In this interview, we hear from Lola Browning. Lola is working as a Peace Corps Health volunteer in Paraguay. What Lola 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. Lola talks about living in a different country, working with local people, and dealing with surprise situations. Join us as we learn about Lola’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
- Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. Can you tell us more about serving as a Health volunteer in Paraguay?
In the Community Health (CH) sector in Paraguay, our main focus is supporting youth health and well-being. My days at site are shaped by a mix of my own interests, my community’s needs, and the priorities of the Paraguayan Ministry of Health and Peace Corps. A key part of my service is the USF (Unidad de Salud de la Familia), which connects the work in my community with the broader Paraguayan health system.
USFs are local health posts and the primary counterparts for CH volunteers in their communities. At my USF, we are responsible for the healthcare of seven communities, totaling just over 3,000 people. As a PCV, I’m not giving vaccinations, diagnosing patients, or prescribing medication. I work most closely with the agente comunitarias, who focus on health promotion and prevention, the educational side of the health post. We give charlas (dynamic educational talks) at the USF and in schools in and around my community. Students and community members learn about topics ranging from diabetes and dengue to mental health and road safety.
Because of the flexibility of service, I also work directly with the escuela (pre-k through 9th grade) and the colegio (10th-12th grade). In both institutions, I give health charlas independently of the USF, and in the colegio this past school year, I ran an environmental health class. During summer and winter breaks, youth health education turns into camps where we play sports, make art, and explore individual and community values.
On a typical day at site, I spend my morning in the USF working on charlas and chatting with the agentes and patients. I then stop by the escuela during their recess to play soccer or volleyball with the kids and catch up with their teachers. If we do have a charla that day, we do it twice in the escuela. Once for the students who go to school in the morning and again for the afternoon students. After lunch at home, I go to the colegio for class and often stay to play sports with them during their recess. After school ends, I’ll have either English or Spanish literacy classes in the quincho. Most days are also a mix of visiting my host family, reading, and exercising.
2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose Paraguay?
The first time I heard the Peace Corps mentioned was in the opening scene of the movie Dirty Dancing. I looked it up and read more about the organization, imagining what service could look like and how it might shape my life. Throughout high school and undergrad, it was always in the back of my mind, but at the same time made me feel intimidated: a clear sign that I had to do it! I applied in my last year of college to openings in Latin America; no exact sector, no specific country.
The Peace Corps gods then placed me as a Youth and Adolescent Health Promoter in Paraguay, a country I knew little about. I was excited to strengthen my language skills, immerse myself in a new culture, and learn from and alongside Paraguayans and my fellow volunteers. An important part of what motivated me to join the Peace Corps was the opportunity to intentionally challenge myself. I wanted to discover who I was and who I could become by participating in the world and engaging with its people.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. Tell us more about your home situation.
After living with my host family for two months in-site, I decided to move into my own space. I’ve always valued my independence, and while there are a lot of benefits to living with a host family, I knew that long-term I wanted to create my own home, cook my own food, and keep my own schedule. I live in a small house in a rural community of about 400 people. I’m right in the center, about a 3-minute walk from the USF, both schools, the soccer field, the volleyball court, and the church.
Living alone as a young, unmarried woman is pretty uncommon in Paraguayan culture, so when I realized a potential landlord was a single, free-spirited artist who also lived alone, I knew her old workshop right next door would be perfect for me. My landlord has become a close friend and mentor, allowing me to really feel at home.
Even though I’m in a rural site, I still live close to the capital city of the department. Everyone travels there for anything they can’t grow or buy in my community. As Peace Corps prohibits volunteers from driving or riding motorcycles, it’s difficult to get into the city on my own time to go to the gym. As a result, yoga and running in my community are the most accessible exercise options (and I’m currently training for a half-marathon in May!). I also have a little cat! Her name is Jiji, like the black cat from Kiki’s Delivery Service. She loves cuddles, hates buses, and likes leaving the spoils of her hunts in my bathroom.
4. Any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had?
I’ve had so many! There’s one family that comes to mind, who made me feel very welcome when I first arrived in my community. There are five kids in the family, four of whom I teach. Last summer we spent our time drinking tereré, eating watermelon, shucking peanuts, and smashing cocos to eat. The kids and I explored the fields behind their house, they showed me their crops, and we admired the fruit trees and tiny (and sometimes not so tiny) insects.
Now, when I go over, I help (or try to help) move the cows to milk, shred sugarcane, play with the pigs, or just hang out. Their mom always makes her chipa and sopa paraguaya, traditional Paraguayan foods, in their tatakua, an outdoor oven made of mud and bricks. I try to reciprocate their generosity with literacy lessons for the little ones and homemade banana bread, but the kindness and warmth the family has shown me always seem to outweigh what I’m able to offer them in return.
Over time, I’ve been lucky to have so many wonderful experiences and memories with my neighbors, students, and strangers. The relationships I’ve built make me excited to come back after my service to see the kids all grown up and reconnect with the friends I’ve made.
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about challenges in Paraguay?
During training, Peace Corps staff emphasized the indirectness of Paraguayan communication, a reality that felt frustrating at the beginning of service. Coming from a U.S. cultural context that values directness, I was used to people telling me when they didn’t like something or why a suggestion wouldn’t work. Many times I tried to get an activity going after receiving encouragement, only to have no one show up.
I can now identify when certain responses are actually signs of disinterest. Time and practice allowed me to ask questions and read responses more effectively. After gaining trust and a better understanding, I’m able to tease out the reasons for hesitation, thus guiding me to activities or solutions that reflect the priorities of community members.
6. What challenges did you face while working on Health projects?
The USFs in Paraguay have requirements for clubs, charlas, and activities that they must complete every year. Seeing the events of other USFs, I felt confused as to why the same wasn’t happening in our community. I decided to jump in and start taking the lead on planning and implementing those requirements, but eventually got burned out and realized I wasn’t thinking sustainably.
Growing up in the States, I really valued productivity. Getting things done correctly and efficiently was my forte. I fell into a kind of myopia that can affect volunteers as they try to be helpful, and lacked meaningful insight from and participation by the community I was there to support.
Together as a health post we had a brainstorming session. During that meeting, I asked, “What opportunities do we still need to take advantage of?” The question sparked a waterfall of amazing ideas. I then identified one of the actionable opportunities we had yet to carry out and asked, “Why haven’t we taken advantage of this opportunity, and what are the effects in the community because we haven’t?”
The conversation we had was open, honest, and reflective, and ended with a game plan. That exchange wouldn’t have been possible in my first few months at site. It took a year of building trust, confidence, and mutual respect to have that transparent and slightly uncomfortable conversation.
7. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have been involved?
In my small community, there are a couple of students who enjoy learning English. I hold classes in a quincho, a gazebo-like space on the church’s property, which I use for most extracurricular activities. In addition to English classes, I offer one-on-one Spanish literacy sessions for students identified by the school as needing support in reaching grade-level reading and writing. There are also a couple of students who just enjoy reading and take advantage of donated books I’ve received.
With secondary projects, it’s been helpful to integrate the primary projects of the other sectors in Paraguay (CED + Environment). I mentioned the idea of starting a savings club in the community to a handful of adults, and they really liked the idea! As a group of women and youth, we completed a full 6-month savings cycle, practicing good savings habits and discussing the benefits of financial planning. This next school year, we will also start a savings club with the seniors in the colegio, to save money for their graduation celebration and practice goal-setting.
A project I’m super excited about, and am patiently waiting to start, is a new library. With other PCVs in my department, we have asked for book donations from a nonprofit headquartered in Houston, Texas. We have over 2,000 books on the way! My portion of the books will go to a space in a local Interpretation Center that focuses on the history of my community and the surrounding areas. I also hope to set some aside for the colegio.
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to someone considering serving as an Health volunteer in Paraguay?
Over the past year and a half, I’ve learned just how important it is to spend time and engage with the members of your community. It sounds pretty obvious, but connecting with people and showing you care about who they are, not just what you can do for them, goes a long way. You’ll probably have a boatload of ideas and projects that you want to work on and dive right into. However, it’s unlikely that they’ll stick or have a true impact if there’s no foundation laid first. Relationship building creates that basis. Listening to understand, remaining open-minded, and connecting with others is the best advice I can give any future PCV, all which benefit both the volunteer and their community.
9. How has the Peace Corps training helped you during your service?
Pre-Service Training (PST) is the first 10 weeks of your time in-country. You have language and culture classes, attend tech sessions where you learn about your primary project goals, and live with a host family near other trainees in the same sector. PST provided a space to reflect on and discuss development in a way I hadn’t before.
It also gave me a great foundation for connection. Building friendships with the people you’ll serve with for two years is a critical part of PST. Every person in your cohort is in the same situation: no family close by and thrown into new cultural norms and languages. Other PCVs best understand the rollercoaster that is PC service. The trainings offer a space to not only learn new activities for charlas, practice icebreakers, and share ideas, but also strengthen relationships in your first new community.
For the Health sector in Paraguay, we participate in two In-Service Trainings (ISTs). These trainings offer PCVs a space to spend time with their counterparts outside of a professional setting, while also learning how to approach taboo but necessary topics such as reproductive health and sex education. The ISTs are scheduled to allow time after swearing-in to get to know your community, so you can share your ideas and cultural understanding with others. During Mid-Service Training (MST), I explored extension opportunities in Asunción, which encouraged me to consider my next steps after service. To get the most out of these trainings, ask questions, share your ideas, and listen more than you speak.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
10. Anything that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future Paraguay volunteers?
When I was packing my bags for Paraguay, I had this idea that I wouldn’t be able to wear certain clothes that made me feel like me. Wrong!
While you’re probably not going to be wearing certain clothes in-site, still bring the ones that make you feel like yourself. You’ll wear them in Asunción and when hanging out with other PCVs, or even just around your house. For Christmas that first year I asked my parents to send me all of those clothes, and I’m so glad I did! I feel really grateful I brought items that make my space feel like home, like decorative items from my room in the States, photos of family and friends, my yoga mat strap, and all of my jewelry. When you’re packing, don’t forget that you’ll create your own space and will want it to feel familiar. It will be home for two years!
I am very grateful I brought my Kindle. In the Peace Corps office in Asunción, there is a Volunteer Lounge with a library stocked by PCVs over the years. It’s a great resource when you want to read a physical book, but I also very much enjoy the flexibility of reading any book I want on my Kindle.
Contrary to popular opinion, it does get cold here in the winter months! While packing, I listened to volunteers in country when they said most houses don’t have insulation. Hearing that, I made the mistake of bringing a pretty puffy coat as I get cold easily. While it’s nice to have sometimes, if I could go back I would leave it at home. Instead I would focus on warm clothes you can layer, saving space and allowing you to wear the same clothes in different types of weather.
11. How has learning the language been?
Paraguay has two official languages: Spanish and Guaraní, the indigenous language spoken by the vast majority of Paraguayans. During PST, trainees take language and culture classes in either Spanish or Guaraní. Before staging, I made an effort to practice my Spanish with friends at work. Fortunately that meant that when I started PST, I could move straight into Guaraní classes. Although excited to be learning an indigenous language, at times I felt frustrated because I wanted the opportunity to improve my Spanish in a formal setting.
Living in a rural community, I’m very grateful for those Guaraní classes, since everyone communicates in Jopara (the mix of Spanish and Guaraní) or just pure Guaraní. Additionally, with almost two years of complete language immersion, my Spanish has naturally improved.
Social Identity during Service
12. How has your personal identity shaped your service experience?
As a white-passing, heterosexual, non-religious woman, my gender and atheism have most shaped my experience during service.
In some parts of Paraguay, especially in more rural areas, machista culture is pretty pervasive. I notice it the most in conversations with middle-aged to older men and women. At the beginning of service, it significantly shaped my approach to community engagement. Over time, as I experienced more challenges, I cut back on certain integration methods I found to be negative for my mental health.
In a small community, religious activities are one of the few gatherings to participate in. I attend church most Sundays and help out the kids during small groups in catechism. I also go to rezos, which are prayers held for nine days after a person’s death or the anniversary of their passing. During these activities, I never do anything that makes me feel uncomfortable. I sing the songs, I stand when one needs to, and I listen. I don’t cross myself, kneel, or recite any prayers (even though I could recite the Hail Mary in Spanish in my sleep by now).
I’ve been honest about my beliefs when asked, and although it’s usually met with skepticism and strange looks, there is eventually an understanding, and maybe even an acceptance. The time I spend in church and rezos has given me a lot of time to reflect on religious community and its value to people. This experience has shaped the way I connect with others and navigate differing perspectives on gender roles, making me a more effective volunteer.
13. Did your identity lead to specific challenges or situations?
After facing some particularly gross words from men about my status as a woman, I decided I would no longer sacrifice my mental well-being for the need of complete community integration. I’ve watched myself respond to those remarks first with uncomfortable laughs, then by ignoring them, and finally with outward frustration.
I’ve learned to firmly express my rejection of those comments and make it clear to those men that I won’t listen to prejudiced opinions of women and girls. Thankfully, I could easily spend time with the women who worked at those events instead.
14. What advice do you have for volunteers who share your identity?
To other non-religious PCVs, I feel best when I participate in religious activities in a way that respects the rite, demonstrates my commitment to engaging in community practices, and remains true to my own beliefs.
To other women-identifying PCVs, and anyone else who may experience pretty uncomfortable comments during service, it’s incredibly important to share those situations and your feelings with other volunteers. Sharing your experiences offers you different perspectives and also alerts you to when they are outside of the “normal” range of sexist comments. Talking to your Programming and/or Safety and Security team can never hurt and will also give Peace Corps knowledge of the harassment history, if it is ever needed. Community integration, people-pleasing, and the illusion of responsibility to explain your frame of reference are never worth feeling uncomfortable or unsafe.
Final Thoughts
15. Any last comments for a future volunteer in Paraguay?
I know that anywhere I went with the Peace Corps, I probably would have fallen in love with the culture, had life-changing experiences, and learned more than I taught. I also know that I would not have found Health sector or PST staff like those in Paraguay. Their support and friendship have allowed me to grow personally and professionally.
Before receiving my invitation to serve in Paraguay, I knew very little about the country. Now it’s baffling to me that not everyone gets to experience Paraguayan hospitality and kindness, the tranquilopa way of life, drinking tereré while watching the world go by, or even the polka music and incredibly random fireworks. Future Paraguay PCVs, I’m grateful that you get to live in la Tierra Guaraní as I did. If you have any questions about service in Paraguay and would like to talk directly with a staff member or a Volunteer, feel free to call or text the Peace Corps Office in Asunción. Jajotopáta!
What are you waiting for? Opportunities like this don’t come often. If you have a passion for service and an adventurous spirit like Lola’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 Paraguayan Government.
