“I applied and it took me a year to get in. Yet today, accepted applicants begin service in four to six months. Each applicant must submit an essay on the subject of why he or she wants to join the Peace Corps,” Nancy Gilbert said.



“I applied and it took me a year to get in. Yet today, accepted applicants begin service in four to six months. Each applicant must submit an essay on the subject of why he or she wants to join the Peace Corps,” Nancy Gilbert said.

Call for recruits Peace Corps Week, March 1-7

by Nancy L. Foster

In honor of Peace Corps week, which began March 1, Nancy Gilbert, the area’s Peace Corps recruiter, spoke to the Somerville News staff on Feb. 27.

“Ever since I was about 12, I was interested in the Peace Corps, although I knew very little about it. I did know that you needed a degree. I studied studio art and anthropology at Smith.

“I applied and it took me a year to get in. Yet today, accepted applicants begin service in four to six months. Each applicant must submit an essay on the subject of why he or she wants to join the Peace Corps,” Gilbert said.

Applicants need three references: a job reference, a reference from someone who is familiar with the applicant’s volunteer work, and a personal reference.

“The Peace Corps is looking for hard and soft skills. Some skills that are always needed are construction, agriculture, IT [information technology] and education.

“The placement office is looking for diversity in age, sex, race and culture. You need a complete physical and dental exam. You must have a background check and have fingerprints taken,” Gilbert said.

The length of service is 27 months and can be extended. Applicants can get the country of their choice under certain regulations concerning allergies or illnesses and having access to medical care that they need, she said.

Gilbert said that applicants who want to work in Spanish or French speaking countries must have a competency in either language.

“Some [programs] are highly structured, others aren’t. Your Peace Corps experience is what you make of it. No one is holding your hand or looking over your shoulders,” she said. Gilbert said that safety and security of the volunteers are primary concerns for the organization.

“It is important that the volunteers put together a system of communication however rudimentary so that a member can contact other members by bicycle or what-have-you.

“Because we are ambassadors for the United States, our behavior is noticed even though we are integrated into the local society. That is why it is so crucial that we follow Peace Corps rules,” she said.

In cases of political unrest, or civil wars breaking out in host countries, Gilbert said that the government works closely with the organization to ensure volunteers’ safety.

“We must be invited in order for us to visit a country. If war breaks out while we’re there, the U.S. Armed Forces will air lift us out.”

At the end of a volunteer’s Peace Corps experience, there is a $7000 resettlement stipend. Volunteers also have the opportunity to earn an advanced degree through the Master’s International program or the Fellows/USA program.

“President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961 with three goals in mind: One, to help people in interested countries in meeting their needs; two, to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served; three, to help promote a better understanding of the host country and its people,” Gilbert said.

“I have never talked to another volunteer who didn’t say, ‘I got more than I gave.’”

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

---

---

March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory.

---

February 26, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Folk-Singer Steve Schuch releases "Trees of Life" 26 Feb Christopher Bartlett maintains Marine Protected Area 25 Feb Joseph Frey uses amputation experience to help others 25 Feb James McCann concerned by maize in Ethiopia 25 Feb Sen. Obama says PC can help improve diplomacy 24 Feb PCVs help remove batteries in Belize 24 Feb Jimmy Carter praises mother's PC service 24 Feb Craig D. Wandke's lunar passion began in Honduras 23 Feb Char Andrews discusses her experience with cancer 23 Feb Beverly Seckinger tells stories through film 23 Feb J. Tyler Dickovick: As Togo goes, so may go Africa 23 Feb Andres Hernandez searches for PCV for 40 years 23 Feb Bulgaria is now like second home to Aaron Wills 22 Feb Bernadette Roberts to serve as diplomat in Albania 22 Feb USA Freedom Corps downgraded at White House 22 Feb Tom Skeldon seeks to control pit bull trade 21 Feb Gabriela Lena Frank writes music on Dad's PCV service 21 Feb

---

Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.

WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

RPCVs mobilize support for Countries of Service RPCV Groups mobilize to support their Countries of Service. Over 200 RPCVS have already applied to the Crisis Corps to provide Tsunami Recovery aid, RPCVs have written a letter urging President Bush and Congress to aid Democracy in Ukraine, and RPCVs are writing NBC about a recent episode of the "West Wing" and asking them to get their facts right about Turkey.

Read the stories and leave your comments.