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Nutrition and health
Getting enough food and staying healthy seem to be two of the main concerns for new Volunteers.
"I'm just worried that there's going to be a big adjustment to my lifestyle," says Anna Foerster, Topeka senior, who is considering Joining the Peace Corps after graduation. "I'm a vegetarian, so I'm not sure what I'm going to have to eat and where I'd go if I couldn't eat or if I get sick."
Volunteers are expected to eat the food that is provided by their host families. This usually means that special diets and cravings for chocolate chip cookies are out of the question.
Most participants have complaints about the food of their host country during the first few months, according to On the Homefront, a book produced by the Peace Corps for families of Volunteers. Being made to eat "food that's too spicy, too bland, too rich, too little, too much or too weird," is normal, according to the book. To maintain proper nutrition, though, volunteers are encouraged to eat what they are served.
Although the Peace Corps has an extensive health care program in place, volunteers do occasionally become ill or get injured. When this happens, they sometimes must travel to the nearest metropolis before receiving attention from a
licensed doctor or nurse. If more extensive medical attention is needed, a volunteer may have to be flown out of the country altogether.
To limit health care needs, the Peace Corps promotes a four-step prevention process including immunizations against locally occurring diseases; pre-, mid- and post-service physical and dental exams; a 25-hourhealth education seminarforvolunteers before departure and distribution of health care newsletters, according to On the Homefront.
PEACE CORPS MISSION:
that she was at risk for premature diabetes, she has been asked to undergo additional exams. "Even after all these exams, I could
HELP THE PEOPLE OF INTERESTED COUNTRIES IN MEETING THEIR NEED FOR TRAINED MEN AND WOMEN.
HELP PROMOTE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF AMERICANS TO THE PEOPLE SERVED
HELP PROMOTE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF OTHER PEOPLES ON THE PART OF AMERICANS
All of the medical testing that applicants are required to complete before being accepted into the program can discourage some, however. "I'm frustrated," says Natalie Murrin, Kansas State graduate. "It's frustrating that once you decide this is something you want to do that they can't put you in a program and worry about all of the medical testing later."
Source:peacecorps.gov
Murrin, who is currently waiting to be accepted into the program, has spent several months and hundreds of dollars completing physical, dental and eye exams as part of her application process. Because her initial physical exams indicated
still be rejected. I feel like I could be helping someone and instead I'm sitting here, waiting in Kansas,"she says.
Although frustrating, all of the testing helps to prevent unforeseen health issues once volunteers arrive and keeps most volunteers healthy.
"I didn't really have any safety or health concerns, but I'm a really healthy person, so I don't
really have them much anyway" says Scott McKenzie, a volunteer currently serving in Morocco. "That said, PC has excellent health care set up for us here and everywhere."
The only food frustration McKenzie has encountered while abroad is learning how to order vegetarian food at local restaurants. "We all go to the same sandwich shop, but it took me a moth to explain that I didn't want any meat, just eggs. With a lot of explaining and work, I got it down, and now it's totally fine," he says. McKenzie believes that the frustration resulted more from a language barrier that a reluctance
from the restaurant to prepare vegetarian dishes, though.
In the city, Granitz doesn't fear for his safety. Hes 6 foot 2 inches tall and weighs more than 200 pounds. He thinks it would be silly for someone to try to mess with him.
He knows, though, that not everyone is so lucky to have his dominant stature. He's heard stories about the abuse of female volunteers who have traveled to the city. In West Africa, a mostly Islamic community, showing your stomach or even wearing a tank top can offend. He worries more for their safety than for his own.
Safety
Lizette Peter, who volunteered as an English language teacher for eight years, mostly in Sri Lanka has experienced what it's like to live in an unstable country firsthand. In late 1980s, when she was serving in the Peace Corps, the country was in the middle of a civil war. Ethnic tensions between rival religious groups the Sinhalese and Tamilese made violence an everyday occurrence.
"A lot of students didn't get along very well. The conflict infiltrated even my classroom," she says. In 1989, three years after her arrival, Peter and her fellow Peace Corps volunteers were evacuated out of the country.
"The principal of the school had been murdered, buses had been burned," she says.
"(The evacuation) was pretty traumatic. In those times we got a lot of updates from the state department on safety for Americans. They told us there would be a dry run evacuation to see how long it would take to get all of the volunteers into the capital in case of an emergency.
When they came, they said, 'Lizette pack everything up because you're leaving.' I had about five minutes to pack everything up I owned and say goodbye to my family. Just as the van (that had come to pick me up) was pulling out, a mass of my students came running after the bus. I kept yelling to the bus driver to stop so I could say goodbye, but he wouldn't. That was my last memory."
Although Peter's story is a good reminder of the dangers that volunteers potentially face, evacuation has rarely occurred in the organization's history. Baron, KU Peace Corps coordinator, says there is a safety and security officer in every area that the organization serves, which helps keep volunteers safe. "Do things happen? Yes, they do, but things happen in Lawrence. You can get shot on Massachusetts Street," she says.
Much more common is the backlash some volunteers face when abroad. Baron says that many applicants fear that when they arrive in their host countries, they will encounter resistance. The opposite is true, she says. "We're all about building friendships. We
dont want to just build a bridge for them. We want to educate them on why they need a bridge and work with them to build that bridge.
Granitz says that most Gambians assume that Americans are rich, but that he has never worried about a backlash. "My parents are middle class, but Gambians assume we have just as much as someone like Bill Gates. I'll never fully teach them that they're not all millionaires. But if you understand and respect where they've gotten those ideas, then you'll be fine," he says.
Understanding and respect seem to go a long way with people in host countries. Many volunteers say that attempting to understand a culture and respecting its customs and practices has helped them build a lifelong relationship with their host families and countries. That relationship seems to be mutually beneficial. The Peace Corps gives back to volunteers as much as volunteers have given of themselves to the organization they've joined and the people they help.
"In the end, I benefitted a lot more than the Sri Lanka people, Peter says. "There is probably not a day that goes by that I don't think about Sri Lanka. It is that engrained in my psyche. My Peace Corps experience has been the greatest thing that has impacted my life."
10> JAYPLAY 09.07.2006