Aspirations...

The Peace Corps requires all invitees to send an updated resume and a new aspiration statement within two weeks after you accept your invite. I am posting my completed aspiration statement to help other applicants and invitees complete theirs when the time comes. Hopefully this will also give a little insight to my family and friends who were wondering why I chose this path. I cannot count the number of times that I have heard "What would make you want to move to Africa and live in poverty?", "Can you not get into grad school or something?", "Are you running away?", and "What does your family think? Isn't that so dangerous". I understand all of the questions and the reasons for asking them. Hopefully, this will explain it a bit better. I looked up some other blogs that had their statements posted and it was a real help when I was working on mine, so I am just passing on the favor.

On a side note, my graduation application was accepted last week! That translates to me being able to graduate on December 8th!! Waahooo!!! Not to toot my own horn..but GO ME! All the blood (well not so much blood), sweat (not really a lot of sweat either), and tears (moderate amount of tears) that have gone into getting this degree have finally paid off. Now, I just have to finish off these last two months of the semester and I am good to go! That sounds easier than it is though... 19 credits and 30 hours a week of work does not make it easy, but I am grateful. I am going to miss college. It has been the time of my life! Life is good...

Aspiration Statement

Christi Gibson

South Africa

Departure Dates: January 28, 2008

A. Aspirations and Professional Attributes

The aspirations, hopes, and dreams I have for my upcoming Peace Corps service are innumerable. I aspire to do so many things that I cannot even keep track of them all because they are constantly developing; springing ten new ideas where every old one lay. I aspire to live a novel-worthy life. While serving in South Africa, I would like to develop my creative writing skills to write and eventually publish a book about the experience of serving as a lifelong venture and how life is so interconnected. It is my hope that I will be able to help men, women, children, and vulnerable populations lift themselves out of the circumstances that are keeping them down. I want to give people the tools to help them help themselves and others. Sustainability and development are two things that I want to strive to achieve in all aspects of my work. I want to disseminate knowledge about HIV/AIDS and work to ensure that people know what their options are in protecting and/or treating themselves. I aspire to teach so many things; however, I aspire more to learn.

I am at a point in my life where I am on the edge of something great. I recognize an issue, formulate a goal and a plan, and work toward achieving the goal with most of the volunteer activities I engage in. Realizing that one goal has been completed usually is a stepping stone for me to create new goals and aspire to try different things. It is my sincere desire to witness HIV/AIDS eradicated from the face of the earth in my lifetime or in the lifetime of my children. However, though I am hopeful I am not unreasonable. HIV/AIDS is an incredibly heartbreaking disease that has and continues to create pain and suffering for millions around the globe. I am an optimist and a dreamer, but I am also realistic. I have few glamorous notions about what service in South Africa will be like. I do not think I can rid an entire village of AIDS and make sure that every ill person is treated with the best medical care available. However, I do believe I can make a difference in at least a few lives and that is enough for me because I believe in the power of one. I do not predict this disease being eliminated during my lifetime and maybe I will not see a decrease made in the number of new infections while I am alive. However, I am willing to work toward a solution to a problem that I will never have all the answers for. It seems slightly mad to work so intently to solve a problem that I believe will not be solved during my lifetime, but there is just no other choice for me. I am called to do this kind of work and this is what I have been preparing for unknowingly my entire life. I believe we can beat HIV/AIDS and one day the work that so many people in the generations before mine, in my generation, and in the generations to come will have paid off. We will beat AIDS. Again I say, I am an optimist and a realist.

I do not have a ton of professional experience because I am young and have yet to have a job in a professional setting for a long period of time. However, I am very professional when it comes to the leadership roles that I serve in. As the president of the largest student organization on campus, I learned to how to manage people and deal with issues and crisis situations. I use respectful and appropriate gestures and speech when communicating with team members and officials. Speaking up is something that I am almost never afraid to do, so I end up having a lot of input into group work. I have learned how to take and give constructive criticism from peers and managers. I dress and act in a manner that is suitable for the workplace environment. Developing and implementing programs is something that I not only do well, but enjoy doing. I love working with the youth because they are so energetic and have so many things to teach us. I am always approachable, non-judgmental, and responsible when working with young people because I want to create good service environments for them. I am also fairly computer and research savvy. I hope that I will be able to use some of my professional attributes during my service and perhaps be able to develop them further.

B. Working with Host Country Partners

There are a multitude of strategies that I am sure I will learn and be able to hone during pre-service training and the two years of service in working with NGOs. Presently, I am simply aspiring to use the strategies that I am familiar with and are more adept to using with any new group that I work with. To be the most successful as I can be at working with host country partners, I know that the first thing I need to do is to listen more than I speak. As an American and an outgoing person, I have been encouraged to speak up and share my opinion wherever I can find a space in conversation. However, I can best serve my community in South Africa by listening and thoughtfully considering responding before I open my mouth. I am very intent on being very respectful of the people and ideas that I will come into contact with. I do not have all of the answers and I have never been to South Africa; therefore, I recognize that the host country partners will always know a great deal more about the South African people and their needs than I will. I hope to gain an understanding of these needs and how issues like HIV/AIDS and vulnerable populations are being addressed. I promise to make an effort to be as least judgmental as I possibly can and to be democratic in the way I handle the work I am given. Effective teamwork is something I will strive to foster and achieve with every group I work with. Honesty and humility are two virtues that I am intent on incorporating into every strategy I intend to use.

To meet the expressed needs of the host country partners, I believe we could use a leadership and development model focused on preparation, action, reflection, and evaluation. To prepare to meet the needs of our community, we need to be able to identify those needs first. Once we have identified the needs, we can choose the needs that we believe we need to address first based on which problems have the greatest impact, are the most susceptible to intervention, are being addressed successfully by other agencies, and have the greatest potential benefits once addressed. I hope to help my host country partners consider both the importance and changeability of any and every issue that we decide we are going to address. Once we decide which needs to address, we can use smart objectives to set goals for meeting the expressed needs that have a specific target, are measurable, appropriate for the group that we are working with, time specific, and resourceful. After we are finished with setting goals, obtaining resources, and planning the logistics of the program, then we set off into action because we will have already done most of the work. During the action stage, I would like to facilitate reflection activities. As a group, we could reflect on how we are addressing the issues that we set out to address and we can fix any problems that we are experiencing in the program. After our program we can evaluate the success of our program based on the measurable goals that we set before. However, I will encourage flexibility because things do not always go as planned and sometimes the most unplanned efforts work out for the best. Evaluation will also allow us to see where doors are opening for future projects and allow us to pool our ideas together to identify any other problems that surfaced during the course of our program.

I use the plural and possessive words “our” and “we” because I really hope to become a part of the community in which I will work. It is my sincere desire to become a “we” and have programs that are “ours” because I want to see myself and be seen as a part of the groups that I will be given the opportunity to work with. I strongly believe that the most successful programs are programs that are intentional and transformational with direction always aimed at development and sustainability. In my work with groups, I try to always act with transformation as the intent. I want to see and be the change. I am looking forward to working with others that are aiming towards the same goals.

C. Adapting to a New Culture

For the past year, I have been reading an enormous amount of literature on Africa with an emphasis on South Africa and with the more reading I do I am entirely convinced that I have so much to learn and adapt to than I could possibly realize right now. I am graduating from college only fifty-two days before I move to South Africa so transitioning from American university life; where I work one job, volunteer, go to school full time, and have my parents to support me if I need support; to life in South Africa as an independent adult in the Peace Corps will be challenging. I will attempt to assimilate as organically as possible; however, I am sure I will need strategies to help me adapt. Maintaining a good sense of humor when using any strategy is a strategy in and of itself and is quite possibly the most important action I can take in adapting to the culture.

The first and foremost strategy I plan on using is to find a reason everyday. Things will be tough, especially in the beginning, and I will need to remind myself everyday why I first decided to make the choice to serve and identify a new reason daily for why the change I am attempting to create is important. Nevertheless, this will take determination but I recognize that the opportunity to serve in South Africa is a gift that I am incredibly grateful for. I am not sure yet if I have done anything worthy enough of this opportunity, but I am intent on making a contribution worthy of the opportunity. I figure that I must give all I have everyday if I really want to gain and give the most possible.

In order speed up my assimilation into the culture, I am going to have to learn the local language as quickly and as correctly as I can. Currently, I am studying isiZulu at my university in case I am placed in a place where isiZulu is spoken. I really love learning isiZulu and am excited that I might have the chance to continue this study in South Africa. Practicing with the local children will be helpful and will provide me a chance to make mistakes and be corrected. I also will make sure that I dress modestly as a sign of respect for the people I am working with. I know that many South African people are Christian and I am also a Christian. If I am placed in a predominately Christian area, I will be able to worship with my community and I will continue to pray everyday even if I am not placed in a Christian community. I am very interested in learning about different faiths and religious practices. Hopefully, attempting to learn about the local religious practices will help me assimilate more quickly into the culture. I also am going to try to really get to know the local women because I truly believe that women can and do influence so many other lives in their roles as workers, mothers, teachers, wives, etc. It is my intent to get to know these women and make it easier for them to build friendships with me. The entire time I am in South Africa I will attempt to journal my experiences so that I may track my progress in adapting to a new culture.

I want to “come in right” to South Africa. There is a book written by Kevin Winge called Never Give Up, where he says that in order for Americans to truly appreciate South Africa we must “come in right”. What the author is referring to is coming into South Africa and immediately removing our American lenses so that we may see from a new point of view. It is my sincere hope that I will be able to remove my American frames as much as possible and exchange them for some South African lenses that will allow me to see South Africa and my service for what it really is; without translation, without previous schemas for understanding, and without judgment. Instead of looking for the differences and similarities between people and cultures, I would like to just see South Africa how South Africans see it. Only then do I believe I will be able to fully embrace this opportunity.

D. Pre-Service Training Skill and Knowledge Attainment

I plan on immersing myself totally in the pre-service training time period. I want to be able to be as prepared as I possibly can to serve my community in all the ways that I can. New knowledge attained in training coupled with old skills will give me a framework that I can use throughout and beyond my service. There are several key skills and things that I would like to learn during training.

Nelson Mandela once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart”. I am very intent on being proficient in the language for reasons similar to Nelson Mandela’s reasons for learning Afrikaans. I want to be able to have conversations that are deep and meaningful in the local language. I want people to feel like they can talk to me and that I will understand. It is my sincere hope that learning and practicing the language will be helpful to the NGO and the community that I work with. I hope that I will be able to continue studying isiZulu, even if it is not the language of the area that I will be assigned to. In training I hope that I will be able to learn how to communicate appropriately through non-verbal measures also because I am sure that I will be struggling to absorb as much of the language as possible in the beginning.

It is important for me to pay attention and make it a point to learn certain skills before being sent to my post. I would like to learn how to deal with crisis situations, how to perform thorough needs assessments, and how to safeguard myself from crime and other dangers. Apartheid, women’s roles and empowering women, cultural boundaries, and teaching methods are all things that I would like to gain more knowledge about before I am sworn in. I would also like to learn strategies that will help me deal with the loneliness of being so far away from familiar faces and places.

One of the things that I am most looking forward to in pre-service training is gaining new friends. I am so excited to meet my fellow SA17 members and am really looking forward to working with the host country partners. Hopefully, I will meet people that will become friends for life. It is exciting to know that there are so many people out there with dreams and ambitions similar to my own and getting to share this experience with them will be rewarding. I am sure I will contribute a lot to the group and am looking forward to learning from my group.

E. Life After Service

In an effort to be as honest as possible, I must say that I was not entirely sure what to write in this section when I first read it. I have so many things that I aspire to do during my lifetime and so many programs that I would like to be a part of that I do not really know where to begin. I anticipate that my Peace Corps service will give me the tools, skills, and confidence to make decisions concerning my future educational goals, career choices, and family life.

Currently, it is my belief that if I can make the most of my time in South Africa and live to tell the story, I can survive and do just about anything. Moving to South Africa away from the familiarity and comfort of my Virginian home and school is a challenge that I am looking forward to. It is exciting that I will be graduating from a place where I have learned so many things and moving to South Africa where I will learn so much more and be a student once again. I am generally cautious when making decisions and I calculate risks before I take them. However, I would like to not calculate as much and let go of the control that I tend to take over my life. I think Peace Corps service will teach me how to take risks and to trust that everything will work out as it should regardless of how much I worry about understanding or controlling it. Because resources will be limited and the things that I am accustomed to having at hand here in America will not always be available, hopefully I will be able to learn how make something from almost nothing. From humble means, resourceful and creative thinking will thrive and I will be able to use these skills in daily living, work settings, and relationships throughout life.

I am certain that I want a career that will allow me to work in different countries and with different kinds of people. Currently, I am strongly considering becoming a nurse practitioner. I also am certain that I want to further my education and eventually obtain a doctorate in my chosen field of study so that I can eventually teach in a university. While I am take classes or before I go back to school for another degree, I hope to be working in an international setting. Perhaps I will be able to work for the Peace Corps overseas or even in America. It would a dream come true if I could go back to school, obtain my degrees, and return to South Africa or to wherever they should station me so that I could work as a nurse practitioner caring for the volunteers and volunteering in clinics in my free time. Twenty years from now I could see myself having a family and living abroad near the medical clinic I want to open. Peace Corps service will give me the tools to become less of a consumer and more of a giver. I hope it will also make me more environmentally conscious. As woman, I could be a better professional, friend, wife, and mother as a result of serving in South Africa. Hopefully, Peace Corps service will give me a new set of lenses by which I could see the world. The possibilities are endless; the choice is simply a matter of direction.