A few months ago Peace Corps announced that they would be accepting applications for a third-year Peace Corps Volunteer Leader (PCVL). I was ready to go home and live a life that was not quite as hard as being in Fiji. However, I researched (so much google searching and talking to people on facebook) and talked to a lot of the staff about the various details of the job. After a lot of thought, I finally decided to apply.
I decided to apply because I am not sure if I want to go further into my career in international development, humanitarian aid, human rights, or program development. This job would give me the chance to work in the Peace Corps office and see if I enjoy this side of international development. If I do not enjoy it, I'll stick out the year, but I can go back to clinical music therapy. I adore music therapy and it is my passion, but I am torn about whether I am supposed to stay on the international advocacy and capacity building side of music therapy or go back to the clinical side of music therapy.
I also have had the most wonderful (albeit also the hardest) experience of my life here. If I can help support volunteers to set up their own service for success, then it will be worth it. As someone who has studied psychology, I am interested in the mindset of volunteers. A lot of volunteers come straight out of university and there is both a huge growth experience and psychological shift in the way they view the world. I find that fascinating!
Assisting with monitoring and evaluation would be a part of this position. Peace Corps has our biannual paperwork, called the Volunteer Reporting Form (VRF). The VRF is notoriously difficult to fill out, cumbersome and the data is often inaccurate. As a music therapist, I was taught that you have to be able to prove your worth because while music therapists are board certified, they are not yet licensed in every state. This means that insurance and medicaid often will not reimburse for services (I'll post more on music therapy advocacy another day). Your data must be accurate, non-biased, objective and efficient. With that being said, I find the monitoring and evaluation side of PCVL intriguing. I'm going to give a shout out to my various music therapy professors over the years for instilling a love of research, accurate data and statistics in my life.
The hardest part, I feel like will be the being "in-between" staff and volunteers. I will not be a supervisor, but I will not be staff either. I will have to support the rules and policy, while facilitating an atmosphere of support, rapport and trust. It is a fine line and I'm thankful I will not be the only person doing this and that I will have Peace Corps full support!
As a village-based volunteer, who has been working in a school for two-years, I will have an experience that the most of Peace Corps can empathize with. I've been through the struggles of being a woman in a village and at school. I've struggled with what I want to do, versus what my school wants to do. I've also struggled with deciding whats more important, the knowledge to impart to my students or building capacity of the teachers at my school. The school system (really this happens everywhere) is overworked and they do not have a lot of free time. It is not an easy experience, but it can be highly rewarding. I still think that I will and have learned more from my students than they will ever learn from me.
Last week, I interviewed for one of the PCVL positions and the interview went really well...
I am happy to announce that I have accepted a position as a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader for next year! This means that I will be staying in Fiji for a third year, living in the capital city of Suva, and working in the Peace Corps office. I am so excited, but a little sad that I will be putting off being home for another year... someone eat some chips and queso for me?
I will be assisting the Peace Corps Fiji Programming and Training team with programming needs, volunteer support, site development, monitoring and evaluation, training, grant-writing, Ministry of Education laison, and more! I am super excited for this new journey and I was not quite ready to return to the states yet. I look forward to continuing to update you on my endeavors and adventures in Fiji.
Vinaka Viti na Loloma Vei Au!
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