Fall 2010 - National Peace Corps Association

Nomin GouldenThe author gazes towards one of the most sacred mountains in Mongolia, Altan Ovoo (Golden Mountain).than “doing” and relationshipsbecame the end, not the means. Itwas simple but profound for me.The point was driven home lastweek when I spoke with my hostcountry counterpart and friend. Iasked her what she liked about PeaceCorps and she thought about it for awhile. “Volunteers help people,” shesaid, “they’re kind and they listen,they’re talented in many areas andthey stay with us for a long time.”I smiled and asked, “Don’t otherorganizations do that too?” I nameda few organizations we were bothfamiliar with, but she looked backat me a little surprised, “Those havepeople?”In a world of budgets, deadlinesand benchmarks it’s easy for me toforget about people, but a Volunteershould never do that. When someonesmiles at the mention of PeaceCorps they’re probably thinkingbeyond awesome projects. They arethinking about who they knew: theteacher who served in their village,the counterpart who became theirfriend, the Volunteer who becamepart of their community. More thanwhat we do, people remember whowe are. With that in mind, everyinteraction changes and so then doesthe end of the story.When my Peace Corps storybegan, I thought there was a setnumber of pages to fill—twentysevenmonths worth. However, morerecently, I’ve noticed the story justkeeps getting longer. Twenty-fivemonths in I feel like I’m just nowhitting my stride, I’m still at thebeginning. We live in a changed andchanging world with technologythat allows us to communicatewith people like never before. Nowespecially our service in the PeaceCorps can be just the beginningof life-long and life-changingfriendships, if we want it to be. It’sour choice.Maybe that’s one of the best thingsabout our Peace Corps stories and therelationships we form as Volunteers,they last as long as we want them to.We have our whole lifetime to finishthe sentence, “I will know that I ama successful Volunteer when…” If thestory is so good that you don’t want itto end, it doesn’t have to.Travis Hellstrom is a Peace CorpsVolunteer serving in Mongolia. Heis the editor of the Unofficial PeaceCorps Handbook. To learn more visitwww.peacecorpshandbook.com.46 WorldView Fall 2010 National Peace Corps Association