Camping vs. Peace Corps

Post by Lara and Kevin

23 August 2013

This post came about after Kevin’s family’s trip here, during which Kevin’s mom, Jane, likened our time in Salone to an extended camping trip (many, many times).  We will admit that in some ways our time here is not unlike camping, but there are a lot of ways in which it’s not even close—below is our not-terribly-exhaustive list of similarities and differences.

Ways in which being a PCV is like camping for 2 years:

• We have to purify all the water we drink by filtering or boiling.
• We shower outside (kind of) with a bucket.
• We cook over an open fire or small kerosene stove.
• Many of the roads and footpaths we use to get around here are rocky/uneven/more like hiking trails than roads and sidewalks.  Salone falls well below the standard of accessibility we’re used to in the states.
• We get to see lots of insects all the time.
• Occasionally we find ourselves confronted with nearly impassable roads (Winter Backpacking ’12 anyone?).
• We tend to walk most everywhere; ergo we have to dress for the weather.

Ways in which being a PCV is not like 2 years of camping:

• We have jobs, and a place to be most mornings.
• We have a house with two bedrooms, a living room, a big pantry, two verandahs, and 4 additional rooms including one with a toilet and one with a drain at the side that’s quite amenable to showering.
• We have household chores to do which include sweeping, mopping, dishes, feeding animals, and laundry.
• We have a couch and a coffee table.
• We get paid! (Albeit not a lot by US standards, but more than most people get paid to go sleep in the woods)
• Generally people go camping to “get away” from the world and have some alone time with nature.  We frequently find ourselves confronted with a line of people staring at us like we’re the strangest thing they’ve seen all day (we probably are), and that includes both small children and adults.  I don’t remember a time in my pre-PC life where I was gawked at by onlookers while on a camping trip.



Bowtie Thursday and headed to work!

• We are required (by Peace Corps) to turn our cell phones on at least once per day to receive any urgent information.
• We are occasionally required to have access to the internet (which is not an easy thing to accomplish, by the way) in order to file regular reports on our activities.
• We have to file regular reports on our activities.
• We are expected to wear clean clothes and wash dirt off our shoes anytime we are away from home, and especially when teaching.  This would be hard enough in the states where we have nice frills like washing machines, stain sticks, and tumble dryers, but here in Salone it requires some serious dedication.  
• We iron our clothes.
• Sierra Leonean culture dictates that we dress modestly; that includes having our shoulders and knees covered most times we’re in public.
• We are attempting to learn 2 languages right now, both of which are required to some extent to get around in our town.

In conclusion, we would invite our friends and family to consider these reasons and the facts that we're busy learning how to live in a new culture, teach our friends how to read, raise our students' test scores, and promote the health and welfare of our community during our time here.  Instead of likening it to "camping," perhaps think of it as a trip back in time, by US standards.  Peace Corps certainly does attract a lot of outdoorsy-type people, but believe me when I tell you that camping for two years would be a WHOLE LOT easier than what we're up to.