Peace Corps goal #3

Peace Corps as an organization has three goals that each volunteer is supposed to work towards:

1) Working on projects in our communities, which in my case means promoting economic development;

2) Helping Peruvians better understand the U.S. and its culture; and

3) Helping Americans back home better understand Peru and its culture.

The goal that gets the most attention is of course #1. Goal #2 is something I also do a lot of just by living my day-to-day life here - when people meet me, they tend to ask questions about the U.S., and there are many opportunities for me to share about my home. Thus if any goal tends to get left behind, it is goal #3, largely due to the fact that we volunteers are a bit far from home to be able to spend much time or energy teaching Americans about Peru. Hopefully this blog helps a bit with that, but I am pleased to say that I'm about to start another project under goal 3: the World Wise Schools program. With the help of my very awesome cousins, Hanna and Haden, I get to become pen pals with a classroom of elementary school students in Florida, and share with them about my experiences as a volunteer in Peru.

Internationally-minded education is something that I think U.S. schools could always stand to see much more of, so the WWS program was something I really wanted to participate in as a volunteer. And being able to connect with the classroom of two great cousins is a big plus!