Peace Corps Challenges | Vlog 10

all right so we are here where are we we're here in do breka with other volunteers we're talking about challenges in Peace Corps the variety of challenges in Peace Corps let's let's see what our first volunteer volunteer ballin tools has to say about challenges in Peace Corps URI tell me about challenges your biggest challenge in Peace Corps the balance between integration process and matters it's like you want to integrate but also there's such a large pressure in your community even when you're spending a lot of time with them that you don't feel like you're doing enough sometimes so it's that that pressure to always do more I think that's the biggest challenge thus far it's hard to teach kids who either don't want or don't know how to be taught and you can tell you can tell somebody a million times to do something but if they don't do it I don't know how else to help them and then not serious one is nobody ever leaves me alone oh also food I miss what's the food you missed the most if you like if you could just like have anything right now at Chipotle burrito yeah just like a bunch of feta cheese bunch of feta just like a whole bunch maybe maybe chicken fingers or subway excited fair clinically yeah I'm superfood it's pretty sexist here a lot of times and you talk about how like the Canadian women are treated but you it's and it's really really not great for them but I think that a lot of that we're sort of a third gender you say that as a Peace Corps volunteer because you're sort of this strange woman with like an education and like the woman with an education does get more respect sometimes but I think that yeah we definitely get a lot of disrespect that is usually reserved for women this is one of the aspects of this training for ISU that I was really looking forward to working out with our counterparts here because we can we can only explain so much at our sites how we and how other women in our community deserve to be treated but when they when especially like the majority of our counterparts are men and so when they are we were explaining this to their faces with their other with other men surrounding them it can get transformed into jokes and like completely lost in discussion so having this structured setting to address the topics that we want like treating women equally in the workplace at our schools and talking about the issue the barriers to young girls receiving their education like early marriage forced marriage getting pregnant in schools and like sexist jokes that professors make to only the female students that was really nice to have to discuss in a structured settings know very validates all the things I've been feeling and all the things I've been trying to say for what feels like it's not five months or something like that but now that's like someone from the Peace Corps that's like standing up in front of the room and oftentimes it is a man stand anthem the room and sort of explaining these things it's sort of they listen more which is a little frustrating but it's also like okay now I have an ally that at least has heard these things and I also want to point out that there are plenty of like great role models of Canadian woman but at least in my community like we have 30 professors including Zack and I and there's one other woman and me and she's pregnant right now and it's gonna stop teaching soon so I'll be the only woman there and so the girls like don't have many like I can tell them so many times that you know there are successful woman in Guinea and other places but they don't see it and so it's hard to to understand that so I think getting our counterparts to realise that and realize that if if the girls can like if we can keep them interested in staying at school and getting their diplomas like they can come back and and be good role models for the community and inspire more girls so there's a lot of people from like g34 and like other Peace Corps countries like applying I think about applying what is some can say you might give them I mean it just in general about being especially for the women I mean for me it's super helpful for me to like literally just connect with my mom who's my super strong role model and if I had like a man who like yelled at me a certain day because I forgot to tell him one thing I'll like complain to my mom and she's like it's different culture like you're stronger than this don't let it get to you and just hearing her like repeat that again and again it's super super important for me and really she was a Peace Corps volunteer too so she always says like I've been through this I understand this like I know it's hard but it will make you a better person and you're setting a good role model community yeah I agree and I also think that something that I took away from one of our sessions was on how to be an ally was asking how you can help if you're not sure because I think the bystander effect is so common and because a lot of us are isolated a lot of us see each other a few times a year we don't know what someone else has been going through until it's too late sometimes you're just asking just reaching out and checking in and seeing if things are okay and when you hear something that is concerning instead of you know backing away asking how you can help if you're not sure how to I can make a big difference okay okay Rosie somehow it's done changes okay challenge is a challenge for me is that because I teach at University I have a very unusual sight and a very unusual job and that gives me some challenges that other people don't have and I also don't have challenges that a lot of other volunteers do face like I live in a house and I have power at night so that's good on the other hand in terms of my work I had to write my own curriculum in the fall which was a lot of work a lot of work and I teach students who are all older than I am and they're almost all men so I have some trouble getting them to be quiet and to respect me in class because even if I don't tell them my age they can tell that I'm younger a lot of them are in their late 20s or even 30 I would say there's no cheese the first thing I want to eat when I go back to the u.s. is okay so no one might speak to me until I've eaten queso then I guess what I'm tired of as the jokes about men wanting to marry you which I told to get in it's okay one time but the 15th time you're pretty tired of it what he wants to say something new tell that people what you want to say my challenge is in being here I thought I had my thoughts I thought you did too but finding a balance between your ideas and of like what your ideas are a progress and what they of you should be done like I guess it's a balance between culture that's already there and new ideas and like where and how should you push on your ideas I'm never being fully understood I think that that's actually kind of interesting to hear you say because like you speak French yeah I mean I guess in your community doesn't always speak my really doesn't really speak French and like even if I do they they just don't understand my perspective and they have like ideas of what like I'm like and which aren't always Jeff yeah so being misunderstood like for example thinking people like people think I'd like sleep all day because I'm in my god yeah well not my hair all day every day but also and generally personally I've learned to just be less scared of like speaking up and when I I need to work on this stove but like when something's like not right or someone says something like not being afraid to be like okay like that isn't right or shouldn't talk to people like that but that's what's hard with the culture part because part of the culture is like there's a lot of joking and a lot of teasing but like when is that not appropriate and when is it ya know yeah definitely the first point like about having to like check yourself having a balance what you want to do and I found myself in that 100% like just like I want to start this club in this club and then be like you know I can't do that interested like sometimes I think do something like wake up like let's be like dynamic and like efficient like a nice dude if you see it arrived [Music] so I guess one of my biggest challenges I don't guess one of my biggest challenge is trying to make sure that projects are sustainable and that people are really convinced and on board with the idea so that continues after foncier leaves that's one of my biggest challenges I could name another I guess number two biggest challenge is kind of providing discipline to an organization like my club but also I'm walking a line between fun and serious for what what's a fun challenge I find some another fun challenges like no I like teaching teaching is a fun challenge I like my seventh grade teachers my seventh grade students I like sexy I'm just like there's just they're so impressionable you can like really get them so pumped up and like excited so usually you know it's just fun to watch any final closing tenants my closing comments are that oh yeah I forgot to talk about food just brief like life is good here we're having fun everything but sometimes like I've been like I'm sometimes I'm not citing I'm like craving something really badly and I've never felt that and I like can't do anything about it like if you had a burr ubereats right now and you could just like click a button and it arrives what would you it's always cheese it really is always like it's just not having that option like I don't think people have realized in the and Tiffany oh wait you gotta sign us off surveys down below there are comments you can write comments you can also share this funny little box that says share you can meet you can subscribe yeah like like half the videos shout out to my brother mark who's watching me you subscribe and so to be more him okay good side off that's that's that are you gonna go like this [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Colt Bradley

Views: 9,704

Keywords: peace corps, peace corps volunteer, guinea, peace corps (organization), peace corps cribs, peace corps (government agency), vlog, life in the peace corps, thinking about joining peace corps, africa, guinea (country), travel vlog, Peace Corps Vlog, peace corps guinea, Peace Corps Experience

Id: Hr-zMdrnIwE

Length: 13min 37sec (817 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2019