As I sit here, in my quaint, modest, rural Mexican apartment (at the same time still bigger than my studio apartment my first year at Bard CEP), reflecting over the past three years of my service with the Peace Corps, many thoughts cross my mind. Friends made, relationships built with …
One of the many expectations of a Peace Corps Volunteer, besides learning a new language, a new culture, and which street food vendors to avoid, is to be able to work efficiently in a group setting. The Peace Corps promotes group work over individual work, which is necessary for project …
I remember first reading my Peace Corps assignment and thinking to myself, “How is being assigned to an environmental education project in Mexico going to coincide with environmental policy?” Then I arrived in Mexico and I was told that I would be working in a Biosphere Reserve with CONANP, the …
I only wanted a simple answer to a simple question. The women in the farming groups I work with have been asking me how to make tofu, or ‘soya kebabs’ as they are called here (it’s always sold cut, fried, and on a stick). After we finished a large soap …
The Bard Center for Environmental Policy hosted their annual internship dinner last night to welcome back their second year masters students. The Class of 2013 returned to campus last week to begin their last semester of classes and finish writing their masters level theses. First year Bard CEP students who …
Arriving Our group of Peace Corps (P.C.) Volunteers arrived in Cameroon on September 21st, 2012, coinciding with 50 years of P.C. partnership between the U.S. and Cameroon. Subsequently, our swearing-in ceremony as P.C. volunteers was an impressive event located in the “Palais de Congrès” in Yaoundé (the capital of the …
June 1, 2012 When I first arrived in Ñaupe, the town had no electricity. A few months into service, the Peace Corps Renewable Energy Committee sent out an e-mail announcing $1,000 grants available for projects. I applied for and was awarded the full amount to install solar panels to power …
Village Savings and Loans Associations: Filling the Local’s Needs Created by the Insecurity of Farming in Sirigu, Ghana Hello from Ghana! I’ve almost hit my year mark of leaving for my journey to West Africa to serve in the Peace Corps, and I can’t believe how fast the time has …
One of the things Peace Corps requires of its volunteers as they near their close of service (COS) is that they reflect back over their two years and write a description of service (DOS) that enumerates the projects they have completed, successes they have had, and anything else they have …
Hello! So here it is, my first post at site as a fully-committed Peace Corps Volunteer! I’ve been in Ghana for four months now, and have completed a whole 1/24th of my service at site 🙂 . So far, it’s been going well! The ups and downs have been a …