A Call to Serve
By: Meghan McAuliffe
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps.
In May 2007, my soul began speaking to me in a very gentle whisper, telling me that it was time. I tried to ignore the calling but it soon became apparent that I had no choice but to listen and to act. I finally embraced the messages that were pointing me towards joining the Peace Corps and in February 2008, I sold my possessions, said goodbye to family and friends and left for Costa Rica. My dream of serving as a Peace Corps volunteer had finally come true.
My name is Meghan McAuliffe and I am a Children Youth and Families (C.Y.F) volunteer serving in a community called San Martin which is located outside the city of Nicoya. The purpose of the Children Youth and Families project is to “empower children, youth and families living in difficult environments with the resources necessary to increase their opportunities and to lead positive roles in their family life, communities and the world of work.” In short, my role is to educate the members of my community so that they have more opportunities in life. Initially, this sounded like an easy challenge to accomplish, but three months into my service I realized just how complex this chapter in my life was going to be.
I remember one afternoon, shortly after arriving in my site, I was speaking with my primary counterpart Don Ricardo Cortes. He works as an Education Promoter for the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia which is the U.S. equivalent to Child Protective Services. I asked him what types of cases the office receives and before he answered my question he began sizing me up. I think he was trying to recall what I did prior to the Peace Corps and to figure out if I could handle the truth.
As he exhaled through his nose, he shifted his weight and said, “Meghan, I’m working on a case right now where the parents of two little girls accidently poured hot water on them causing third degree burns. I have another case where a man unintentionally ran over a child as he was pulling out of his driveway. I have another case where a twelve year old girl is six months pregnant and claims her dad is the father. Meghan, I can go on and on.”
Now it was my time to size him up, to figure out if I could see any signs of wear and tear. I wanted to spot a stress wrinkle on his face or perhaps a layer of skin made of metal. But nothing: he looks normal, no visible cracks or entry wounds. We maintained eye contact and he took my silence as an invitation to speak and boy did he speak. For three hours he purged and shared details about cases involving innocent children from my community: traveling foreigners, mothers who are addicts, children who have children, known repeat sex offenders, and now I, too, can go on and on.
When I left the office that day I felt full, emotionally topped off. I remember seeing children playing in the street and automatically scanned the area for prowlers. I saw a woman bend over and pick something up off the ground and involuntarily assumed it was a discarded needle. I had to check myself, my imagination was getting the best of me and surely not everyone in this community makes bad choices. I realized I needed to make a decision: I can either hide in my room for the next two years or I can use the information that Don Ricardo gifted me to work in my favor. I chose the latter of the two and began working to strategically design a way to make a sustainable difference in San Martin.
As a Peace Corps volunteer, I took the “empowering” part of the project purpose to heart. I found that most people I work with have great ideas for projects but they simply do not know HOW to do the project. Consequently, I based my service on teaching others a methodology called Project Design and Management. In this way, after I leave, my counterparts can identify the changes that they want to see, use the methodology as a guideline and implement the project that they created. It goes back to the old adage, “You can feed a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, or you can teach a man how to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.”
In February, I will be teaching the Interdisciplinary Team at the elementary school the Project Design and Management methodology. Together, we will develop a workshop for the sixth grade class in which they will be taught how to design a sustainable project. After the students learn how to create a project, they will present their proposals for improving the school to the Interdisciplinary Team and the Director. In the end, the students will be awarded a small amount of grant money from an international nonprofit, Kids to Kids, in order to realize their vision.
The second project that is currently under construction is a hydroponic garden. I collaborated with a committee at the Evangelical church and together we submitted a grant proposal to CRUSA in which the funds are being used to build and maintain a hydroponic garden. By the end of February, we will have healthy, nutritious vegetables that will be used to feed the children who rely on the community kitchen for their daily meal.
My Peace Corps service has impacted me in ways that are noticeable and in ways that haven’t been revealed to me yet. I think one of the most noticeable differences I see in myself is that I have built up resilience to things that should shock me. I’m not surprised that the woman next door just rode by with five kids hanging off her bike. I’m not surprised that my host mom just handed me a piece of deep fried pig skin on a wet tortilla. I’m not surprised that I don’t hesitate when I bite into it.
Peace Corps has impacted me, I knew it would—that’s part of the deal. I was attracted to the Peace Corps because I knew that she would not even bother to ask me what I wanted to learn, she would just hand over lessons. I learned more about myself and about humanity in these two short years than I have in my entire life. I have a deeper appreciation for things, for example, my host family has taught me to see the value in a collective family unit. I appreciate my friends more and take the time to listen, not judge, simply listen. This experience has taught me to see the good in others and to highlight beauty in the most obscure places. My Peace Corps experience has taught me to be more present, be aware of my surroundings and be okay with existing right here, right now.
By trusting the call to serve, I have grown from the lessons that I memorized and I am proud of the work that I have done. I am thankful for all the challenges that I have faced and I feel satisfied with how I treated this dream that finally came true. So if you notice that I am quiet, don’t be alarmed, it’s more than likely that I am simply listening for the next gentle call that I trust my soul will whisper.
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