A. The professional attributes that I plan to use, and the aspirations that I hope to fulfill during my Peace Corps service:
Throughout my career as a civil engineer, I have learned to tackle problems first-hand with an approach that combines creative thinking with resourcefulness. When evaluating any project, it is important to be able to look at it from many different angles. Rushing into a particular solution can result in unnecessary complications during construction or implementation, and can also end up costing the client more time or money than an alternative solution. This ability to evaluate all angles of a problem will prove vital while tackling projects during my time in the Peace Corps. In order to ensure success, it will be important to pensively approach each project and implement it in a manner that will be sustainable for the future. Simply solving the problem is not the goal. The goal must include self-sustainability. Therefore, I will work to ensure that an intellectual infrastructure is implemented within the local community such that in the future, they can tackle similar issues internally without the need for international aid.
My experience as a teaching assistant, coupled with experience working alongside both design teams and clients during my professional career, has taught me how best to relate to people in order to develop a productive and fulfilling professional relationship. While serving in Mali, I will use these skills and build upon them throughout my service in order to gain trust within the community. This trust will afford me the capability to effectively teach the local community the skills needed to sustain the development goals of the applicable water and sanitation projects.
B. My strategies for working effectively with host country partners to meet expressed needs:
In order to be successful in Mali, it will be important for me to adjust to the differences found in the country’s political, social, and economic systems. Therefore, I will first observe how development is performed within this environment and work within the confines of its framework. Likewise, it will be imperative for me to acknowledge and adhere to local societal customs while working alongside host country partners in order to gain their respect and trust. This trust will in turn allow me to build strong, professional relationships with my host country partners. As they begin to see me not as an outsider, but more as a colleague with a sincere stake in their community, many of the hindrances due to cultural differences can begin to break down. This will undoubtedly be an ongoing process throughout the entire duration of my service. However, as more of these hindrances are broken, the host country partners and I will work as a more effective team, and progress can truly take form.
Although I am the type of person who has always taken the initiative to attack problems directly, it will be important for me to show some restraint and make any project a collaborative effort. If I cede the final decision-making to the local community leaders, the community will be more likely to take ownership of the project and do everything in their power to ensure that it is a success. It truly becomes the community’s project, and has the potential to last through the future. Conversely, if a project were forced upon a community in a unilateral fashion, the community would not be as emotionally invested in the project. Therefore, they would not work as hard or make as strong an effort to learn as much, putting a handicap on the positive impact the project can have long-term.
C. My strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to my own cultural background:
The most important strategy that will allow myself to adapt to a new culture is to listen and observe. It is important to make sure that one small misstep, such as an action or speech that could be considered disrespectful, does not undermine the work that I plan to accomplish in the future. Before rushing to action or dialogue, I will look to observe the local customs in order to gauge the best way to become an active and productive member of the community.
I will also strive to maintain an open mind with regard to all aspects of their culture and everyday living. The people of Mali have been living in their environment for their entire lives, and certainly have strong, rational reasons for the way in which they live. Just because they may tackle a particular task differently than I would back in the United States does not make it an inferior practice. It is vital for me to go into their society with an open mind and maintain the ability to adapt my own behavior to their culture. It is integration, not brashness, that will gain the respect and admiration of the local people, and it is therefore integration that will allow me to successfully work towards the common goal of sustainable development.
D. The skills and knowledge I hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve my future community and project:
First and foremost, I hope to become as fluent as possible in both French and the local language during pre-service training. I understand that learning two languages in the span of a few months is a daunting task, but I hope to pick up enough of each such that I can, at a minimum, carry on every-day conversations in either language. Following pre-service training, I can then continue to build upon my language abilities through constant immersion within my local village. Through this process, I will be able to both converse and establish lasting relationships with the local people, greatly enhancing my chances of an enjoyable and productive service term.
In addition, I hope to gain an understanding of the local culture, allowing me to effectively adapt to life in Mali and gain the trust of those people with whom I will be living and working with for two years. This understanding is critical in my ability to effectively integrate myself into the community. It is this trust that will ultimately make my time in Mali a success.
Through my education and my five years of work experience in the civil engineering profession, I have gained a solid technical knowledge base from which to draw upon during my Peace Corps service. However, I will need to learn how to apply this knowledge to new challenges within a new environment. During pre-service training, I hope to learn about the practices and technologies currently in use within the region, as well as the solutions that Peace Corps volunteers commonly provide to help remedy the health risks or inefficiencies associated with the existing local practices and technologies. This will, in turn, allow me to apply my knowledge and skill set to the tasks at hand.
E. How I think Peace Corps service will influence my personal and professional aspirations after my service ends:
Upon completion of my two years of Peace Corps service, I will have undoubtedly been challenged in ways I could have never imagined. I will have experienced frustration and exhilaration, and everything in between. And through it all, I will emerge a stronger and more resilient person. The skills I will gain and the experiences I will live will no doubt have a positive effect on my character. I will emerge a more confident and well-rounded person, and that will carry over favorably into all aspects of my life.
Following service, I envision myself becoming a more active participant in my local community. The Peace Corps will provide me with a better sense of the impact that I can have in a community, and I will seek to continue that impact domestically to address a critical need within the community that I feel passionately about. This increased role in community service will provide a greater since of self-fulfillment, and satisfy my desire to continue to have a positive impact on the global community after the Peace Corps.
I have enjoyed my career in civil engineering thus far, and at this time I intend to continue my work within the professional field following service in the Peace Corps. However, I am also cognoscente of the fact that service in the Peace Corps overseas will undoubtedly present many new challenges, and that this service may unearth a new passion that may implore me to pursue a different career path. Therefore, I plan on maintaining an open-mind throughout the process, and will withhold any final decision until my service has concluded.
Although I am the type of person who has always taken the initiative to attack problems directly, it will be important for me to show some restraint and make any project a collaborative effort. If I cede the final decision-making to the local community leaders, the community will be more likely to take ownership of the project and do everything in their power to ensure that it is a success. It truly becomes the community’s project, and has the potential to last through the future. Conversely, if a project were forced upon a community in a unilateral fashion, the community would not be as emotionally invested in the project. Therefore, they would not work as hard or make as strong an effort to learn as much, putting a handicap on the positive impact the project can have long-term.
C. My strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to my own cultural background:
The most important strategy that will allow myself to adapt to a new culture is to listen and observe. It is important to make sure that one small misstep, such as an action or speech that could be considered disrespectful, does not undermine the work that I plan to accomplish in the future. Before rushing to action or dialogue, I will look to observe the local customs in order to gauge the best way to become an active and productive member of the community.
I will also strive to maintain an open mind with regard to all aspects of their culture and everyday living. The people of Mali have been living in their environment for their entire lives, and certainly have strong, rational reasons for the way in which they live. Just because they may tackle a particular task differently than I would back in the United States does not make it an inferior practice. It is vital for me to go into their society with an open mind and maintain the ability to adapt my own behavior to their culture. It is integration, not brashness, that will gain the respect and admiration of the local people, and it is therefore integration that will allow me to successfully work towards the common goal of sustainable development.
D. The skills and knowledge I hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve my future community and project:
First and foremost, I hope to become as fluent as possible in both French and the local language during pre-service training. I understand that learning two languages in the span of a few months is a daunting task, but I hope to pick up enough of each such that I can, at a minimum, carry on every-day conversations in either language. Following pre-service training, I can then continue to build upon my language abilities through constant immersion within my local village. Through this process, I will be able to both converse and establish lasting relationships with the local people, greatly enhancing my chances of an enjoyable and productive service term.
In addition, I hope to gain an understanding of the local culture, allowing me to effectively adapt to life in Mali and gain the trust of those people with whom I will be living and working with for two years. This understanding is critical in my ability to effectively integrate myself into the community. It is this trust that will ultimately make my time in Mali a success.
Through my education and my five years of work experience in the civil engineering profession, I have gained a solid technical knowledge base from which to draw upon during my Peace Corps service. However, I will need to learn how to apply this knowledge to new challenges within a new environment. During pre-service training, I hope to learn about the practices and technologies currently in use within the region, as well as the solutions that Peace Corps volunteers commonly provide to help remedy the health risks or inefficiencies associated with the existing local practices and technologies. This will, in turn, allow me to apply my knowledge and skill set to the tasks at hand.
E. How I think Peace Corps service will influence my personal and professional aspirations after my service ends:
Upon completion of my two years of Peace Corps service, I will have undoubtedly been challenged in ways I could have never imagined. I will have experienced frustration and exhilaration, and everything in between. And through it all, I will emerge a stronger and more resilient person. The skills I will gain and the experiences I will live will no doubt have a positive effect on my character. I will emerge a more confident and well-rounded person, and that will carry over favorably into all aspects of my life.
Following service, I envision myself becoming a more active participant in my local community. The Peace Corps will provide me with a better sense of the impact that I can have in a community, and I will seek to continue that impact domestically to address a critical need within the community that I feel passionately about. This increased role in community service will provide a greater since of self-fulfillment, and satisfy my desire to continue to have a positive impact on the global community after the Peace Corps.
I have enjoyed my career in civil engineering thus far, and at this time I intend to continue my work within the professional field following service in the Peace Corps. However, I am also cognoscente of the fact that service in the Peace Corps overseas will undoubtedly present many new challenges, and that this service may unearth a new passion that may implore me to pursue a different career path. Therefore, I plan on maintaining an open-mind throughout the process, and will withhold any final decision until my service has concluded.
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