This article was first publised in the in-country publication PeaceWorks/Summer '07 edition ...

Essential Ingredients of Volunteer Life, One PCV’s Perspective
Nam LaMore, Khemisset/SBD ‘05

With more than 675 days of in-country Service, PCVs, ranging from recently sworn-in to those in my group, have asked what general and specific factors have contributed to my Volunteer Life. I applied to the Peace Corps with full knowledge that I was voluntarily stepping out of my comfort zone. Every adventure comes with some discomforts. I was prepared for lack of running water, electricity, fluffy down comforters, 300-thread count Egyptian cotton sheets and life’s other comforts and familiarities. I did not need to leave my home, friends and family in California for 27 months to look for a vacation or an easy experience. And the Peace Corps never promised me such an experience.

I joined the Peace Corps to be a Volunteer so that I could contribute to development efforts. The Peace Corps is delivering just that: an opportunity to contribute to development efforts within my assigned community of site, and an experience to last a lifetime. Everyone’s Volunteer Life experience is different; however, here is a simple, personal blueprint that has helped me with my Service ...


Manage Expectations & Personal Accountability.
One of my life-skills – transferred from Corporate America to Peace Corps – is to manage expectations, my own as well as those around me. For example, before coming to Morocco we were asked to write an Aspiration Statement that included our Expectations, Strategies for Adapting to a New Culture and Professional & Personal Goals. I suspected this exercise was to gage our commitment and maturity as we prepared to live in another culture. During my homestay period, I taped a copy of my Aspiration Statement to the wall, and made a point to review it whenever I faced cultural challenges. I expected that my Service would be to meet the needs and goals of community-based, not team-oriented, development efforts. More than once I thought about revising my Aspiration Statement, but decided that was not necessary as my experience matched my own expectations.

Mutual Respect & Open, Flexible Communications.
I established mutual respect, and open, flexible communication channels with Staff, other Volunteers and Host-Country Nationals early in my Service. I tried to learn how they like to be contacted; some people prefer to talk on the phone instead of, say, email or text messaging – for these phone-yakking communicators, I simply text them to call me – there’s no shame in admitting that I am low on phone credit.

Get Involved & Stay Involved.
My first priority is to my sector, SBD. My Program Staff – Bouchra & Tariq – seem to remind me of this at every opportunity. It’s a good thing, as I often ask to get involved in non-SBD activities, such as sector-neutral VSN, YD’s Spring/Summer Language Camps, site development, trainings, etc. They like that I want to get involved, and I often remind them how my involvement will fit in with my primary projects, goals and objectives for SBD. My hobby of photography has evolved and become a useful tool in helping artisans with their marketing efforts. Program Staff and the PCV community recognize this and have made good use of this skill.

Create Support Networks.
I tried to create networks around me. This has included PCVs in and out of my sector, stage and region; artisans in my site and elsewhere; PC Staff ranging from my Program Staff to other sector’s Program and Administrative Staff; Host Country Nationals in my community ranging from café workers to local officials; and “others” who include development workers from such international NGOs as JICA, KOICA, Oxfam and UNESCO. For example, at a recent craft festival, Amina Yarbis (I met her a year earlier) noticed I was being harassed by kids. She motioned to the kids to come over, and told them to ask me questions about who I am and what I was doing in Morocco. I was having a cultural exchange moment with the kids, with Amina acting as a cultural attaché. When the kids left, she said she remembered our discussion that I sometimes face harassment just because I am a diverse PCV, and that the unwanted attention can be a source of frustration. The same day, she trusted me to watch her booth as she went for a long lunch. We provide mutual support and perspectives to each other on many different levels.

Develop Routines.
I developed daily, weekly and monthly routines shortly after arriving in my site. Khemisset was my Community-Based Training site, so I had an idea of what my daily and weekly routines would be. An example of a daily routine was taking a walk to the medina each morning. Sometimes the walk brought me to the artisana for work-related discussions, but more importantly it was a way for me to integrate daily with my community. An example of a weekly routine is Happy Couscous Friday, when I have lunch with my landlord’s family. Or weekly routine is going to the weekly souk where I have lunch at the same fish-fry tent, buy fresh produce from vegetable sellers and discuss tourist traffic with carpet sellers. These have been rewarding cultural experiences.

Acknowledge Culture Shock.
I live (next to a mosque) in a conservative part of town that is in a not-so-conservative-PCV site. In spite of having less than five months of Service left, I continue to experience culture shock everyday. For example, I am not comfortable covered head-to-toe when it is hot enough to quickly brew sun-teas. However, I respect the culture and, therefore, do not show my bare knees or shoulders. Another example, my apartment is equipped with a traditional Moroccan toilette. I hate to squat and read Newsweek in the morning; instead, I catch-up on world politics and global warming while sipping on non-refrigerated, no-sugared, sun-brewed tea and glancing up at the setting sun from my kitchen. Not so bad.

The final essential ingredient to my Volunteer Life is getting to know PC Office’s Hakim (administrative assistant) and Azeddine (tech guru) – they are very helpful. I always thank Hakim whenever he patches me through to or takes a message for my Programming Staff, and Azeddine for keeping the PCV Lounge computers and printer from failing when I need them most … now, for example, as I put the finishing touches on thi

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