The Volunteer I am most proud of

Let me tell you about a Volunteer I am really proud of. His name is Joseph. This guy is so cool for so many reasons. He is very genuine and real caring person. Besides his sparkling personality, there is one particular aspect about Joseph that makes him especially awesome. Joseph is not the median age of a normal Peace Corps Volunteer. Joseph is 55 years old. But that doesn´t inhibit him the slightest. If anything his wisdom trumps the rest of our´s youthful vigor.

Joseph was a computer programmer in Texas until about a year and a half ago when he was offered a retirement buyout package. Which he took, and joined the Peace Corps. He decided he would sell his house and move a few thousand miles across the equator to a land unbeknownst to him called Peru. This meant learning a new language, a new culture and all that entails, basically, a new way of life. He also had to trade his conventional friends for a bunch of punk mid-twenty year olds. Oh, the times I felt sorry for Joseph when he had to put up with our immaturity during training.

But Joseph wants to give back. He wants to serve. He wants to learn, to experience life. But most of all, I believe Joseph doesn´t want to regret. The year or so I spent considering Peace Corps and enduring the application process, I was constantly bombarded with stories about people who “had always wanted to do something like that”. Well, Joseph is doing something like that. This is why I am proud of Joseph.