Some day, this following profile will be featured on the official Peace Corps website!
Our amazing Fiji Country Director, Ms. Kury Cobham, invited me to answer the following questions. I went through several drafts of this, and hope this final version is both easy to read and informative of my service experience.
If it is, please share your thoughts in the comments below!
What got you interested in the Peace Corps?
A favorite teacher of mine (Hi Dr. Raible!) had opened my eyes to the vast possibilities of social impact work. I had just spent the last 3 years studying social entrepreneurship with her, and the last year stuck in my house because of COVID. It was the time to start thinking about post-graduation and I was itching to put what I learned into practice. I was searching and searching for something with real consequences outside of the academic bubble. I wanted a challenge. I didn't want to be comfortable. I was thinking to myself - “If I want to do social entrepreneurship, am I even ready for a commitment like that?” I wondered what it would be like to apply the social, economic, and political theories of change we learned in class. I looked through an array of options in the States and abroad before I looked into the Peace Corps, but once I had a solid idea of what this organization was, I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. More than any startup or local nonprofit I could find, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to throw myself into community development, expose my blindspots, and try to become the person the world needs me to be.
What projects are you working on?
The village was brimming with ideas for different projects and the majority of my earlier time was spent following their lead. The youth group invited me to help them apply for a grant with the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs to dig water drains throughout the village. They identified it as a priority to combat the harsher rainy seasons in recent decades and bring money into the hands of families with the funding for their labor. In parallel, the Women’s Group asked me to do Project Design and Management training with them to help identify a priority project. Since that training, I have been assisting the women to get SPA funding to renovate the community kitchen after years of weather damage affecting the health, safety, and effectiveness of the cooking facilities.
As harsher weather impacts farming, the need for jobs outside the village may increase for the generations to come. So even as a community economic development volunteer, we’ve been witnessing how climate change is threatening the livelihood of the village. Because of this, some additional side projects I later started include encouraging young kids to save money, hosting financial literacy training, helping youth access jobs, supporting income-generating activities outside of farming, and assisting the Kindergarten with their foundational English language. Hopefully, this wide range of work can contribute to the holistic financial well-being of the village!
What strategies have you used to integrate into your community?
Even if it made me uncomfortable, I did as much as I could to live like the iTaukei. I read some advice in 'A Few Minor Adjustments' (a quick handbook from our Peace Corps-issued tin boxes) that one of the best ways to integrate was to say ‘yes’ to as many invitations as possible. Invitations to meals, volleyball games, swimming in the river, church services, family functions, funerals, and on and on and on. Saying ‘yes’ to invitations was just the start though. I also had to say ‘yes’ to fully diving into the culture. Everything was new to me. For example, everyone in the village opening the windows and doors in the morning (a true open-door policy) meant that I was also opening the windows and doors every morning… And trust me, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. As I opened my house, I exposed the dissonance between how I was used to living, how everyone else was living, and how I perceived the judgment on the differences. I was diving in, but it had also felt like drowning sometimes. 'Why do I have to change so people like me? Will people ever know me for me?' What if I’m actually just a fraud?’
But as with anything else, I found that with practice, those things that frustrated me became easier. More natural. It feels inviting to open doors in the morning now. The wrap-around sulus, the fish in coconut cream, the call and responses to enter a home. Now that they’re just a part of everyday life, the questions I had are simply less relevant. The lines between foreigner and family are much more blurred, and I’m super motivated to continue these connections.
Where I felt appreciation for a new culture, they felt pride in sharing it.
What is a highlight of your time in service so far?
The highlight has been the once-in-a-lifetime wedding for me and my now-husband that…*cue drumroll* was hosted by the village I live in! My TK (or Village Mayor) encouraged us to get married in the Methodist Church, "Fijian-style," after the ceremony we initially planned just at the local courthouse. At first, this idea was uncomfortable. The U.S. has had years of discussions around cultural appropriation, privilege, and the unethical extractions of voluntourism… but here we were, two Americans being the center of a gathering where all the families in the village contributed to a function that, in my mind, benefited no one but us. It was hard for me to accept this gift from my village. It felt undeserved, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if that was actually the point. It showed me another layer of Fijian generosity. People were excited to share that their Peace Corps volunteer living with them was having a Fijian wedding. Tangible things emerged from the collaborative effort to host. Where I felt appreciation for a new culture, they felt pride in sharing it. Everything they gifted to me opened the door for me to give more to them, and it showed me that giving to others is often a gift to the self too. So yes, although a part of me wishes to highlight a project's success, I’m honored to share this milestone with the village and to build on the foundation for more exchanges of work, joy, and communal love.
What have you enjoyed most about the community where you are serving?
This village is a part of the Province of Ra and “Ma’e na Ma’e” (pronounced “Ma’eh nah Ma’eh” with the famous glottal stop of the Ra dialect) is the province’s fighting call - “to die when you’re dead.” As a whole, I have enjoyed learning how the village embodies this in many ways. The community has nurtured district representatives, business owners, lawyers, doctors, and award-winning craftswomen. Most of the men are out of the village from April to October to cut sugarcane, the women work hard every day to uphold the quality of Fijian life, and the students try their best to learn in a language that’s not their mother tongue. Additionally, this village takes great pride in hosting international organizations and Fijian Government officials to collaborate on projects that impact generations to come. Yes, the work looks incredibly different from the fast-paced hustle culture I was surrounded by in the U.S., but this community knows how to fight for itself. Ma’e na Ma’e!
What are some of the most important things you’ve learned from your community?
That things are always changing. I may have past experiences that could help in the Peace Corps, but often, those same skills couldn't transfer over in the same way (and I trust me, I tried really hard to make it so). For our first Project Design and Management training, I over-relied on the facilitation strategies I used in the States, and it didn't work out the way I imagined. Some could say I crashed and burned... but I was missing generations of cultural context!
The participants were incredibly gracious, offering me advice and stepping in when my legs were wobbly. In and out of work - my community is still teaching me to swallow the bitterness of being wrong and not to take failures too personally. My 11-year-old brother taught me how to ask for eggplants from a mountain farmer. My host mom taught me how to use the bathroom without running water. All this to emphasize that as I'm learning how to cook, manage a home, speak a new language, and live in a new culture I have to rely a lot on others' help. I’m learning that it's the daily practice of trying, failing, and getting back to work that’ll keep me adaptive in our ever-changing environments.
How do you spend time when you are not working on a project?
If you asked me a couple of months ago, I would've said turning my brain off on Instagram! My mind was overrun all day, every day, navigating language, projects, and village dynamics. I rarely felt like I had the energy to "do something productive" like read or do yoga, so I ended up retreating into my room and gluing my eyes to my iPhone (in the name of self-care, of course). However, as my service expanded, I realized that the challenges of service were testing my confidence. There was an inner voice (*cough cough* an Olympic-level mental gymnast) that was doing crazy exercises in my brain to dissect if I was doing enough for my village every day. It was only in the last couple of months that I stopped trying to retire this pro-athlete, and started giving it new experiences to bounce around with - activities that build up my self-worth.
Fortunately for this article, I can say that on any given day now, you can find me hanging out at someone's house, reading my Kindle, doing a workout, watching movies with the kids, writing a newsletter, or recording my Forevermori podcast— all intended to connect with the world outside myself. (Just so we're clear though, we will collectively ignore my IG doomscrolls that still occasionally happen; it's good for the plot.)
By the end of it all, I look forward to the satisfaction we’ll all feel about our finished (or unfinished) projects, shaped by our commitment to make something beautiful, unique, and collaborative out of an undefined beginning.
What are you looking forward to in your remaining time as a PCV?
I’m looking forward to what the rest of this rollercoaster experience will reveal about the world and the role I’m meant to play. The highs of laughter, new adventures, celebrations, and new reflections. The lows of misunderstandings, project setbacks, and homesickness. Like a statue being carved out of a block of marble, this past year has chipped away pieces of surface-level perspectives and unveiled a beauty that is not yet complete. Every fumble with the language. Every landed joke in Fijian. Hammering-hammering-hammering away, never knowing what strength or weakness would be revealed to me next. With the progress of projects on the horizon, I'm excited to witness the growth of community members and a new sense of unity and pride. As my language improves and integration deepens, I look forward to the new roadblocks that attempt to stump me and reveal a new opportunity for growth. By the end of it all, I look forward to the satisfaction we’ll all feel about our finished (or unfinished) projects, shaped by our commitment to make something beautiful, unique, and collaborative out of an undefined beginning.
Once you finish your service, what will you do differently when you return to the US (or elsewhere)?
Fijians know how to gather!! In this communal society, I've seen so many ways people get together. Whether it's a traditional function or just chatting under the shade of a tree, the people in the village spend time with each other almost every day. Even if it takes extra effort to make it happen, (shoutout to the group of women prepping meals at 2am,) nothing can replace the vital trust built in communal living, eating, and memory-making. This is what I want to take from service. Using the power of structured and unstructured gatherings to strengthen the fabric of friends, families, and strangers into an inter-woven community.
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