PEACE CORPS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

110type of actual work. I'm supposed to take the next 3 months to set up my house(buy furniture, paint, etc.), improve my French and observe my community. 188In Burkina Faso, as in most countries, volunteers are expected to spend their first threemonths (the three months after their three months of training) “integrating” into theircommunities. After such a period of time, the organization has a short conference toprepare them for real work. Casey, a Ghanan volunteer, is an agroforestry volunteer whodoes not have a primary project. He works with multiple projects and writes about hislatest project that “after only 20 minutes you wind up right on the lake with an amazingtiny fishing village and the beauty of the lake and mountains in the distance. It seemsstraight out of National Geographic! Plus the people are extremely nice, organized,motivated, and dedicated to getting this project done – a HUGE plus when it comes toPeace Corps work, as getting a community to be motivated at all can be the work itself.This has become yet another of my projects.” 189Casey’s project is in a beautiful locationand with a reliable group. He points out one of the frustrations that volunteers often feel:lack of excitement and energy on the part of the community. Blogs reveal that volunteerscontinuously face communities that are uninterested or unmotivated to help with theirown development. Most people have no idea what Peace Corps life entails. And theorganization rarely focuses on work in its recruitment pages. The volunteer blogsprovide the reader an added perspective on what work is like in the Peace Corps.Shella humorously writes of her week, as a 21 st century volunteer, complete withher music and laptop to keep her entertained while in service, “a full and rewarding week,just the kind that they put in the brochures about Peace Corps. Bike riding, villagecouncil meeting, conflict resolution, hiking, checking out books to a crowd of eager kids,