training) – good experience and good for cultural exchange. And that six months was just long enough to arrive, settle down, get ready to go again, and then leave. He was glad he did it because he had a chance to get to know people from a different culture. Okay, not the most ringing endorsement but what he said about no PST was an aha moment – I liked training, and I would do Peace Corps again, but the thought of going through training again seems daunting (in fact, there was a trainee in the most recent group in Azrou who was on her second tour, and she remarked that she had forgotten what a grind training can be). Training – homestay – finding and furnishing the apartment – tutoring – I wouldn’t have to do any of that. I think that’s when it really clicked that I was going to do this.

The other volunteer, one of Katie’s friends, had done Peace Corps Response in Namibia – she did a little travel after COS and was off to Namibia almost right away, it seemed. She’s going to graduate school in the fall so this was a chance to get more international experience. She was glad she did it as well, though it was challenging in ways she didn’t expect. She cautioned me to research the NGO well. She said that some of the other PCRVs there went home after a few weeks because their NGO wasn’t well-organized. She also said she didn’t realize how much she missed having her own place – she was in the offices of the NGO she worked with. Hmm – while I feel good about HFHP since it’s global brand name (if nothing else!), I too am sharing facilities. I think of it as part of the experience, but it was interesting that she mentioned it. She also said that she was commuting between two cities 700 miles apart – I don’t see myself doing that. Anyway, nothing she said made me think twice about going, and both she and Motasim congratulated me when I told them I had decided to take it.

In between hearing back from him and from her, I heard from my former warden, who now works for Peace Corps in Washington, putting together the packages of communications that go out to invitees. Coincidence that he called me that very evening? I think not. I didn’t have a chance to see him when I was in Washington last month (wow, was it only last month?) but I hope to see him next time. He told me he thought it was a great idea to go, that it would position me for working at Peace Corps when I get back, and that he would put in a good word for me when I do. He thought I should be a Country Desk Manager; no openings for that right now but there will be in six months. He was so positive about it that it counteracted any cautionary tales from the other two. He also put me in touch with the Country Desk Manager for the Philippines, who said that volunteers coming back from the Philippines are almost universally glowing about their experience and about the country. Check out http://rpcvphilippines.org/!