Most tourists use the city of Tambacounda as a pitstop as they traverse Senegal. There’s little to see or do in town. There are even fewer touristic sites in the surrounding villages. Still, sometimes it’s the unpopular destinations that yield the most interesting stories.
The United States Peace Corps operates in safe, poor African countries. It avoids dangerous regions. The Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) in Tambacounda invited me to celebrate the Fourth of July with them. We had no fireworks but we shared some hotdogs and Doritos under an American flag. I asked them, “Is the Peace Corps useful in Senegal?”
One PCV said that they had trouble convincing locals to plant their own crops because they knew a supply of free food would be delivered anyway. She still felt that “the benefits outweigh the cost.”
Analysis
According to this article, people in developing countries have mixed opinions about Peace Corps volunteers. I myself have thought about joining the Peace Corps because of the idea of travel and experiencing a different culture for an extended period of time. However, I don’t believe this is the right reason to join. Those who go should go with the purpose of serving and understanding how their position as a volunteer can help the community. It may include a journey of self discovery but that isn’t the reason to go. How can the Peace Corps position itself to better serve its communities? Does the Peace Corps have a design department that focuses on tailoring the volunteer positions to better fit the community? Does the Peace Corps even ask the community what they are looking for or what they need? How are these communities going to improve if they are always relying on the Peace Corps?
