Reflection: Why We’re Joining the Peace Corps

There I was, standing between Gaddi Vasquz and Ron Tschetter, the 16th and 17th Directors of the United States Peace Corps, as they tag-teamed their best recruiting pitch. It was the fall of 2007, and I was a mere intern with US State Department in Rome; then-Ambassador Vasquez was my boss and he had invited his successor and a horde of returned Peace Corps Volunteers for a reception at his luxurious estate. From my perspective, the entire night seemed like an overwhelming Peace Corps recruiting event. Stories from foreign and exotic lands flowed through the room as fluidly as the wine. Given the atmosphere and the company, it would have only seemed logical that I would have signed up for the Peace Corps right then and there, but I could not even feign enthusiasm. Rather, I was convinced that the Peace Corps was not for me. And now, two and a half years later I am waiting anxiously for my departure date to Mali.

So, what changed? Why are Joye and I heading into the Peace Corps? We get asked this question frequently (right after, where? and for how long?), and I thought it best to document it here. It certainly is not because we’re fickle, or because we need “to find ourselves.” Nor do we have some self-righteous desire to save the world and relieve the white man of his burden. Rather, we view Peace Corps service as the intersection between acting on our convictions now while continuing to fulfill future career objectives. Below are our Top 5 reasons for Peace Corps service, listed in a somewhat logical order.

1) We feel called to go. Underlying our interest in development work, (before, during, and after the Peace Corps) is the ultimate conviction that we believe it is our privilege and duty, as Christians and as human beings, to make the world a better place. This belief has produced within us a compassion for vulnerable peoples. In this capacity, we strongly feel that God is calling us to go to Mali, not just for the work we intend to do, but also for the valuable lessons we will learn there. But make no mistake, we will not be missionaries. Instead, we simply hope to humbly serve others and be ambassadors of the United States. In our circumstance, that may largely mean providing an example of a Christian American couple that contrasts the immoral stereotype of Westerners that Malians see in Hollywood movies.

2) We need experience. In our senior year at Alma College, Joye and I looked into a lot of development careers and noticed one stark commonality – that every entry-level paying job in this sector requires at least two years of experience in a developing country. While this qualification makes sense, without a paycheck, one can only gain this experience by funding two years of service work on their own, something that neither Joye nor I could afford. Luckily, the Peace Corps can fund this experience, and then provide a meager $6,000 bonus at the end of service. Once we realized this, our perspective of the program changed dramatically.

3) It’s part of our education. After being convinced that the Peace Corps would be our best option for gaining experience abroad, I enrolled in the Master’s International program in Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University. Instead of a two year program, this unique degree allows one to get their Master’s by taking a year of classes and then two years of Peace Corps service; in effect, giving the participant book-smarts and street-smarts. At this point, all I have to do is write my thesis based on work I do in Mali, and I can graduate upon my return. As for Joye, her service will help her to decide our next step as a couple: where we can go to further her education. This year she has worked in a biochemistry lab, next year she will work on community development issues, and then on our return she will figure out what she likes best: the lab, the field, or somewhere in between.

4) We’re young. Another reason the Peace Corps makes sense for us is that our living situation allows for it. We have minimal possessions, minimal obligations, and no children. Every additional day we spend in the United States makes it harder to simply drop everything and go. Moreover, since we are considering careers in development, this experience will help us test the waters of living long-term in a developing country. Will we adapt to the lifestyle? Is it possible to raise a family in that environment? Do we like working with people on the ground, or do we prefer assisting from a distance (as many do)? There’s only one way to find out, and that is to go and investigate.

5) It’s gonna be fun. Lastly, do not get the impression that we are not excited about the adventure awaiting us in Mali. We most certainly are. Committing oneself to over two years of service in a developing country can not be done successfully if motivation merely comes from logic and conviction alone – there’s needs to be a hardwired part of you that actually wants to go and be challenged in unimaginable ways. Thankfully, God has provided us with this zeal. Serving will also give us an opportunity to reinvent our lifestyles and daily routine. Ultimately, we hope that the Peace Corps will bring us closer as a couple and help us to pick up some good habits, including gardening, daily exercise, more frequent reading (especially of the Bible), and a dramatic improvement in our camping/survival skills, naturally. :)

Hopefully, this provides a thorough answer to the tough question of why we are going. In truth, the convictions and zeal have always been there, but only last year did we actually see Peace Corps fitting into the master plan of our lives. And now that it has, we are very anxious to see where it will take us… and hopefully, you are too.

If you have any other questions for us, please leave them in the comments section, and we can try to address them in a later post! Thanks for reading!

-James