Useful resources
While waiting for an assignment
Accepting an assignment
Preparing to go
What to bring (and not to bring) page

Find a RPCV mentor from Guinea.   Enter username "rice" at the prompt and leave the password blank.

There is a new (August 2005) Welcome to Guinea Packet (PDF) you can download. You can also view the old welcome packet. If you have specific questions about PC Guinea, please email the Guinea Country Desk at [email protected]

Your parents and friends will be hungry for information while you are gone! Please tell your family about the email lists for parents and friends, or email the parent listserv coordinator at gps @ friendsofguinea.org with the email addresses of your loved ones and we'll invite them to join our list.

Good links: Peace Corps Crossroads everything on Peace Corps

You should definitely get the one and only available map of Guinea. We only promote it because it's useful! (You can also buy it in-country.)

One problem I have with the Peace Corps is that they appeal to the young and naive adventurer who wants to go out and "change the world." I have been assured by many RPCVs that those who entered the PC with this type of idealism were soon disillusioned. Find out if the PC is for you. You're bound to get much more out of it than those that you're working with, and most of the changes you bring about are likely to be difficult to see in the short term. It's best to be a bit selfish in this decision. Is this something that you want to do?  You can check out other similar opportunities at this Study/Volunteer Abroad Directory.  It has comprehensive listings  of volunteer opportunities, international teaching positions, foreign job announcements, and Internship information.

My Placement Officer also suggested that I call in periodically to see if an assignment had become available, just to show your continuing interest and enthusiasm.

PDF

Subscribe to our listserv!  A listserv is an email discussion list.  We have over 150 RPCV's and parents of PCV's online, a great resource for you!

If you want to talk to or email an RPCV to ask them questions about Guinea, go to our database of RPCV's. Enter "rice" as the username to get in.  Those who are interested in talking to you are marked with the symbol "Volunteer Mentor".  We love talking about Guinea!

How to decide in 10 days what to do for two years?  Well, don't tell them I told you, but they will give you a week or two extension if you have a good reason. This is when the Recruiter will give you some phone numbers for PCV's who have been to that country. If those numbers are no help, you can also call other recruiters around the country and see if they can help you. There are also online PCV communities (look at our links page). Once you start networking, you'll hook up with lots of people. Make lists of questions you want to ask. Generally, you want to know about: Health Issues, Safety Issues, Culture, what it's like to work in that area, and generally how these people think now about their PC experience. Realize that you're getting a biased sample -- the people who are still involved with the PC are probably those who had a good experience. The ones who went home after a week and hated it probably want to forget about it.

This is also a time when you'll want to turn to friends and family for support in our decision. Talk to them. Write in your journal. Get in touch with yourself and your goals. This isn't a camping trip, but a two year committment to a difficult and rewarding life. I liked the way that one RPCV put it -- Peace Corps is a vehicle to a really great experience, but it is a government institution and has various shortcomings because of that. There's a lot of bureaucracy, people may not answer your questions because of policy, etc. They're there to support you, and they have the best emergency coverage and monetary compensation of most overseas programs. If you choose to volunteer, it's best to have your eyes open about just what you're getting into. Not to be negative... there are a lot of great people in Peace Corps. But Peace Corps as an institution is not just about "peace".

You can also call the Country Desk for your country of assignment and they may give you some good information. Again, though, this is a biased source... I found my Country Desk officer just tried to soothe my worries and try to get me to go on assignment with little fuss. In retrospect, I wish I had questioned harder when I had the chance and the choice.

You can always ask to be considered for a different assignment. The Placement Officer might give you a hard time (this is, after all, the US Government), but if you feel strongly then stick to your guns. This could jeopardize your chances of being assigned, however. Each situation is different.

Start ASAP to prepare. I gave myself four unemployed weeks and I rushed to get everything done. But, I'm also really high-strung.

Go through the list that the PC gives you in the volunteer handbook, and start preparing Power of Attorney, organizing bank accounts, and the like. Talk with whoever will be managing your affairs and get things really organized. Keep doing research on your country, because you might not want to trust the Peace Corps to take all the necessary health precautions. For instance, I found that you're supposed to take the anti-malarial (mefloquine, trade name Lariam) one week before exposure to malaria, but they're giving it to us the day that we leave. So, I got a prescription from my doctor and am taking it before I go. Also, there are reputed to be various horrible side-effects to mefloquine. You can follow this link to one of the pages devoted to the Lariam debate, and there are several such pages out there. It's really hard to say if these are psychosomatic or caused by the stress of Peace Corps life. Some people do experience depression or disorientation, so keep an eye out for such symptoms. There are alternatives to mefloquine if you discuss this with your medical officer. Most people do experience some sleeping disturbances, such as insomnia and vivid dreams, which can be alleviated by breaking the pill into halves or quarters and taking it several times over the week.

The biggest thing that will fill your mind soon is What To Bring? Click here to see the official, bona fide
guide to What To Bring.

Note, however that what you should bring depends on where you're going, so ask around.

You'll get the most accurate information from people who have been there. Cultivate a few relationships with returned RPCVs from your country. In exchange for their time helping you, it's nice to offer to carry something to the country for them (they may have friends over there still).

This is also the time to get your head in order. You have so much to do, I know, but stop and take a day off, go on a trip. It's best to jump into this both emotionally and physically healthy. Get in shape, and dose up on Echineacea.

You should also communicate very clearly with your family in terms of expectations while you're gone. Figure out who will do your tax return (you can do it in-country). I found that a lot of issues with family and friends got resolved just as I got ready to leave. When you know time is running out, you naturally deal with things on a more intense level, I think.

Find out what the situation is regarding mail and telephones where you're going. Volunteers will often do phone-trees, where one person calls mom, and tells mom to call your mom. So, prepare your mom to get phone calls from strangers telling her to call you at a certain number. Your parents can also strike a deal with the telephone company -- call around and see who will give you the best phone rate to that country. Bargain with them. Also, mail is often sporadic, and there can be definite suggestions on how to send things. For instance, number letters and packages, and keep copies of your letters in case they get lost. Send letters separate from packages, because packages are often stolen. Compile a list of good things to send to you while you're there. A good list of care package items, plus other suggestions, can be found in the family and friends pages. Be sensitive to the fact that your friends and family won't know what it's like for you there, and they're going about their everyday life, but with you missing. You'll have lots of new experiences to fill your time. It's usually harder for the ones left behind.

............IV. UPDATE ON LARIAM AND THE PEACE CORPS

Scores of Peace Corps volunteers are coming forward saying that over the past 12 years they suffered crippling paranoia, anxiety, hallucinations, memory loss, suicidal behavior and physical ailments from seizures to vision difficulty because of the drug handed out by government doctors to prevent malaria.Many of those affected were medically evacuated and some were hospitalized because of problems volunteers said were caused by Lariam, also called mefloquine. Others risked contracting malaria when they secretly violated Peace Corps rules and quit taking the drug because side effects bothered them so much. Some say that debilitating problems that began when they started taking the drug have continued for years after they stopped.

"This has been the big story among Peace Corps volunteers for 12 years," said Allen Hoppes, a volunteer in Mali, West Africa, in 1992. That was three years after the Peace Corps began using Lariam, which continues to be the Peace Corps' drug of choice.

"The Peace Corps told us if we did not want to take mefloquine, we did not want to be Peace Corps volunteers," Hoppes said. Read the story at:

http://PeaceCorpsOnline.org/messages/messages/2629/1008684.html

In a related story, a domestic violence expert who advises the Pentagon said on August 8 that the military should look into whether Lariam, an anti-malaria drug associated with aggression and suicidal thinking, could have triggered any of the recent incidents in which four Fort Bragg soldiers are suspected of killing their wives and, in two of the cases, also killed themselves.

http://PeaceCorpsOnline.org/messages/messages/2629/1008826.html

Read our continuing coverage of the Lariam controversy, decide for yourself if the health concerns of Lariam's side-effects have been overstated, and leave your opinion at:

http://PeaceCorpsOnline.org/messages/messages/2629/1008129.html