These are just a few of the day to day challenges of living 1,650 miles away from home in a monolithic cement structure in north central Illinois. Don’t get me wrong -- living in a converted grain elevator certainly has a fair share of advantages. I’ve got the best view of the community; I get my daily dose of exercise (I live at the top—known as “the penthouse” around these parts) and don’t have to feel guilty when I miss gym days. My building will most likely still be standing after a tornado. (This is important, being from San Diego, I’m really not used to this type of storm.) To be honest, I really do enjoy the place!

Yes, it’s just one of the things that has made four months of my Fellows/USA internship fly by. As in my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Poland, I find that by the time I’ve somewhat settled in, figured out how to work the phone system at the office, and finally developed a foundational work plan, I’m nearly half finished.

My practicum in community development with the North Central Illinois Council of Government also make the time pass quickly. My projects are broad, systematized, and spread out over a number of municipalities. Because they require interaction with government officials and leaders, I have fewer opportunities to interact with community associations, organizations, and residents as a whole. I do, still, get the best of both worlds, however.

The group of Peace Corps Fellows (PCF) out in the field has done an excellent job of sharing knowledge, support, skills, contacts, resources—anything and everything that raises the experience capacity for ourselves as well as the communities in which we serve. Weekends have proven to be the perfect time to exchange information about office/community projects (so the whole group benefits from one experience); volunteer, network, show support and pride, contribute to the local economy, and generally practice good social capital-building (among each other as colleagues as well as allowing for connections between our separate communities).

Communities may think that they just have one PCF around, but they actually have several that may show up on various weekends waiting to help out, participate, and just have a good time. Fellows colleague Scott Paszkieweicz addressed the importance of social capital in community development efforts in a spring 1999 Rural Research Report. He concluded that, “Social capital is a key ingredient in a strong community foundation.” I agree!
 

Johanna Gueco (Poland 1997-1999) Johanna's profile is reprinted from Voices, the newsletter for Western Illinois University’s Fellows Program in Community Development at the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs.