Over the past few months, I have been thinking about joining the Peace Corps. A 2 year program where you are placed in another country on a service project, whether its doing something agricultural, teaching, health, etc. You are placed out of your comfort zone and must learn the language and culture of that area. A great learning experience and a great way to open your eyes to the world will change the way you perceive yourself and others. You get to travel around, live with a host family, try new and different things you are not accustomed to. Your student loans can get deferred and you will get a government stipend by the end of your program. Although it is really hard to get in, but most can qualify if you have the desire to go out and make a change in the world. I have been thinking about just applying and see if I can even qualify. But as of late...looking at the brochures, reading people's testimonies, other people's opinions about this program, etc......

I have decided that I will not apply for it. Reasons are....that the majority about peace corps is politically secular (not something I want to be a part of), and to be placed all alone somewhere, it would be very difficult to have that support that you need mentally. This did sound something that I wanted to do before, but now I just dont have the heart for it anymore. I do have a heart for people and to try to make a helpful change for others, but not in this Peace Corp program. So all the brochures and booklets I have about peace corps is going to the trash because I am scratching it off my life list.
posted by raphael at 2:13 PM