I'm thinking of joining the peace corps...any thoughts?

Question

my friend actually told me that a lot of poor people join the peace corps, is that true?

Answer 1

I worked my way through college, but I wasn't what you would call poor; lower middle class. Most of the people in my training group were from families somewhere in the middle class; some upper, some lower. None of us did it for the cheap travel. We all had degrees and reasonable job prospects in the USA.

I worked harder (more hours per week, at least) as a volunteer than I had ever done beofre or ever did afterwards. It was the most rewarding two years of my life.

Answer 2

I have no idea as to the economic demographics of Peace Corps Volunteers and I was a volunteer and worked for them as a staff.

However, the safety concerns expressed by previous posts may be a bit over the top. Some years ago, Volunteers were a lot more out of touch with the local Peace Corps office and a lot more out there on their own. I recently visited a friend working for Peace Corps in Africa. All their volunteers had cell phones and could call the office whenever.

There are two things that Peace Corps takes extraordinarily seriously: volunteer health and volunteer safety. They have safety standards for posting volunteers to a site, do extensive training on health and safety, and react with amazing speed when volunteer health and safety are concerned.

Thoughts in general about joining--if you're serious and don't have an unrealistic expectation of people in a developing country, you should do it. If you think it's a fun and easy way to see the world and that anything you do as a Volunteer will be received with open arms and overwhelming gratitude, you should not do it.

Peace Corps is not easy, but it is an amazing experience.

Answer 3

Buy a gun for your personal protection!

Seriously, your friend doesn't know anything about the Peace Corps ... it's false! If you really want to know about what the Peace Corps is and does, do a Google search.

Answer 4

depending on where your sent and your conduct there it can be
good or bad.....be prepared to live very primitive in comparison
to where you are now, no phones, no plumbing, wood heat
1 bed/mat 1 chair 1 pot 1 spoon kinda thing. if you get lucky
you may get a more industrizled area and have some ammenities.
if you dont have a degree in something ( 2year) it will be hard to
place you BTW. its not like it use to be.

Answer 5

that is a great idea

Answer 6

don't