In this interview, you’ll hear from Nicholas Puvak, a Peace Corps Community Economic Development (CED) volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Nicholas shares what daily life looks like, the work being done, and how service has shaped their personal and professional growth. You’ll learn about housing, cultural differences, project work, language learning, and what it’s like to live and work in a new country. This interview offers a real look into Peace Corps service and what future volunteers can expect.
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
- Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. What do you do as a Peace Corps CED volunteer in the Dominican Republic?
My main counterpart organization is a polytechnic high school where I work a full schedule Monday-Friday, although that isn’t always the expectation for CED volunteers depending on the scope of their side projects.
For me, I felt that being in school was the best use of my time. I teach entrepreneurship, job training, and English. I create my own activities with input from my co-teacher based on a general guideline set by the Dominican Ministry of Education (MINERD), and we share class time evenly.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I do private tutoring sessions at another private school nearby that is owned by a family friend.
2. Why did you decide to join the Peace Corps and serve in the Dominican Republic?
I always had Peace Corps service as an option on the back of my mind, and as I was working and applying for jobs back in the States. I was simultaneously working on my medical and legal clearance because I knew it was something I wanted to do.
Originally, I was accepted into the CED program in Fiji but had to delay that opportunity for medical reasons. In lieu of that, I was offered a spot in PC Ecuador, this time as a Youth and Families volunteer. I spent close to a year in Ecuador before being transferred to the Dominican Republic for safety reasons.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. What is your housing like in the Dominican Republic?
My living situation is my own separate apartment or casita that is in the same compound as my original host family’s house but private. My site is semi-rural, especially the surrounding areas, but still has department stores, restaurants, a hospital, several schools, and a university. While the comforts aren’t the same as back home, I have everything I need.
4. What moments or interactions stand out during your service?
Of the things that I can share on a public forum, the things that stand out immediately would be when one class of students told me that they weren’t going to allow me to leave DR until they had graduated (half-jokingly).
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about living or working in the Dominican Republic?
The thing that genuinely took me aback was being called Chinese, not like in casual conversation but like street callouts like “oye Chino!” For reference, I am a white man. Also, we have intermittent groups of Canadian audiologists and volunteer groups come to my town 2-3 times a year, and I always get joking questions if we are related (I hope they are jokes).
6. What challenges have you faced in your CED work, and how did you respond?
The biggest challenge would probably be classroom management. The environment here can be very overstimulating in terms of excessive chatter and off-topic questions/conversations. I did not come here to harshly discipline anybody, so the difficulty has been finding a way to keep my students engaged in what I’m talking about. Some days are easier than others, but there has been a lot of improvement since I’ve arrived.
7. What secondary projects have you worked on during your service?
While most of my ongoing side projects are educational, I also worked for a short period of time with a pharmaceutical and gas cooperative, doing basic accounting and reconciliation of invoice payments for the previous fiscal year.
Aside from that, I have participated on several occasions as a medical interpreter for the Foundation for Peace, which is an organization that has groups of medical practitioners, students, and nurses from the US to come treat underserved patients around Santo Domingo.
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to future CED volunteers in the Dominican Republic?
Put yourself out there and communicate with people about your ideas/interests if you feel like you want to start a side project, especially during the summer months when school is out. Most of the opportunities I’ve started came from asking my host family, family friends, or teachers at my school about people they knew or things they were developing.
9. How did Peace Corps training prepare you for service?
My PST (Pre-Service Training) was for a separate sector, but I will give a shout-out to the CED team here for getting me up to speed in a short 2-week period when it came to who invited us here, best practices, and language and cultural intricacies specific to this country. Additionally, my site visit was a very good indicator of what to expect.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
10. What would you tell future volunteers to pack—or leave behind?
I would say Peace Corps does a good job of giving you most of what you need in terms of essentials (fire extinguisher, first aid kit, etc.), but the one niche item I’m glad I brought was my mosquito zapper wand. If you have any specific comfort items, I recommend bringing them.
11. How has language learning been for you in the Dominican Republic?
I came to this country speaking Spanish from my previous service in Ecuador, but it still took a while to adjust to the speed and accent of Dominican Spanish, as well as the vast amount of slang that exists mainly in the Caribbean.
For someone who comes to this country with limited or no Spanish, I will say it’s doable, but be prepared because the initial months can be very difficult. It is a great way to improve very quickly, though.
Social Identity
12. How has your personal identity shaped your service experience?
I would say that I clearly stand out in my site, not necessarily in other parts of the country, but where I spend most of my time, most definitely. As more time has passed and people have gotten more used to seeing me, this has changed a bit.
13. Did your identity lead to specific challenges or situations?
I wouldn’t necessarily say challenges, just the assumption sometimes that I don’t know what is being said, or questions like “who are you and what are you doing here?”, or misunderstandings about foreigners in general. The tone of the questions is usually just curiosity, and as I said, I mainly experience this at site, in the capital or most traveled places in the country. I am nothing special, so the feeling of anonymity is a nice change of pace.
14. What advice do you have for volunteers who share your identity?
Learn to speak and act as Dominican as possible, while still maintaining your core personality and interests. A lot of special experiences are open to you when you integrate into your community. Go to events that you are invited to by host country nationals, especially during the first few months. While I understand it can be tempting to spend most of your time with site mates or members of your training group, I would recommend trying to become part of a Dominican friend group. I have become a lot less outgoing over time, though, but more deliberately and in an effort to save money.
Final Thoughts
15. What final advice would you share with future volunteers?
I think being a volunteer is a good learning tool to see the difference between wants and needs. It will teach you to value things you most likely took for granted beforehand. More than that, it’s more about the relationships you will build than anything else. Also, you have a lot of control over what you want out of the experience. I know volunteers with high organizational skills who are helping organize conferences and individually led workshops, and those who are, shall we say, less organized but still do great work.
Are you thinking about joining the Peace Corps? If you’re curious about service and ready for something new, apply today. Like Nicholas, you can live abroad, work with communities, and grow in ways you didn’t expect. Apply to the Peace Corps and take the next step.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or the Dominican Republic Government.
