By Admin1 (admin) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 12:50 pm: Edit Post |
Peace Corps Aspiration Statement from Volunteer Christy Fuller in Benin
Peace Corps Aspiration Statement from Volunteer Christy Fuller in Benin
Aspiration Statement
Expectations
While it’s hard to have any concrete expectations of my volunteer service, I certainly expect these next two years to be among the most influential of my life. I know that life in Benin won’t always be easy, but I expect to be able to deal with the adversity that I will inevitably face and to be able to grow from it. I have accepted this challenge as a way to develop a part of myself that I would never get to know otherwise. The scariest part of taking this challenge, in fact, is not knowing what challenges I will face or what expectations to have. I do not yet know the extent of my own courage, my own will and my own strength. All of this not knowing after 18 years of education makes my college degree look a little silly! So through my Peace Corps experience, I expect to learn more than I ever learned from a book or a class and to come home a different person. I also expect that my service will help improve the lives of my students and my community, although I understand that that improvement will probably not be readily visible to me during my service. I owe it to myself, to my community and to the Peace Corps to rise to any challenge that might be posed.
Strategies
I think that keeping an open mind is key in adapting to new culture. It is impossible to fully integrate into a new community until you realize that every culture is different, and that it is precisely these differences that make the world an interesting and beautiful place. Using my language skills, obeying and participating in local laws and customs, dressing respectfully and limiting my contact with other Americans will all help with the integration process. I will not, however, go so far as to renounce my own culture, as that is both impossible and detrimental to the Peace Corps goal of contributing to cross-cultural understanding.
Personal and Professional Goals
My primary reason for joining the Peace Corps is for personal growth. During my college years, I learned that the more experiences one has, the more passionate one becomes about life, the more confident one becomes in oneself, and the more accepting one is of personal differences. Living in Africa and experiencing a way of life completely different from my own is one of the biggest challenges I can extend to myself in life. My goal, therefore, is to push myself well beyond my comfort zone, and to become infinitely wiser and more open-minded for doing so.
Professionally, I’ll learn problem solving skills and gain a sense of independence that will serve me well in the future. I hope to polish my French skills, as well as to find my place in the world. Having the opportunity to teach for the first time and to work so closely with a humanitarian effort will help me reevaluate my goals and vision of the future. After my service, I hope to become a teacher and pass on to my students the wisdom and passion for life that I will certainly gain during my service with the Peace Corps.