I’ve never before had a job that challenges me as much and in as many different ways as Peace Corps. It requires you to stretch in ways you didn’t think possible, to create your own job description, to work hard toward results that aren’t at all apparent, to face certain ugly realities of life and recognize there is nothing you can do about them… Additionally, I’m finding it is the lot of a PC Volunteer to be sent hurtling through the entire range of human emotions in the course of a single, normal afternoon. Today was one of those day-
Today I sat in on a regular meeting of orphans, orchestrated by a religious NGO associated with a local church. Fifty plus giggly, wiggly, smiling orphans chattered with their neighbors and shyly introduced themselves to me. “That one has HIV”, said the leader of the organization, pointing to a girl (maybe 12 years old) with whom I’d been exchanging funny faces for the past 30 minutes. A feeling of helplessness consumed me. ‘How the heck am I supposed to help these kids out?!?’ ‘What they need are shoes’, I thought, watching their barefooted feet dangling from the bench, ‘and toys and love and someone who not only can afford to buy them vegetables but who makes sure they eat them’. Frustrating as my inability to address the immediate needs of these kids is, it doesn’t mean I can’t do anything with them. There are many other project ideas here- women empowerment activities with the orphan girls, health education, establishing a kids garden, fun days…. This is still brainstorming phase, I’ll add the orphan group to the ever lengthening list of organizations and projects that I eventually need to prioritize and narrow down to a couple to really dive into.
