In this interview, we hear from Lucie Rutherford. Lucie is a Peace Corps volunteer working as a Health volunteer in Peru. What Lucie shares gives us a better understanding of the work volunteers do. We learn about the challenges, rewards, and personal growth that happens from volunteering in a new place. Lucie talks about living in a different country, working with local people, and dealing with surprise situations. Join us as we learn about Lucie’s journey and see how volunteering with Peace Corps can change lives.
Table of Contents
- Volunteer Experience and Motivation
- Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
- Surprises and Challenges
- Advice and Support
- Practical Tips and Language Learning
- Social Identity during Service
- Impact of Media and Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. Tell us more about serving as a Health volunteer in Peru
Here in Peru, I work under two objectives: prevention of childhood anemia and adolescent health promotion. What that actually looks like varies immensely.
Across Peru, anemia is a huge issue in children, stemming from a lack of iron in their diets, which is primarily found in red meat, which causes low hemoglobin levels in the blood, and prevents sufficient distribution of oxygen throughout the body (most importantly, to the growing brain).
In terms of adolescent health, the objective is preventing teen pregnancy, but I also teach classes in nutrition, mental health, and life skills (such as managing emotions, dealing with stress, assertive communication, etc.).
I split my time between the health post, where I do anything from helping the adolescent health specialist with health talks at school, assisting with technology problems (I’ve somehow become known as an IT specialist), or helping decorate for the monthly birthday celebrations. At school, which goes from March to December, I teach health classes in classrooms of 12-17 year-olds, and naturally, find myself teaching lots of English. A lot of times, I feel like more of a glorified English teacher than anything else, though it has helped me build close, trusting relationships with students, teachers, and parents.
2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose Peru?
My dad actually served in the Peace Corps in Mauritania back in the 1980s, so I have heard about the Peace Corps my whole life. My dad has endless memories, and still has a lot of friends from his cohort. I’ve gone to a few of his Peace Corps reunions and even met a couple of people from the small village he lived in, who now live in the U.S. and Europe. Since high school, I’ve known I wanted to work internationally, in public health, and I’ve always had an interest in Spanish. The Peace Corps in Peru is the perfect combination to get a jumpstart on all three of those interests.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. Tell us more about your home situation
I live with a host family: a mother, a father, and their two kids, who are adults, 31 and 22 years old. My situation is pretty sweet because I have a separate side entrance to my room and my own bathroom.
I usually prepare breakfast on my own, though my host mom always prepares lunch and dinner. She is the closest thing to a restaurant in town, as she cooks for a small number of health workers and teachers each day. And her cooking is absolutely delicious. I always eat dinner with the host family; it’s our time to catch up, tell stories, and watch the news.
My home is rural, a small town of a few hundred people. However it is only a 20-minute drive from a couple of bigger towns of 15,000+ people, with cafes, gyms, markets, etc. There is also a tennis court in one of those towns, so I play there about once a week. Other than that, I get my exercise by doing HIIT workouts in my room or running. I found a running route with no dogs, which is the key. The only bad thing is it’s straight uphill.
4. Any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had?
I know for a fact that when I leave my town, the interactions I will miss the most are those of the little kids. They have a way of showing me love that I will never forget. The other day, I walked past a little girl and her mom, and I heard the little girl whisper to her mom, “She’s my friend.” To be honest with you, I didn’t recognize the girl as one of the regulars that I hang out with, but I obviously had a positive impact on her at one point, which made me feel so good.
Second to the kids are the women who yell phrases at me in Quechua, the area’s native language, to see if I know how to respond. Whether I know it or not, I always try, and it always gets many laughs. Quechua has been one of my favorite ways to make people smile. Not just because I get the phrase wrong, but because I like to think they love seeing me try to learn a native language that is slowly disappearing across the country.
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about challenges in Peru?
The biggest challenge I have faced here is the eating and drinking culture. While the food is amazing, and I lucked out with an amazing cook as a host mom, the portions are huge. I’m a person who eats everything you put in front of me, and the general tradition in Peru is a smaller breakfast and dinner, with a large lunch, which usually consists of a sopa(soup), segunda (main dish), and a refresco (some kind of juice).
After about 6 months of eating this every day, I had to tell my host mom to only give me segunda, and that is still a mountain of food.
In terms of drinking, Peru has a very large drinking culture. There are parties for everything, which is great, but people are constantly pushing beer on you, and they make it into a big deal if you refuse.
6. What challenges did you face while working on Health projects?
For my first 6 months at site, I felt very useless. The health center I work at is very well-equipped, and I didn’t quite know where I could fit in, where I could help, where I was needed. I can’t tell you the number of ideas I had which I thought were great, only to soon realize why they couldn’t work. It’s not just about identifying the needs, but also understanding the organizations, rhythms, and processes enough to actually make something work.
7. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have been involved?
My main secondary project is an English club for elementary-aged kids. In my first year, it started as one weekly after-school session. This year, as word got out, more than 40 kids started showing up consistently. So, I have now split the workshop into 2 days, and attendance remains steady every week, and the kids are asking for even more sessions.
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to someone considering serving as a Health volunteer in Peru?
Learn as much Spanish as you can ahead of time. The language barrier is the ultimate challenge, and you will learn very quickly once you get to site, though the more you know coming in, the better off you’ll be.
Also, be ready to do many things that aren’t in your job description (aka making posters, teaching English, fixing a computer). These seemingly unimportant activities are what help you build trust and positive relationships with counterparts, and will make your life easier in the long run when you go to implement a project.
9. How has the Peace Corps training helped you during your service?
PST (Pre-Service Training) helped me tremendously in two ways. 1) improving my Spanish, as we had language class 4 days a week, for 2-4 hours each day. 2) It was a great intro course into the inner workings of the Peruvian healthcare system, education system, and Peru’s major public health problems (anemia and teen pregnancy). While PST can be boring at times, I recommend cherishing it. Because it is the most structured thing you’ll have for the next two years. And, you’re around all of your US friends, which you will miss once you’re the odd one out at site.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
10. Anything that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future Peru volunteers?
In terms of clothing, my essentials are a loose pair of dress pants, a good pair of jeans (with no rips), tennis shoes (outside of your beat-up running shoes), and a few turtle necks. All Peru volunteers are serving in the mountains, where the sun is strong but the air is chilly. Light turtle necks and light long pants are perfect for that kind of weather.
Also, pack a few fun things from home to show your host family and students. It’s a great icebreaker. For example, I have an American football, a rugby ball, and chopsticks, all of which have been huge hits. Other little things that kids love: stickers, American coins, bracelet-making kits, and erasers in the shape of animals and foods.
11. How has learning the language been?
I came to Peru with an Intermediate-Mid Spanish level. I would not have wanted to come with anything less. That said, plenty of other volunteers came with a lower level and have found lots of success. Take the initiative to learn as much Spanish as you can before coming.
In my site, not a single person speaks conversational English, so it is “learn by fire”. I’d say this is the case for almost every site. The more Spanish you know, the more respect you will gain from your coworkers and the more seriously they will take your role in the community. That said, I have improved immensely since I first got to site. I know more slang, proper grammar slides off the tongue, and I have even dreamt in Spanish!
Side note: I have also been learning Quechua, Peru’s most spoken native language that remained post-Spanish conquest. Everyone in my town is bilingual in Spanish and Quechua, and conversations are many times a mix of the two. This is something only a few volunteers will experience, mainly in the Ancash region. I have loved learning the basics of the language, and it is a great icebreaker when people find out you know even a little bit.
Social Identity during Service
12. What ways do you think being a woman has shaped your approach to community engagement?
As a female, I try to be the best example possible for little girls in the community. It is very common here to have children at a young age, and I am always fully transparent with children when they ask why I’m not married or why I don’t have kids. I explain that I want time for myself, I don’t have the money for children, and that while I want children eventually, now is not the time.
13. What challenges have you faced, and how did you overcome them?
As a female, I have experienced an endless array of comments regarding my relationship status, whether I have children, and jokes about finding my husband in Peru. My advice is to take everything lightly. You have to understand the cultural differences and not get offended by the comments. Despite the many comments, including by colleagues, I have never actually felt threatened. Until then, I just brush things off, and my answer that always gets a laugh is “I’m not looking.”
14. What advice would you give to other women considering joining the Peace Corps?
Don’t be afraid to serve as a female! Before joining the Peace Corps, I had many people back home assume it was dangerous for a single female to do so, and that is just not true. As long as you are smart, don’t put yourself in sketchy situations, and don’t draw unnecessary attention to yourself in terms of clothing and actions, you’ll be fine.
Impact of Media and Final Thoughts
15. How do you think your blog contributes to your overall mission as a Peace Corps volunteer?
I have a blog, though I don’t advertise it. It’s only for family and friends to stay updated on my service, though mainly, it is for myself to a) organize and analyze my thoughts and b) to document my service and be able to look back at my thoughts and pictures in 50-some years.
I have heard from past volunteers that their main regret is not documenting their service more. Every day, there are endless interactions with students, colleagues, animals, host family members, etc. that you will easily forget in a decade. It is so important to me to remember everything that I can about this time in my life, because I know there will never be anything else like it.
My blog hasn’t contributed much to my overall mission, but I do see it as a transparent view for family and friends to see what life is like in rural, Andean Peru. After all, that is one of the Peace Corps’ main goals: giving Americans a better understanding of the place you’re serving. And I see my blog as a great way to do that.
16. Any last comments you’d like to pass on to future Peru volunteers?
Get ready to be humbled. It is one of the biggest challenges you face, not being needed. When you’re in college or the workforce, there is always something for you to do. There is always someone telling you what to do. It’s straightforward. There’s a due date. Peace Corps service is nothing like that.
You have to decide to get out of bed in the morning to show up somewhere where no one has asked you to be. You show up to meetings, and you don’t even know what they’re about. But little by little, you grow relationships, you learn, and people start to realize that you want to do something. You want to help wherever they may need it. And that’s when you gain some stability.
So, stay persistent and persevere through those days when you don’t know why the heck you’re there. For every 5 bad, useless days, there’s 1 great one that makes it all worth it.
What are you waiting for? Opportunities like this don’t come often. If you have a passion for service and an adventurous spirit like Lucie’s, apply to the Peace Corps today. Expand your horizons, push your limits, and create positive impact as a volunteer. You never know how serving as a Peace Corps volunteer could change your life.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Peru Government.
