*A Word

A word, because it probably seems odd that I wouldn’t have an opinion on which corps is better.

Peace Corps and AmeriCorps are extremely different. AmeriCorps is dubbed as the domestic Peace Corps, and having been oriented to the setup of the CTC Vista Project, I’d say they’re similar in a thousand programmatic ways. Both are full-time jobs, both are meant to build capacity. With each corps, a host organization must apply for a volunteer based on their need, be approved by the Corps program and then provide certain basics such as housing and transportation (in AmeriCorps, the host organization gives a housing subsidy and transportation subsidy. In Lesotho, I was given a house and a horse). With Peace Corps, you are assigned a counterpart by your host organization whom you are supposed to train, in a sense, so that knowledge is left with the people you serve instead of leaving with you. In both cases there is a supervisor.

CHED Class of 2007

The similarities end there. Anybody who is considering Peace Corps is clearly aware of the possible lack of electricity and running water and limited communication to the outside world. These are the easiest things to get over (there is almost always a way to communicate, whether there’s an internet café a couple hour’s bus ride away, a way to rig internet via cell phone at home, or phone signal atop a mountain). By far, the hardest part about Peace Corps is the cultural barrier. This becomes an obstacle in trying to carry out your Peace Corps assignment because of cultural misunderstandings, different concepts about time or difficulty with language. For some, it can become a cage in which inability to process input will make them think they know better.

With AmeriCorps, the cultural barriers are not as pervasive. Culture changes depending on what sort of background you’re from (race, social class, economic standing, etc.) and the groups that you are working with through your host organization (low-income, minority communities, etc.). It requires cultural sensitivity and understanding, but not necessarily immersion.

I was ecstatic when I found out that I would have a work plan with the CTC Vista Project. The host organization had actually submitted real goals that needed to be accomplished during certain quarters of the fiscal year. There were goals submitted by host organizations to Peace Corps as well, but as good as they seemed on paper, the PCVs in my program were prepped to expect it to fall apart upon arrival. Depending on which program you are placed in under Peace Corps, you can end up lacking any real structure. Ethan Zuckerman, co-founder of Geekcorps, said the following:

In my experience, the hard part of all developing world volunteer projects is defining tasks that are helpful for the beneficiaries and possible for a volunteer to carry out. Geekcorps volunteer assignments worked well when we found companies that could say, “Send us an expert who can teach us how to migrate from Access to MySQL”, and really badly when we worked with companies who said, “Can you send us someone who’ll make our business better?”

In many ways, Peace Corps is a blank slate where you are assigned a primary project but have plenty of downtime, in contrast to AmeriCorps Vista, where you are a full-time employee for your host organization. Many Peace Corps volunteers pick up secondary projects, but in my experience, those who ask for your help are asking for a miracle that is not sustainable in the slightest (i.e.: “write me a grant so I can have money” v. “teach me how to write a grant”). PCVs will spend a lot of time wading through these requests before finding fantastic secondary projects.

The lack of structure can be very difficult. That, along with the isolation. Even with the quickest transport at your disposal, you will still be hours away from your closest volunteer. The cultural adjustment can be difficult because PCVs will never be perceived as part of the host country’s culture. At that point, PCVs can only choose where they will draw the line, and that’s okay. PCVs are also there to share American culture and values.

Don’t go into Peace Corps because you want to change the world. More likely than not, it will be a disappointment. The least you can ever hope to get from your Peace Corps experience is cultural exchange and enrichment. The odds are stacked against you if you want to make an everlasting impact (and it’s a bit arrogant, too). You can hope to make a mutual impression on your host family, village, coworkers and friends there. You initiate sustainable projects that make a difference to your ocmmunity, but for peace of mind, just remember that you’re not there to call the shots and that lasting progress for a society comes from the society itself.

CTC Vista Project: Class of 2008

If you do want to feel a more direct and effective impact, AmeriCorps is the better option. There’s a reason that Peace Corps is two years and AmeriCorps is only one. You don’t see the impact of your work in Peace Corps till the beginning of your second year; your entire first year is spent learning how to work in a foreign culture. In AmeriCorps, it’s not as taboo to do direct service, in which you might be teaching a class offered by your host organization or (with other AmeriCorps programs) volunteering directly with projects for a year and then leaving. In AmeriCorps Vista, your goal is to build capacity within an organization so they can achieve their mission. This might mean setting up new programs that appeal to a more diverse community or building a structure that supports outreach. Either way, direct service is not as much of an issue with AmeriCorps because your host organization is culturally rigged to take full advantage of having a free employee with a missive for a year.

This entry’s getting a bit long, so this is my last major point. Peace Corps can be “The toughest job you’ll ever love.” Or it could become the toughest job you’ll ever hate. There’s a prestige that surrounds Peace Corps, and the hype mainly comes from people having a hard time wrapping their minds around no electricity/water and then “giving up” two years to be a do-gooder in a foreign land. No two Peace Corps countries are alike, and there isn’t one Peace Corps experience. Many PCVs who are miserable force themselves to stay the two years with the comfort of putting Peace Corps on their resume. I believe everybody has what it takes to be a Peace Corps volunteer. The key to your happiness in another country is dependent on two things, one of which you are in control of:

1. Making sure you feel good about the timing.
2. The country that you’re placed in. Peace Corps is a constant emotional roller coaster, but you won’t know whether you’re well-placed till you’ve spent several months at site.

Neither corps is better than the other; it’s all dependent on what you want out of the adventure. Each is effective in different ways.