I am posting from Morocco, three days before my COS. So-Youn was a good friend of mine.


November 16, 2009

TO: Peace Corps Global
FROM: Aaron S. Williams, Director
SUBJECT: Peace Corps Volunteer So-Youn Kim

I am deeply saddened to report a respected member of our Peace Corps family in Morocco, Volunteer So-Youn Kim, unexpectedly passed away today after an illness.

So-Youn, 23, a native of San Francisco and a 2007 graduate of Stanford University, had been serving for one year as a Youth Development Volunteer in Tamagourte. Her primary assignment was in a youth center where she was involved in a wide range of activities in her dual role as English teacher and youth development worker.

Her secondary activities focused on helping the village of Tamagourte’s pottery cooperative and developing an apprenticeship program. She got her hands dirty both literally and figuratively with the lives, pottery and culture of her community. She loved to teach children, support the cooperative and respect the historic craft that is so firmly rooted in that region of Morocco.

So-Youn was a remarkable writer, a voracious reader, a tireless advocate and talented in many languages. Thoughtful and hopeful would be the best way to describe her Peace Corps Aspiration Statement and other communications she has shared.

In September 2008, she wrote: “Youth development work is effective when young people are taught to become educated, empowered, and responsible members of their communities while being given space to explore and share the challenges of their own individual identities.”

This is an ethos and passion So-Youn brought with her to Morocco. I am sharing the news of this tragedy with the hope that all of you will honor her commitment to service by providing the best support, comfort and opportunities to our dedicated Volunteers and staff around the world.

So-Youn wrote recently, “I believe in the power of the day to day, the simple yet otherwise impossible conversations, the truths that I speak and live that affect the people around me as I learn from the truths around me in turn.”

I couldn’t agree with her more.

Please join me in keeping So-Youn’s family and friends in your thoughts.

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EDITING THIS POST: Looking through the community I noticed that it's actually very common for people far from applying to ask questions, so I thought I'd add a few.

1. I am in the very early stages of considering the Peace Corps (graduating college, feeling the need to exercise my newfound geographic freedom for awhile before signing it away again, but I know I want to within a few years). I was wondering if any of you are working in Environmental Education and what sort of experience you had when applying? That would be my ideal field, but my degree is in a social science although my passions are working with kids and the environment, especially marine/coastal conservation. I did see the official requirements on the website, I was just wondering about some real-world volunteers' experiences.

(Don't worry, I know not to bank on getting into one particular thing, and I'd be happy doing education, tefl, youth development, community development, anything working with people.)

2. Do PCVs get weekends (or random days) off? Not necessarily to go off on vacation, but to be able to take a bus to a larger town for supplies and internet or something. I know about the 2 days/month vacation rule, but does that include weekends or not?

3. I'm aware that people going in expecting one country or one project are usually disappointed, but if someone has a list of two or three continents that they would like to serve on and their skill-set is commonly needed and they are flexible about departure dates, can they realistically expect to be assigned to somewhere in that area? Or at least not assigned to their LEAST preferred areas? (Assuming they speak the languages and have a good amount of experience of course.)

4. Considering the following restrictions, is it realistic for me to expect a suitable placement? Will they consider any of them to not be valid enough concerns to accommodate? ( the list )

I'm slated to leave for Africa in January some time. My dental/legal cleared and they started reviewing my medical on Nov 3rd. I called yesterday to check in and was told that it may be 8-12 weeks before clearance decisions are made, yet placement office says I am in the priority pile. I am worried that I will be bumped out of January at this point ( I'm hoping to leave in January, and would love to be in the South Africa group, but that's not a given). I understand and appreciate that the PCMO has a HUGE caseload of applicants to screen, but it still amazes me to hear 2 different things from the same agency. Nobody is able to tell me if I will be bumped.

Any advice on this would be helpful.. I'm trying to be patient about this but it's a little frustrating when I originally hear " Don't worry, I'm sure you'll leave on time" and now here that it may take 8-12 weeks on top of the 6-8 weeks from invitation to departure. I feel like I'm going to totally miss January.

Hi everyone, my name is Gloria. I am finally applying to the Peace Corps! For real this time! I have been a member of this community forever it seems. I was originally intending to join after I graduated from college, but then I joined Americorps instead and served for a year here in my city. That led me to going back to school for my Masters, and I am just now looking ahead to graduation in May and realizing that I am finally ready to apply! I am very excited about this, but also extremely nervous. I am getting my Masters in Social Work right now and I have a lot of experience working with children and families. So I guess my ideal placement would be in Youth Development or something along those lines. I speak Spanish, but I think I would be open to other places if they want to send me somewhere outside Latin America. I am looking at maybe June/July of 2010 for the earliest date I would be available.

So yeah, I have started the application and just had a couple minor questions for those of you that have been through the process. For filling out my past work and volunteer experience, how would you list unpaid internships? I have had two year-long internships that were basically like a job except for the fact that I wasn't paid (yay!) So would I list this as employment or volunteer? If I put them under volunteer, along with Americorps, I feel like I'm leaving little room for actual volunteer experience that I have.

My other question is basically along the same lines...for my employment reference, could I then use one of my internship supervisors? I have other supervisors from past employment and also my current employer, but I think my internship speaks more to the type of work that I am hoping to do.

I'm sure these are not deal-breakers, but I guess I can get carried away with little details like that... thanks for any suggestions! and say hello if you are in the same boat as me right now :)

Hi everyone,
I'm currently serving in Azerbaijan as TEFL volunteer. I'm halfway through service and will COS next December 2010. Before beginning service I had read a lot about readjusting once returning home in one of the handbooks. They say that readjusting is more difficult than adjusting to the new culture in service.
I have recently talked with some other volunteers about just how difficult it might be, dealing with the frustrating "small minds" of some americans and just the overwhelmingness of all that will be available to us once we return. I'd love to hear some personal stories and thoughts on RPCVs on this and what they experienced, how long it took them to get back into things on the American side but also what they've been able to maintain after this experience. For example, I didn't like the fast-paced-ness of commuter NYC lifestyle that I was living before coming here. I've been able to get away from that but I'm afraid American culture will pull me back into that mindset after being home for awhile. And also just being able to focus on what's important and not be wasteful of food, resources, etc.

I appreciate any feedback!
Thanks. :)

I guess Peace Corps finally found my medical paperwork:




My program IS scheduled to leave in the next 4 months, so I assume I'll be getting an invite before December.

Documents for anyone interested in research.

http://www.scribd.com/groups/documents/6807-peace-corps


http://www.scribd.com/people/documents/417303-peace-corps-documents-scribid

There are about 100 documents and Peace Corps/PC2/PC3

I got an update that my medical forms which I sent at the end of last week STILL have not arrived, but that it apparently takes about 3 weeks because of mail security measures. Can anyone confirm the average amount of time it took PCMO to get Med/Dental forms you sent?

I'm hoping that maybe next week they will have them so I can get my invite before the end of November, but that may be wishful thinking on my part.

Well after my health information was in, and after 21 years of NOT having any kind of bad reaction to bee stings, turns out I have a really bad allergy, like a need to carry an epi-pen, end up in the hospital type allergy. For the next five years of my life I need bi-weekly allergy shots.

I have my interview on Thursday, and will of course disclose all of this, but do you think this will affect my ability to serve? Should I hold off on serving until after I've finished my allergy shots (and thus grad school).

I finally got my grandparents to accept the idea, and now there are bees. Are there countries that don't have bees that they could send me to?

I'm  trying to get a feel about how long a time period there is between the interview and nomination. 

My interview was on Oct 8th and my recuiter said she was sending my packet forward.  I'm wondering if this is a long time?

I'm emailing my recuiter a letter tomorrow detailing the steps that I'm taking to make my appliction more competitive for an Agriculture Program.  I was thinking about putting a small nudge but I don't want to bug her if a long enough time hasn't gone by yet.

Does the nomination come in the mail?

so ia m filling out my application and am on the section about drugs and alcohol. i am not into druga or anything like that but i did get an underage drinking ticket when i was 20 (now 23). do i need to report that? i just plead guilty and paid the ticket fine. specifically the questions i am concerned with are : 1. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of any offense(s) related to alcohol or drugs? and/or 2. Have you ever been found guilty of an offense under section 404 of the Controlled Substance Act (21 U.S.C. 844), while under the age of 21?

i dont really know what section 404 is or anything... and is the fact i got an underage drinking ticket when i was 20 going to hurt me?

i'd appreciate the help, thanks so much!

So my nomination is for Community Development in Sub Saharan Africa and although I will find out specifically what I am doing and in what country after my medical and dental are cleared, I'm curious if anyone could give me some insight into the type of work CD PCV's do. Can anyone give me some examples?

I have a hunch I may be doing something with HIV/AIDS because I have volunteered in that capacity doing intake forms for a Children's home with infected children in Kenya, but I'm not sure what I will be doing. Clearly AIDS/HIV prevention and education are going to play some role, given the emphasis on PEPFAR that has remained after Bush left office.

SO..

I just joined the Peace Corps Connect site and am finding it really informative. The groups are lively and there have been some really engaging posts in some of them. I am a bit disappointed, however, that nobody uses the Chatroom. Today 15 people were in chat when I logged on around 9:30 am, but nobody was talking, which seemed odd..

Anyone here use Peace Corps Connect? Is there a time when it's easier to find other PCV's and Nominees to talk to on there? I think it's a great tool, and I want to use it as best I can.

I've been a volunteer in a very rural country in Africa for about a year now. I stepped on a scale for the first time since I've been in here, and--let's just say I was horrified. I've literally gained almost 20 pounds since I've been here. Part of it is that I've started running, and I usually gain a few pounds when I start running. Part of the problem is the hospitality here--people try and force food down your throat and get offended when you don't eat a lot. I also eat way more carbohydrates than I did in the states.

Has anyone had this problem and found a successful way to get rid of the extra weight?

I received word today that I got nominated! I'm pretty psyched..

To all who gave me advice about Amie.. she's great. For those who haven't had an interview at the NYC office, Amie is a great interviewer, ask's the right questions, and was really great to talk to. I get this feeling that she's seeing me in the Health side of things.. maybe HIV education, community health ed? Hard to gauge. This is certainly more along the lines of what interests me ( Sorry, but I think anyone can be a ESL teacher.. not all that challenging). Now begins the long proces.. and she did say that not everyone gets an invite, though I doubt I wouldn't. We'll see how things progress..