My Peace Corps Story

Peace Corps was my dream all the way back to my first year of high school when I learned about it. I applied in 2013 when I was getting ready to graduate from college and it was the old 8 hour long application. I was accepted into Peace Corps Sierra Leone almost a year after applying. I departed in June 2014 to begin my training to become a Science Educator. I learned the language of Krio, which is pigeon English, lived with an amazing host family, learned about the Sierra Leonean culture and cuisine, and spent as much time as I could wandering the markets. Two months into my training, and the week before I swore in as an official Volunteer, I was evacuated due to the growing Ebola pandemic that was spreading throughout the country. Coming home from Sierra Leone was one of the hardest things for me. I felt guilty. Knowing that I was being taken away from something that was so dangerous hard knowing I was leaving behind a family I grew to love as my own and a country full of of people facing an epidemic.