Peace Corps Experience: Write and Publish Your Memoir

CHAPTER ONE: WHY WRITE?

You have an important story to tell– how you rolled up your sleeves, learned a foreign language and then asked locals in their own tongue, “How can I help?” A good neighbor is always appreciated, especially one who traveled so far. Most of us do not have the opportunity to visit far-off places, much less live and work amongst locals. Based upon statements by many other former volunteers, this was probably one of your most memorable life experiences–the Peace Corps Experience.

Maybe you have already shared with your American family and neighbors, telling stories at parties and holiday meals. Possibly you have even spoken to groups, or shared a recipe or even a dance in public. A book is the way to share with more people over a longer period of time. It could even outlive you. Thanks to the efforts of U.S. Congressman John Garamendi (California, 10th District), the Library of Congress has created a Peace Corps Special Collection of books written by former volunteers and staff (see Appendix 1). Your story should be part of this collection for it represents a small piece of a huge American patchwork quilt that has covered the globe for a half century, offering solace and hope.

More than 200 former volunteers and staff have written and published accounts of their travails. John Coyne, editor of the e-magazine Peace Corps Worldwide, receives about five new books each month to review. These are written by men and women who also work, raise children and have all those daily demands that we all share. They did not retire to a mountain-top alone to write, but rather found a quiet nook in their home and completed their Third Goal duty. None of these authors became rich and famous from a Peace Corps book. That was not their intention. In fact, ninety percent of all Peace Corps Experience books have been self-published. Although they might not have had blockbuster sales, copies are on library shelves.

The Peace Corps and even the idea of foreign aid have always been controversial. As our government dog-paddles in a churning sea of debt, foreign aid will most likely become even more controversial. Your story might help by explaining exactly what volunteers do, what they learn and how this seeds long-term friendship. That is what we all really practiced– a good neighbor policy. The program cannot be judged on a balance sheet just as one cannot assign dollars and cents when you shovel the snow from your elderly neighbor’s driveway or mow a single-parent’s front lawn.

Not so long ago, there was a real person who traveled around planting apple trees. Today, he is remembered as Johnny Appleseed. Americans with the courage to write and publish are modern Johnny Appleseeds: they seed tomorrow’s great thoughts by example.