What Does a Peace Corps Volunteer Do?

One of the top questions on your minds might be “What does a Peace Corps Volunteer do?”  I’m still not very sure about the answer to that, but here’s a little bit about what I do so far.

In Ukraine, Peace Corps Volunteers serve in three programs: Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), Youth Development, and Community Development.  TEFL involves, as you might guess, teaching English. Youth Development works with schools and other youth-focused organizations to promote healthy lifestyles, education, and all-around well-being of youth. Community Development is probably the hardest to define of the group. Basically volunteers use their skills to support capacity-building of the community. As I have no idea what I’m doing yet, I must be a CD volunteer!

Capacity-building is such a vague term. What does this mean? Basically, my job is not to do things for people. My job is to help the community learn skills and start programs that they can continue on their own that will improve the well-being of the community.

One of the biggest challenges for me so far is that I’m the first volunteer my community has ever had, and they don’t particularly know what to do with me. I can’t even explain what I’m supposed to be doing very well in English, let alone in Ukrainian! As is common with many other CD volunteers in new communities, my organization has no idea what do to with me except to ask me to teach English and write lots of grants. So it’s up to me to give them direction in what I can do and help them figure what we can work on together.

So far, I have a small class of adults that I’m teaching English. They’ve all studied English at some point in their past, but don’t use it and don’t remember much of it. I’m not much of a teacher, but I’ve got a core few people who stick with me! The best thing about this class is that most of them are teachers of other subjects at the local schools. I am having a great chance to get to know them now while they’re not busy, then when school starts again I have some ideas for projects I’d love to work on with them.

Beyond that, I am working with the local village government on various grant ideas and projects. As is the problem of many small communities, there are a lot of needs but not enough money to go around. We’re working through various ideas to submit for some international grant opportunities. This is where the language barrier is the hardest. As a beginner to the language, I know lots of vocabulary about food and the weather, but you have to study a language for a long time before you get into the vocabulary for land rights and sanitation issues! I don’t work with anyone who speaks enough English to be able to translate, and we’re trying to figure out different ways to communicate. So far, Google Translate has been my very good friend.