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Peace Corps Volunteers Use Skype, Cell Phones to Stay Connected

by Caleb Johnson on August 28, 2010 at 03:01 PM

As recently as the early 1990s, a stint in the Peace Corps meant going off the grid. Now, according to an NPR report, Peace Corps volunteers are staying connected to friends and family back home via Skype, e-mail, texting, Facebook or even phone calls. "When they go back to their homes, instead of turning out the kerosene light and going to bed, they can get on Skype and they give a quick call to Mom and Dad back at home," Gordy Mengel, a volunteer in the 1980s, told NPR of today's volunteers. When Mengel worked in Zaire (now the Republic of Congo), it took months for letters to be delivered and received through the postal service. Now, communicating is as easy as clicking a button. "I can't imagine having been a Peace Corps volunteer in the '70s or the '80s or even the early '90s," Sonia Morhange, a volunteer in Rwanda, told NPR. But not everybody thinks increased connectivity is a good thing for the Corps. John Reddy, who directs the group in Rwanda, told NPR that volunteers have less independence, and that the organization micromanages more because of the Internet.

That's easy for somebody who has worked in Africa for three decades to say. But, if we ever got the courage to apply for the Peace Corps, you'd better believe our cell phones and laptops would be the first items packed in our luggage.

Tags: cellphone, communication, facebook, Internet, peace corps, PeaceCorps, rwanda, skype, top, volunteer, web, zaire

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