The 30 Day Challenge to Tell Our Story
This week is “ Peace Corps Week” and we have been asked to start writing about our experiences and villages. I have been hesitant to start this process because I have not even known where to begin. Peace Corps Service is a roller coaster of high high’s and disorienting lows. Eventually, we find a rhythm but that doesn’t rescue us from the often mirrored weaknesses and challenges that we have to work through and learn to accept. However, this is not to say that there aren’t many positive aspects to service and that you don’t also discover your “hidden strengths”.
So I decided to start this blog with the 30 day challenge. Thirty days to really tell the story of my service up until this point. Firstly, I want to say thank you to all of those that came before me and my cohort, including Peace Corps Moldova Staff. We are the M32’s which means the 32nd group in Moldova. There have been 31 other groups that have served in Moldovan since 1993, shortly after the Soviet Union fell and Moldova became an Independent Republic. Thank you all for your time, courageousness, flexibility and clout! The impact is visible in this amazing country and the M32’s were welcomed with resources and open hearts. I can often hear your impact in the voices of Moldovan adults and youth who say, “I never knew that I could be anything other than a…( fill in the blank) or that girls could do these types of jobs or that I could go to college in another country or that things can actually change”. Peace Corps Volunteers change minds and hearts. That is the greatest measure of their impact. They give hope and they also receive so many gifts of kindness, community and awareness, in return.
So here is list of topics I will cover over the next 30 days:
Side note: This challenge is written in the past tense, for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers but I will be filling it out in the present.
Also, if you are looking for the “About Me” page check out the post “I am” and until tomorrow, enjoy some of these beautiful photos of my village, Dubăsarii Vechi, Criuleni.
