Ask a Volunteer
Q: What do you want your Peace Corps legacy to be; and what makes you most proud to serve for an agency that is celebrating a legacy of 50 years?
A: I hope I leave a legacy of passion, kindness, and hard work in the small rural community I currently call home. While friends, family, and peers back in the States will express a brief curiosity in what I did for these two years abroad, my true Peace Corps legacy will only be known to those who accepted me whole-heartedly into their community and family to work, to teach, and to learn.
I am proud to continue upholding a fifty year legacy of service as a Peace Corps Volunteer as we show the U.S. and the world what people can do peacefully for each other in times of turmoil and crisis.
Kristen Lea Woodruff, Rural Community Development Peace Corps Volunteer, Costa Rica
A: I hope that by serving in the Peace Corps, Nicaraguans that know me will reflect positively on Americans. I know that my friends and family have benefitted from coming to visit and have drastically changed their opinions of Nicaraguans for the better. To me, that alone is a huge success. I also hope that the youth I've worked with will continue to succeed in whatever it is they choose to pursue—four have already gone off to college!
Elizabeth Sampson, General Health Peace Corps Volunteer, Nicaragua
A: I want to be remembered by all members of my rural community as someone who was always smiling, loving, welcoming, and acknowledging of all. These are all things people in my community have actually taught me over the last two years; that, and to take life a little more light heartedly, and a little less seriously. Costa Ricans really do take on the "Pura Vida " attitude—it is just not worth it to run around stressed out all the time (like I used to do when living in the US.)
I am proud to have served in Peace Corps Costa Rica for 2 years, proud to be a part of such a wonderful community here among Peace Corps Costa Rica staff, volunteers, and host country nationals. I am proud to have worked in areas of youth development, women and gender in development, HIV/AIDS prevention and sex education. I hope to have many opportunities in the future to encourage and motivate other U.S. citizens to enter into this beautiful experience of service, not only to serve and change the lives of people in a small village in another country, but also to grow on an individual level through this experience, and then go on to share their stories with friends and family in the U.S. I am proud of my experience and happy to share my story.
Natalie Keating, Urban Youth Development Peace Corps Volunteer, Costa Rica
A: Language is the key to connection. Without this, so much opportunity is lost. I am most proud and most impressed by the doors that have opened from being able to communicate and connect with people in my community. Attaining fluency takes time, but the time to reach it, and the experiences in between, amount to a wealth of moments and insights. For this, I consider all Albanians to have been my teachers. They teach me history and culture, as well as language, and are proud to call me a "Shqiptar, " or one of their country. I, furthermore, could not be more proud to have a place among these people. Language has opened that place and joined me with them in the process of learning and exchange.
Christopher Chaulk, English Education Peace Corps Volunteer, Albania