I recently returned from another Peace Corps training- this time our Mid Service Training. This was an opportunity for us to come together as an entire group, for the first time since January. Most of the training involved reflecting upon our first year of Peace Corps service. And reflect we did. In the midst of this reflecting, it seems to have occurred to many of us, independently, that we live two separate lives here in South Africa- our village lives, and our lives as Americans. It’s not even that we’re split between two different worlds; we really do have to live two full, separate lives.
So, the village life: We each live on our own or with a spouse in our own unique communities. Each volunteer’s experience at site is so different, and it’s rare that we are involved in each other’s village lives. We each have our own routines down and know our place in the schools or other organizations at site. We have support systems in place in the village- we know who we can rely on and what parts of our American identity we choose to retain while in our villages.
Then there is our life as Americans who have responsibilities that take us away from site and bring us together. Mandatory trainings, quarterly reports to the Peace Corps, and serving on committees are all examples of this. When we’re together as Americans we can speak in our normal colloquialisms, share our frustrations and successes with each other, and support each other. But it’s not as simple as an occasional privilege either; most of us really rely on each other’s support and need these breaks to be our American selves and take a breather, if you will, from our village lives.
This aspect of Peace Corps is especially heightened in South Africa where when we switch lives, we are also switching from the third world to the first world. At site, I’ve become accustomed to livestock and their dung, treacherous thorn bushes, and poverty. When I go into Pretoria for Peace Corps business I suddenly have the opportunity to shop at a mall akin to those of big-city America, go to the movies, and eat at McDonald’s. It’s bizarre. It has been bizarre since I first arrived, and it will remain bizarre until I leave. It’s also exhausting. What a lot of lives for one person to live.
