Peace Corps Program - Essay Example

Peace Corps ProgramThe United States of America is a benevolent and generous country, which tries to improve the world by developing the democracy and helping other countries. One of the USA signature programs is Peace Corps. The primary aim of the program is to promote world peace with the help of American citizen volunteering to serve in other countries to alleviate a number of social, economic, environmental and other issues. The Peace Corps volunteers typically serve for a period of 24 months, which can be extended; over 200,000 volunteers have served in 140 countries since 1961.

Along this line, being a volunteer presents unique individual challenges and requires a strong commitment due to the physical, emotional, educational, and intellectual demands. For this work, people undergo 3 months of prior training in terms of language, culture, customs, and traditions of the country they are going to. With this in mind, I am fully aware of the requirements, demands, and challenges that I expect to encounter and I am likewise fully prepared to be a successful volunteer in the country I have chosen and the field of endeavor I will be working in.

I want to help other people, promote American democracy and culture in other parts of the world, and serve as a junior diplomat. My academic background is in realty development and I intend to use this knowledge to help formulate some policies concerning environmental preservation in the country I will be working in. As I am a Bachelor of Arts in geography and minor in the urban planning and regional development, my knowledge will be useful in this aspect. On the other hand, my work experiences are more related with the internet, and I plan to help school kids utilize the internet as a tool for quality education, perhaps teach them how to use software programs in their schoolwork and assignments.

My prior work experiences and past academic credentials would be highly useful in this type of volunteer work in a poor country. My two life goals are to help my fellow human beings in a meaningful way and also to spend some time of my youth in another country and another culture and learn from it. Among the ten core expectations, I find number three to be the most challenging. It is because I might be sent to a remote rural area where basic necessities of life are not available. Things which are taken for granted here, in American soil, might not be easily obtainable in those areas; one may suffer from the lack of running water, basic sanitation facilities such as a flushing toilet, cold or warm bath water, telephone or mobile phone facilities, and even internet access.

What I plan to do is to adjust my life expectations in regard to these matters, as they are very minor deprivations that can be dispensed with in daily life, and try to make do with what is available to the locals. I intend to overcome these expected challenges by priming myself for a paradigm shift – for imitation of the religious missionaries of the past. This work is equivalent to becoming a missionary for American democracy, culture, and values to help promote better understanding across nationalities and enhance the world peace.

Most of the poor people in the third world countries do not know what they are missing in life; being a Peace Corps volunteer is a great way to open their eyes to possibility to achieve great results, given the right motivation, direction, and inspiration.