I'm going to have to disagree with the opinions stated in this article, nearly all of them to be honest. First (and the only one I have time to address) the statement, "enough money for 3 projects". This sounds eerily similar to some of the PCV's I served with in 2009. Uh…they were just miserable to be around, always complaining and whining. This statement can literally be equated to looking at the 'glass half-empty'. We were in a similar situation in the country where I served. There wasn't some shack full of cash that I could quickly & easily visit to stuff my bags full, so that I could make it ‘rain’ in my community. There was no Staples ‘EASY Button’.

You know what I did, I took it as a challenge and started conversations with U.S. corporations, with international institutions and had them give my community PILES of money. PILES!!!! I had no instructions, no one standing over my shoulder, telling me what to do, etc. I had my laptop and cafe Wi-Fi! I didn’t have to do this; I could have been like the majority and complained and just focused my time during service to have coffee all day and build relationships.

However, the difference in my approach to the 2 years of service in my community… was that I already had incredibly challenging experiences in life. I had already taken risks, experienced success and failure, Peace Corps service was selected as the next chapter of my life because I needed a break, something easy to do, a stress free experience.

This article highlighted and exemplified what I feel is the biggest problem of Peace Corps…that they admit Americans right out of college with nearly zero life experience except for a semester abroad studying in Italy or part-time job on campus during their college years. I guarantee the author of this article was admitted into the Peace Corps at the ripe age of 22 or 23. He probably was a very ineffective PCV that accomplished very little.