The Peace Corps

Last Thursday our class had the privilege of having a guest speaker who had been in the Peace Corps.  Travis Axton, who is now a Peace Corps recruiter, was nice enough to share with us some of his experiences. 

            Travis Axton was very candid about the reasons that he joined the corps.  He explained that he had graduated from a university and was not ready to make the leap for law school so the corps intrigued him and seemed like a good option.  After he applied, he received and invitation to serve in Zambia working in one of the health programs.  He was assigned to work with HIV/Aids patients, malaria, TB, and others, and was mostly supposed to raise awareness of the various health risks that the people are exposed to. 

            When he first arrived in Zambia, like all other Peace Corps volunteers, he had to go through 3 months of intensive language and culture training.  Even though when he first stepped off of the plane he didn’t think he could EVER learn the language, he ended up learning enough to survive.  He told us lots of interesting stories about the village he lived in and how much trouble it was just to take a shower.  He met a man named James Bond, had a chicken slaughtered in his honor and played soccer with the village kids, among all the numerous other things he did there.  He told some great stories about the culture there and even told us how they shake hands in Zambia.

            I really enjoyed the talk and it really inspired me to look into the corps further, so I checked out their website www.peacecorps.gov.  It was very interesting and told me what kinds of programs are available and who is eligible to apply.  Also I learned that the commitment to serve is 27months and that most of the time you do not have a choice about where in the world you are placed.  They look for certain skills and for most of the programs you must have a bachelors degree.  They had a list of recruiters and a search engine to enable you to find local events involving the Peace Corps.  I found it a very helpful and informative website and I would definitely recommend checking it out if you are in anyway interested in the corps.

            I personally will most likely end up going to grad school after I graduate from Chico State, but I will always keep the Peace Corps in mind in case my situation changes.  Who knows, maybe I will give it a shot after grad school.