Volunteer Stories

Peace Corps Response Volunteers are providing much needed targeted assistance in a breadth of assignment areas, from HIV/AIDS activities, humanitarian assistance, post-conflict reconstruction projects as well as addressing critical needs in the areas of education and technology. Read their stories below for a firsthand account of their Peace Corps Response experience.

Perspective From The Field: Education in Liberia

By JASON BURNS, Peace Corps Staff Liberia

Peace Corps Response Volunteers (PCRVs) served a pivotal role in re-establishing the Peace Corps program in Liberia when they re-entered the country in 2008 and then maintained a significant presence there during the last four years. Liberia remains a country of great optimism and promise even while in the midst of a significant reconstruction effort, and only nine years out after the end of one of the bloodiest civil wars in the history of Africa. PCRVs are aiding in this post-conflict reconstruction effort and helping Peace Corps pilot programmatic innovations. More
My Time in Jamaica

By KATIA SIROIS, Peace Corps Response Jamaica

In October of 2011, a few months after I completed my service in Botswana, the Caribbean ocean beamed bright blue as I landed in Kingston, Jamaica. Friendly Rastafarians sold mangos and coconut water on the street and the beautiful green tropical trees filled the island. I easily grew accustomed to the laid back "no problem mon" vibe. My time as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer was divided between two organizations—Jamaica AIDS Support for Life and EVE for Life. More
You Can Go Home Again

By PATRICE KOERPER, Peace Corps Response Georgia

I joined Peace Corps in 2006 at the age of 53, and found myself in a country very similar to my Eastern European-rooted childhood in suburban Cleveland Ohio. The attention to home-cooked food, religious traditions and the way people gathered and worked were so similar to customs I had grown up that during most of my stay I felt like I was 11 years old again -- listening to my mom and aunts as I learned to cook family favorites, watching my dad and uncles work, and walking out the door each morning to new adventures. More
Portrait of a Response Volunteer on the Caribbean Coast
in Colombia

By JAY TOTTE, Peace Corps Response Colombia

I certainly won't forget the morning I first made my way to the school where I was to work for the next year. I remember leaving the small, second-story apartment that I shared with a Señora and her daughter, walking down the quiet, potholed street, lined with the most exceptionally green mango trees alive with the sound of tropical birds flying to and fro. I passed a woman selling fresh bread from a basket set atop her head and an elderly man guiding a donkey-led cart full of coconuts and limes. More
I'm Never Coming Back...But

By NATALIE MONTANARO, Peace Corps Romania, 2009–Present

Last week, I met a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, Maura Reap, whose service in Romania, from 2003-2005, made such an impact that, try as she might, it drew her back into volunteering again, much like the hospitality of this country of Romania clings to your inner core and beckons you to remain just a bit longer in order to experience more of the old-world traditions, the amazingly rich countryside, and the warm groundedness of the people who reside here. More
Marketing for a Cause

By SHARON KELD, Peace Corps Response Armenia

As a Peace Corps Response Volunteer who partnered with the Millennium Challenge Account–Armenia, I had the opportunity to be placed in a unique position: I was involved in the business of the Millennium Challenge Corporation–an innovative U.S. foreign aid agency–and I also got to experience living and working as a Peace Corps Volunteer again. More
Serving the World, One Community at a Time

By CATHERINE FABIANO, Peace Corps Response Panama

It wouldn’t be a typical day for me without waking up to the sweet sounds of wild parrots, reggae music emanating from the rickety buses known as “diablo rojos,” or the view of ships bisecting the country carrying goods to other parts of the world. I could only be in Panama. This is where I work for the Peace Corps on a special yearlong assignment supporting the endeavors of Special Olympics Latin America. More
Because 1 in 36 Is Too Much

By LAUREN GOODWIN, Peace Corps Response Malawi

According to figures released by UNICEF, a Malawian woman's lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 36; compare that to America's 1 in 2,100 and Norway's 1 in 7,600. High maternal mortality in Malawi is due in part to the fact that only 54 percent of deliveries have a skilled medical professional present. Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) fill the gap in rural, resource-deprived areas where maternal health facilities are not accessible. The use of TBAs has a tumultuous history in Malawi. More
Library Development in Liberia

By RUTHIA YI, Peace Corps Response Liberia

Liberia was good to me. During my six-month service with Peace Corps Response, I met amazing people, learned some profound truths, and received warm acceptance and appreciation–similar to the treatment I had received during my Peace Corps assignment in Togo, the memory of which led me to apply to Peace Corps Response. More
Not Your Typical Teaching Assignment

By MEG CARTER, Peace Corps Response Guinea

At the age of 21, I moved across the world to West Africa to teach English at a secondary school in Saint-Louis, Senegal. Although I had studied French from 7th grade through my freshman year at university, I did not truly learn to speak that language until I served in the Peace Corps. And although I had traveled and studied abroad in Europe, my first real cross-cultural experience took place in the open air markets of Dakar. More
Re-establishing a Peace Corps Presence in Guinea

By PETER THOMAS, Peace Corps Response Guinea

After starting up a conversation in Hausa with someone in Niger and telling them my name was Idrissa, one of the first things they would ask is, "You're with the Peace Corps, aren't you?" My assumption is that this is the type of reputation a program builds in a country where Peace Corps has had over 40 years of uninterrupted service. More
Nets and More Nets

By GREGORY CLEMENTS, Peace Corps Response Malawi

As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I served in Malawi as a business consultant for a honey cooperative. This entailed training farmers to build hives, keep bees, harvest honey, and sell it to supermarkets in the cities. While my small business project with the Peace Corps was certainly worthwhile, I decided to join Peace Corps Response to respond to a more urgent challenge–helping to obliterate the global epidemic of malaria. More
A Lifetime of Learning

By KERRY JOHNSON, Peace Corps Response Senegal

I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea and Niger in the 1960s, and am now a retired California educator. After returning from Peace Corps service in West Africa, I taught high school for 17 years and was a school administrator for 20 years. I taught hands-on vocational education classes and also worked as a career counselor. I enjoyed working with young people eager to learn how to enter the world of work. More
Shaping the Face of Arts Education in Benin

By SARAH ELLISON, Peace Corps Response Benin

I must admit, I had forgotten how humid it could be... Unlike my first time joining Peace Corps, this time I knew what to pack-more cotton underwear, less socks, and fewer sweatshirts-but no matter what you bring, you're never fully prepared for what you might find. Coming back to the country of my original service has been incredibly satisfying. Benin-the small country in sub-Saharan West Africa that has been my home for nearly three years-is a nation full of joy, color, and welcoming people. More
Responding to the Southeast Asian Tsunami

By AMELIA SPARKS, Crisis Corps Sri Lanka

On December 26, 2004, an earthquake off the west coast of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, created tsunamis across the Indian Ocean that devastated parts of Indonesia, Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka alone, the tsunami killed 30,000 people and displaced 400,000. About six months after the tsunami, my colleagues and I went to Sri Lanka as part of the Crisis Corps to help with post-tsunami relief and development. More