In this interview, we have the opportunity to hear from Cole Hiser. He is a Peace Corps volunteer serving as an Environment Volunteer in Mexico. Cole’s experience and perspective shed light on the impactful work being done by PCVs around the world. As we get into the interview, we gain a deeper understanding of the challenges, rewards, and personal growth. This comes with serving in a foreign country, working with local communities, and navigating unexpected situations. Join us as we share Cole’s journey and gain insights into the transformative power of volunteering with the Peace Corps.
Table of Contents
- Volunteer Experience and Motivation
- Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
- Surprises, Challenges, and Personal Growth
- Community Projects and Interactions
- Advice and Support
- Packing Tips and Language Learning
- Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. Can you give an overview of your experience serving as a volunteer in Mexico in the Environment program?
It’s hard to summarize such a profound experience, but first, I think it’s important to explain our program a bit. Our program is called “Climate Change Action and Awareness,” and we are the first climate change-focused cohort in the history of the Peace Corps. The work varies between volunteers, but we are all focused on assisting our communities in adapting to the effects of climate change. Peace Corps is now beginning to implement climate change measures in countries around the world, much like they have done with gender.
It is interesting to work on climate change adaptation in Central Mexico because rural communities here are very aware of the effects of climate change. Farmers have been especially affected, from the lack of rainfall to the excessive heat. When I first got to my site, I was surprised to hear farmers bring up climate change in my conversations with them before I could even explain that it was the reason for my service. After analyzing climate data from my site that dates back to the 1940s, it became clear to me why they are struggling. The rainy season has all but disappeared, and they can’t follow the same seasonal patterns of farming that they used to.
I have many jobs here at my site, which I suppose I’ll get into later, but I’m sure there are many similarities to volunteers in other parts of the world. One major benefit that I have here in Mexico is the fact that I came in with an intermediate-high Spanish level. I took Spanish throughout middle school, high school, and college, and worked with many people from Central America and Mexico throughout my years working in the restaurant industry in the US. Mexico has a uniquely strong relationship with the US, being a neighboring country.
I’m sure that many volunteers had never met someone from their host country before their service. Similarly, I presume many people in their host country had never met a US American. That might be the “traditional Peace Corps experience,” but here in Mexico, that isn’t the case. Many families at my site have relatives in the United States and know quite a bit about US American culture.
(L) My small–but mighty–cohort of volunteers from PCM-22, CCAA. Just six of us arrived due to the complications of returning to service after the pandemic. Fun fact: we are the first cohort of volunteers focused on climate change in Peace Corps history.
(R) Working on environmental posters with one of my high school classes. They come to the high school from different communities so they bring the posters back to their communities so that we can spread environmental education to communities that otherwise don’t have access.
2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose Mexico for your service?
I was hesitant to apply to Mexico at first, mainly because of the relationship between the US and Mexico that I just described. I felt like my work wouldn’t be as important, or wouldn’t have as great of an impact, because there was an existing relationship between US Americans and Mexicans. However, I was compelled by the Climate Change Action and Awareness program. I studied environmental studies and international relations in college, and it seemed like a program that I could be of service to.
Throughout my first year in Mexico, I came to reject the beliefs that I had about the US-Mexico relationship which made me hesitant to apply. It is certainly true that Mexicans have a general awareness of the United States and vice versa, but I would argue that it only makes the work of Peace Corps Mexico more important.
First of all, the knowledge of Mexican culture in the United States is often inaccurate or skewed towards the culture of the Northern states of Mexico. Many US Americans know about Mexican culture through their vacations to Cancún or Cinco de Mayo celebrations, however, Cancún is not at all representative of the rest of Mexico, and Cinco de Mayo is only celebrated in Puebla, one Mexican state.
In reality, Mexico is extremely diverse; it is the 14th largest country in the world with 68 Indigenous languages and contains 10% of all of the world’s species. In the media, Mexico is either depicted by its vast desert or beautiful beaches, both of which exist here. When I think of Mexico now, I think of Mexico City, a megacity home to more than 20 million people; I think of the Lacandón Jungle, a biodiverse rainforest that holds cultural significance for many Indigenous groups, and I think of the Bajío, the region that I live in, which is an important agricultural region rich with history surrounding Mexico’s fight for independence.
I am so grateful to have the opportunity to experience Mexico in a way that many US Americans don’t get to. I will likely come across many Mexicans and Mexican Americans throughout the rest of my life in the US, and I will be able to connect with them in a way that I never would have been able to without this experience.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
(L) My mom trying tacos de pastor when she visited me last August. It is one of my favorite meals that I often have when I don’t feel like cooking dinner.
(R) A Mexican Revolution-themed picture I took with my host family at a fair. We were all trying hard not to laugh when they were taking the picture and they told me that as a man, I couldn’t even smile…It was hard but I will always love this picture.
3. Are you currently live with a host family? Can you tell us about them and how you cross that cultural divide while being a member of their household?
I currently live independently but I lived with a host family for the first year of my service. The host family experience is different in every Peace Corps country. In Mexico, you are required to live with a host family throughout PST as well as the first three months at your site. After my first three months, I decided to stay with my host family, mainly because it seemed easier. My host family was a mother and her 23-year-old daughter, but all of their extended family lived on our street, so it was like the best of both worlds between a small host family and a large host family.
I still see them regularly and have a very close relationship with them. We often chat until the madrugada—a Spanish word meaning the early hours after midnight. They know everything about my personal life. After a few weeks of living with them, I opened up to them about my sexuality as a gay man, something that many volunteers would probably feel unsafe doing. We had already talked about many social issues, and I was fairly confident that it wouldn’t be a problem for them. They accepted me wholeheartedly and it only made us closer.
Both my mom and dad have visited me from the United States and met my host family. They continue to be important for integrating into my community and improving my Spanish. They are never shy to correct my mistakes while speaking, and my Spanish has improved tremendously during my Peace Corps service because of them.
Surprises, Challenges, and Personal Growth
4. What has surprised you most (or least) about Mexico or culture? Has it influenced your service?
There are too many things to list here, but I would say that learning about Mexican culture as a US American consists of a lot of unlearning. I tend to think that the 4th Goal of the Peace Corps is learning about our own US American culture.
I bet a lot of US Americans don’t know that the largest Indigenous group in the United States are the Indigenous Mexican Americans, or that Mexican children are taught that North America and South America are one continent: America. The US-Mexican border has the highest number of documented annual border crossings of any international border in the world. We are inherently interconnected.
Much of the US used to be a part of Mexico. I guess this is all to say that I usually find more similarities between US American culture and Mexican culture than differences.
5. What challenges did you face while working with community members in Mexico, and how did you overcome them?
While there are many similarities between the culture of the United States and Mexico, workstyle is not one of them. Mexican workplaces are a lot more personal and less punctual. You are expected to make a lot more ‘small talk’ and ask everyone how they are doing before getting to work each day. As a foreigner, this has been very useful because there is always time for me to get to know my community and meet new people.
People truly take care of each other here, even in the workplace. They want to make sure you have eaten enough, that you are staying out of the sun, and that you have a ride to where you need to go. There was a point in my service where I would get annoyed by people constantly checking up on me like this. In the US American context, this might mean that they don’t think you are capable of taking care of yourself and that you need help. In Mexico, this is how people show that they care about you. There is no need to prove that you can do things on your own and be independent like there might be in the US.
6. How have you personally grown and developed during your time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mexico?
Living in another culture has allowed me to take a deep look into my own. I spent 21 years in the United States being told how I should be and behave as a young boy and a young man. As I alluded to in the last question, I thought I could never ask for help and that I always had to prove that I could do things on my own. I wouldn’t so much as ask a worker where to find something in the grocery store. You can’t make it very far like that in the Peace Corps.
I live in a small town where everything is by “word of mouth.” If you don’t ask someone for help, you won’t catch the bus, get to work, or get invited to events. I lived in Washington, DC immediately before my Peace Corps service, a place where you can get by for days without talking to anyone; you scan your items on your own at the grocery store, order coffee and pick it up without talking to the barista, and use an electronic metro card that can be filled up without talking to the station manager. Many people even work from home and hardly ever talk to anyone in person. My Peace Corps experience couldn’t be more different than my life before. I greet everyone I walk by and say “good morning” to everyone on the bus when I get on in the morning: something that would have gotten me some very strange looks in DC.
I was so nervous to be visible in my community, to be myself, and to get to know everyone face-to-face. I am proud to be a part of Gen Z, but this is where we are lacking. While we have many skills and resources that didn’t come as early for previous generations, I believe that we have acquired these instead of in-person social skills. Peace Corps service is more important than ever for equipping young US Americans with the ability and confidence to ask for help, get to know their neighbors, and make someone’s day by sparking a conversation with a stranger.
My lovely host family when my dad visited with his girlfriend this April. From left to right: my host aunt (who I also work with), her daughter, my dad’s girlfriend, my dad, me, my host mom, and my host sister.
Community Projects and Interactions
7. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have been involved in (or planning) while working with your community members?
I don’t have any formal secondary projects, but I have been involved in several activities at my site that aren’t necessarily related to my project framework:
- I have traveled with the dance group from the high school where I teach. Huapango is a famous dance that originated from La Huasteca, the mountainous cultural region in which my Peace Corps site is situated. Recently, there has been a lot of interest in the huapango dance and many dance groups from the region have been invited to participate in national and international dance competitions. There is a small huapango group at the school that I teach in, and I have been able to travel with them to several national competitions. The culture around the huapango dance is something that I can’t begin to describe, but I would recommend looking up a video of the dance. While I have learned to dance huapango, I haven’t participated in the competitions.
- In June 2023, I was invited to participate in the Querétaro Pride March with a local university. While I am not out to my Peace Corps site, besides my host family, I have been transparent as a member of the LGBTQ community with my Mexican friends in the capital city. The director of the university led the march as an ally and many students came up to her to thank her for being there and to take pictures with her. I have been to other pride marches in the United States, but it has a different meaning here in Mexico.
- I have also been organizing with people in my community to have a veterinarian come to my community to neuter and spay stray dogs that live in the streets. One of the hardest parts of my service has been seeing the immense amount of suffering that stray animals go through in rural Mexico. In my community, there are numerous dogs without a home that get hit by cars, poisoned, or die of hunger. There is a lack of community organizing around a solution, and they keep reproducing. The only viable solution I have seen is to get a veterinarian to come and neuter and spay them so that their population stops increasing. It is not something that I can apply for a grant for through USAID, but it might be something that I could organize through the PCPP.
8. Can you tell us about any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had with community members that have left a lasting impact on you?
One of my favorite interactions was with a kindergarten-aged kid in my neighborhood who asked me if I had met his cousin Carlos who lives in the United States. I started to explain to him that the United States is a big country and that I likely hadn’t met him. He seemed confused and told me, “Well he has seen you there.” I kind of laughed and decided to go along with it, “Oh, Carlos! Yes, I have seen him too.” He instantly lit up and I realized that he had probably never met his cousin Carlos in person. Many families in Mexico are separated from their family members who live in the United States due to the challenges in obtaining a visa or the immigration status of the ones living in the US.
“What is the United States like?” He shouted as he was running back down the street.
I told him about Oregon, where I am originally from, and he was fascinated to hear about a place that was so different from his hometown. There is a sense of guilt being a US American with the ability to cross the US-Mexico border with ease when it is so difficult for many Mexican citizens. I can only hope to see a day in my lifetime when that changes and the people of the United States and Mexico celebrate our mutual connection with compassion and understanding.
My Peace Corps pals who have been my safety net throughout this journey. We have each changed in so many ways.
Advice and Support
9. What advice would you give to someone considering joining the Peace Corps and serving in Mexico in the Environment program?
Bring some field pants, a broad hat, and sunblock. The climate is the most challenging aspect for me. We have now gone three weeks with 100-degree days and hydrating and taking care of my skin is an important daily practice for me.
In all seriousness, if you are interested in community organizing and climate change adaptation, this program is a unique opportunity to get on-the-ground experience in both. I studied climatology and learned about the effects of climate change at my university, but nothing compares to seeing the impacts on vulnerable communities and experiencing them yourself. Somedays, it is challenging to stay positive, but I truly believe that the work we are doing is valuable.
10. What skills or qualities do you think are most important for a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Mexico in the Environment program?
Adaptability and resiliency. Things will often not go as planned, and you have to be able to adapt to the changes. Our projects are community-driven, so you don’t have control over every aspect of them. It is hard to motivate yourself at times, let alone other community members.
I know that future Peace Corps volunteers are often told to “not have expectations.” I think that is a bit unreasonable because you have to know what you are getting into before committing to two years of service. I think it is okay to have general expectations, but they have to be flexible. For example, you can’t begin your service thinking that you are going to do a project on fog collection systems. Your community may not have any interest in that project, or it may not be viable given the climate. However, I believe it’s fair to expect to improve your Spanish, acquire community organizing skills, and see parts of Mexico that most US Americans haven’t.
11. How has the Peace Corps provided support and resources to enhance your service experience in Mexico?
Beyond PST, I would say that most of my support has come from other volunteers. My cohort is relatively small (six volunteers) since we were the first ones to return to service after the pandemic. We are small but mighty. One of our volunteers is a geology professor with decades of experience; Another is Mexican American and has traveled extensively through Mexico.
We are still the same six volunteers who arrived in September 2022. Each one of them has provided me with unique support based on their skill set. While I appreciate our staff and communicate with a few of them regularly, it is the other volunteers that I fall back on when I need support.
Packing Tips and Language Learning
12. Anything yet that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future Mexico volunteers?
We just updated the packing list online if you are coming to Mexico (peacecorps.gov/mexico), but I will add a few pieces of advice:
- Quality over quantity when it comes to clothes. My clothes have truly been through it here. Don’t pack any clothes that you intend to bring home after service.
- Don’t bring any basic medical supplies like ibuprofen, tweezers, or daily vitamins. The medical staff will provide you with all of that.
- I know we all have pictures of friends and family on our phones, but I found it useful to have some printed out to put on my walls.
13. How has learning the language been? Any advice to future volunteers?
As I said earlier, we are so lucky here in Mexico that volunteers come in with at least an intermediate level of Spanish. If you are preparing to serve in Mexico, please don’t just do Duolingo and call it good. Reading and writing Spanish isn’t all that important. Speaking Spanish and listening to Spanish is much more useful. Several podcasts teach Mexican slang, which will be so important to know for daily communication. The LCFs in PST do a really good job at teaching this, but I would recommend the podcast “No Hay Tos” if you want to get ahead. Focus on the slang that has a variety of meanings depending on the context. You don’t want to misuse those words.
Me at a famous viewpoint in the reserve that I work in (Cuatro Palos, Pinal de Amoles). It is culturally significant since it was the final place that the Spaniards reached during the colonization of Mexico.
Final Thoughts
14. Any last comments or observations you’d like to pass on to future Mexico volunteers?
I would remind any Peace Corps volunteer the same thing I have to remind myself every day: don’t overlook the little moments that bring you joy. While Peace Corps is an amazing experience, it is not easy. There will be moments when you will doubt your impact and question your intentions for joining. I have been there, but the conversations I have with my coworkers, neighbor kids, and friends at my site are a constant reminder of the power of human connection. No matter what opportunities are presented to you in the Peace Corps, the opportunity to be a part of a community so different from the one you were raised in is truly a blessing.
To any future Peace Corps Mexico volunteers, congratulations! You are part of an important organization built off of longstanding ties between the US American and Mexican governments, two countries once at war that have found a way to live peacefully as neighbors. I am proud of the work that Peace Corps Mexico has done over its twenty years of operation. There is so much work to build off of, but there are always new connections to make and new projects to forge.
My decision to serve here has been the best decision of my life, and I know that I will forever be tied to Peace Corps Mexico. If you would like to contact me, my email is colehiser@gmail.com. To me, the commitment to service is for a lifetime, and I am happy to talk and assist you in whatever way I can. Saludos!
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Mexico Government.
