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Blog, Vacation, Tweet, and Facebook Etiquette

Over the past year of my service, I have noticed a disturbing trend among many Peace Corps volunteers from various countries. I read blogs, Facebook statuses, and hear conversations between vacationing volunteers and tourists, other Americans, etc. on the difficulties and harsh realities of Peace Corps service.

                  While I completely stand by the fact that Peace Corps is NOT always going to be endless moments of gratitude, glorification, and profound happiness as advertised in the brochures, on the website, and by recruiters, I feel it’s important to remember that a large part of our responsibility as PCV’s is to represent the countries where we serve in a positive light.

                  Yes, Peace Corps South Africa is trying, infuriating, saddening, and heartbreaking in so many ways, and we as volunteers know that more than anyone else. However, it is also one of the most magical, open, caring, and generous cultures I as an American have ever experienced. Our ability to remember our aspirations, our goals, and to stop and appreciate the good in the people we meet is exactly what makes us successful volunteers, and keeps us here no matter how bad some of our days can be. There are good moments in every day, whether it is watching a TV show with your host family, playing with kids in your street, or just picking a fresh mango from a tree and settling in with a good book for the night. As it is true in the United States, it is possible to find good in every day if you look at it in an optimistic way.

                  I understand that Facebook and blogs are a big way that volunteers can keep in touch with their families and friends back home. However, when I read blogs and statuses about corporal punishment, or “lazy” teachers, the inability of government institutions to be effective, lack of electricity, etc. it really saddens me because I know that so many of our friends and family will mainly remember these small instances rather than so many other victories we discuss, like funding afterschool clubs or improving learners’ scores throughout a school term. Not only this, but they might assume that these hardships discussed represent an entire country, not just one person, group, or singular environment, which is absolutely terrible. South Africa as a country has so much potential, room for growth, people with huge hearts, and truly successful accomplishments in science, marketing, education, etc. especially despite its recent and painful past. When we vent on public forums that almost anyone can see, we are going directly against goal 3 of our service, helping Americans gain a better understanding of the world, specifically our host country. Do you really want your peers to mainly remember these small parts of your challenges as the defining pieces of your service, or worse, an entire country?

                  I am not saying that I am not guilty of this as well, especially when on vacation letting loose or venting to family and close friends about rough days. I am personally trying to make a bigger effort to share my small victories and moments of joy with those close to me, and leave the venting and anger to be discussed with fellow PCVs who will truly understand what I mean and see past it in a positive way. So much of our jobs as volunteers will be finished once we come home and share our experiences with future employers, friends new and old, etc. A country and group of people that housed us and cared for us for over two years deserves our respect at all times, period.

                  All I ask is that the next time you come home fuming and pick up your phone or computer to post, tweet, or blog about all the things that drive you CRAZY about this country, take a deep breath, sleep on It and choose something positive to write about because at the end of the day, you will come home happy you did, and you will be able to expand on the positive experiences with those you love, rather than the heartbreaking moments they can’t forget and are now forever glued to cyber space.

Why Compete?

Posh Corps. We all know what it means, and if you don’t yet, you will. Posh Corps is a common term used to describe Peace Corps South Africa because many of us have electricity, running water, smart phones, or access to bigger cities on occasion. The term also implies that because we have access to these luxuries at times, we have an “easy” Peace Corps country or an experience that runs smoother than those of volunteers in other less developed countries. Anyone who is a Peace Corps South Africa volunteer will instantly know that this assumption is completely and totally wrong, ill informed, and above all else, rude.

As a member of a judgmental society, I’ve watched friends, exes, and even myself be categorized, judged, or labeled based on lifestyle choices. The Peace Corps volunteer community was a place I expected that we all would generally “get” and accept one another. For the most part, that is true, but when we isolate each other based on “easiness” of our sites it makes it clear that we are not free from judgment even as fellow PCVs.

I first experienced this comparison when I met volunteers from other countries, staying in South Africa for medical appointments, Peace Corps Response, or safety reasons. Some of the first things many of them mention are how much easier it is here, and how where they are is so much more difficult because there is “nothing even similar to America around.” Not all of them are guilty of this, and many of them make no judgments at all. Regardless, most PCSA volunteers are able to swallow these comments and generally regard them as wrong, as we all know they are.

The times where this type of categorization infuriates me most is not when it comes from PCVs from other countries, but rather from within the PCV South Africa community. When I hear people comparing amenities or locations and ridiculing each other based on what they have in their shopping towns, the locations of their sites, weather, and anything plainly superficial it drives me crazy. We as PCSA are already ridiculed and alienated based on the “easiness” of our country, why are we turning it around and doing it again to one another? It is not only childish, it is mean and unnecessary.

The root of the experience in Peace Corps is all the same whether you served in 1970 in India or today in South Africa. We are in a foreign country, stripped of most of our support systems, trying to make some sort of difference in this world despite the challenges we face. Criticizing other volunteers based on the so-called difficulty of their sites does not make our work easier, more gratifying, or really do anything to improve anyone’s experience, so why do it?

It is important we act as to all fellow volunteers, former and current. We all know this job is exceedingly difficult, and attempting to categorize each other based on subjective opinions does nothing to make our jobs or experiences any more beneficial.