Op-Ed: A Gen Z Lens on Why the Complex Perceptions of the Peace Corps Must Be Examined
By Zii Patel
I think for many, the idea of the Peace Corps is an abstract one. For my fellow Generation Zers (I know you have opinions but hear me out), it could even be considered obscure. For the majority of my lifetime, the Peace Corps has barely existed in the words of my community, in the opinions of my peers, in the text of my books and the dialogue of TV consumed. And I had certainly never met a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Before I continue, let me introduce myself. Hi! My name is Zii, and I have the pleasure of interning with the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) this summer. I’m studying politics at New York University (so you can imagine I’ve been a little stressed lately). I have a history of volunteer work, I love to travel, I have a studied interest in global development, I’m a polyglot, and I’m thinking about joining the Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps has a shifting reputation among the “youth” — and for good reason.
I had only come to know of the Peace Corps through the concerned advice of my former professors. Peace Corps, I was told, is a great way to jump start my career so long as I’m willing to walk the grey line between colonialism and aid. But like I said before, the “Corps” almost existed in fiction for me, so I’m sure you are questioning what I’m doing at NPCA. Well, I guess you could say I’m here to test the murky waters. The Peace Corps has a shifting reputation among the “youth” — and for good reason. Quickly after heeding my professors advice and beginning my own research into the Corps, horror stories from Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) were promptly boosted to the top of my social media feeds, describing feelings of isolation and abandonment, retellings of sexual harassment and assault experiences, and realizations that maybe the foundations of the Peace Corps wrought more harm than good for the global community. But hidden among those tales were a few people telling very different stories. I figured that if being an RPCV had such mixed reviews, I had to know more for myself.
In June, I was lucky enough to attend a Peace Corps career fair with NPCA President and CEO Dan Baker and NPCA Advocacy Director and veteran RPCV Jonathan Pearson (I didn’t think this was a thing, but he’s proven me wrong). I am happy to report that I found exactly what I was looking for. During the four hours I spent tabling alongside another NPCA intern, I met many RPCVs who were more than willing to share their Peace Corps stories. Each and every one of them radiated a vibrant joy and a growing excitement when telling us about their experiences — an attitude that I had seldom seen from an RPCV before.
From Left to right, Dan Baker, Zii Patel, Kathryn Eisler, Lucas Tapiero, Jonathan Pearson.
I met RPCVs from Armenia and Paraguay and other countries I didn’t even know existed (the American school system has seriously failed me when it comes to geography). I couldn’t have asked for better conversations. As it turns out, there are many RPCVs who loved their Peace Corps service. Even among those who felt that their good experiences were well-balanced with bad, they wouldn’t trade their experiences for the world.
And while I was lucky enough to hear these stories, many like myself never do and never will.
One woman fondly recounted how she once was in a minor face off against a monk in Thailand over a seat on the bus. Another told me of how she became the default translator for her Moroccan host family despite not speaking any Arabic. An RPCV who served in Cameroon mentioned that his host family had successfully immigrated to Canada, and he was planning on visiting soon. It was stories like these that I was so desperately hoping for. Stories that would tell me that a service that I had begun to consider couldn’t be all bad. And while I was lucky enough to hear these stories, many like myself never do and never will.
It has become evident to me that the RPCVs with positive experiences have oftentimes been the ones who have accepted new cultures and new people with open arms, those that have taken their time in the Corps as an opportunity to learn rather than an opportunity to impose, overpower, or “civilize.”
I imagine many who have justifiably critiqued the Corps were entirely unprepared and perhaps unprotected, while others weren’t nearly as willing to shift and grow themselves as they were to push and modify. I believe, as a service and as a legacy, the Peace Corps (and the United States as a whole) has always been too focused on the positive changes that we can bring to “others” and not on the positive changes that others can bring to us. It has become evident to me that the RPCVs with positive experiences have oftentimes been the ones who have accepted new cultures and new people with open arms, those that have taken their time in the Corps as an opportunity to learn rather than an opportunity to impose, overpower, or “civilize.” I, as well as many others, have identified the history of the Peace Corps as a neo-colonial mission. While the Peace Corps itself has been undertaking the task of undoing that legacy, it has been slow and arduous. However, no amount of vicissitude can completely undo the damage or erase the past.
I hope that sometime in the future I can share my own stories of the Corps. Of how the people around me pushed and pulled at all of my edges. Of how they nurtured something new and beautiful in me and that I was hopefully able to do the same for them. Well before then, I’m counting on us as a community — the past, present, and future of the Corps — to reflect inward. To find the good, the bad and especially the ugly.
Zii Patel is a 2024 NPCA summer intern working with the communications team. She is a rising senior at New York University, pursuing a major in politics as well as minors in sociology and linguistics.