In this interview, we hear from Thomas Brodey. Thomas is a Peace Corps volunteer working as a Education volunteer in Madagascar. What Thomas 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. Thomas talks about living in a different country, working with local people, and dealing with surprise situations. Join us as we learn about Thomas’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 Projects
- Advice and Support
- Practical Tips and Language Learning
- Impact of Media
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. Can you tell us more about serving as an Education volunteer in Madagascar?
Unlike the other sectors in Madagascar, education volunteers have a real job. At least, that’s how it sometimes feels. We teach English for about 15-20 hours a week at a local school, usually middle school or high school. The work is not easy. Classes are huge, normally 40-50 students, and what I had for resources was a blackboard and chalk. I adored my students, who were mostly very motivated and respectful but found teaching very challenging, mostly because of the language gap between myself and my students. I was in awe of my co-workers, who, even though they spoke almost no English, were far more comfortable with teaching the language than I was.
2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose Madagascar?
I’ve lived my whole life in college towns and academic settings. I love my books and my research papers, but I felt a strong sense that there was a whole world from which I was completely detached. So I joined the Peace Corps to experience and learn about that world, and to help people in tangible, concrete ways.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. Tell us more about your home situation:
I lived in a very rural site with no electricity or running water. My host family lived a couple of minutes down the road from my house, which was nice because I enjoy privacy. Less nice was the fact that my balcony was visible to the entire town, so whenever I stepped outside, I would hear a chorus of children shouting my name from all directions.
4. Any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had with community members?
Too many to count! Once a kindly old lady invited me to her house for lunch, but I got lost. When I finally arrived at the house, I went inside and thanked the family for inviting me, saying what a good time I’d had. It was then that the family explained to me that this wasn’t a social occasion, it was a funeral. I’d shown up at the wrong house! It was so embarrassing.
Surprises and Projects
5. What has surprised you most about living in Madagascar?
People in Madagascar don’t expect foreigners to speak their language. Not even a word of it. So, the moment I introduced myself to another person, their face would instantly light up. “You speak Malagasy! Come in, come in, have some food!” That was a really nice way to surprise people, even though it meant that meeting new people could get pretty intense and repetitive since I had the same conversation many, many times.
6. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have been involved?
I painted a world map at my school and teamed up with a local NGO to build a 10,000-liter rainwater tank to provide clean drinking water for my students. That was my favorite project since it involved everyone in the town helping out. Every morning, parents carried bags of sand to help make cement, and the mayor lent us his truck to carry rocks from the quarry. It was really a team effort and felt like the culmination of all the relationships I’d built.
Advice and Support
7. What skills or qualities do you think are most important for a Education volunteer?
Ultimately, I think the Peace Corps is about taking the skills, interests, and talents you already have and applying them to your service. Nobody’s service looks the same. The trick is finding useful ways to use what you already have. For example, I love chess, so I started a chess club at my school. It was a great way to spend time with my students and expand their horizons. The most important thing is keeping an open mind about ways to help your community, and being able to laugh when you inevitably make a fool of yourself.
8. How has the Peace Corps training helped you during your service?
The first thing I would say is that training is fundamentally different from the rest of service. I know volunteers who excelled at training but were not successful in service, or the other way around. Some sessions in training are more useful than others. For me, the most important thing was always language, language, language! Without language ability, you will really struggle, particularly in a country like Madagascar where almost nobody speaks English. Conversely, nothing will make your town happier than having a volunteer who can communicate with them.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
9. Anything that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future Madagascar volunteers?
I think most Madagascar volunteers overpack. Madagascar might be a tropical island, but many parts are very cold, including the training center. That means you won’t know the best kind of clothes to bring until you’re already there. Most regular items, like clothes, radios, toothpaste, candy, shoes, and the like are easy to find in Madagascar (and much cheaper than in the US) so there’s no point in bringing lots of that stuff with you.
10. How has learning the language been?
All Peace Corps volunteers in Madagascar learn Malagasy, which is the language people use 90% of the time in Madagascar (the other 10% being French). Malagasy is a pretty easy language in terms of grammar, but you still need to study hard if you want to become fluent. I would not recommend trying to learn anything before staging, as you might have to unlearn incorrect pronunciation. There are many online resources that PCVs have used in the past such as dictionaries and grammar guides.
Impact of Media
11. How do you think your newsletter contributes to your overall mission as a Peace Corps volunteer?
I had a monthly newsletter that I sent to about 60 friends and family back home every month. It was a really good way for me to sum up my own experience and reflect on how things were going. My advice is to keep in mind that most of your audience will know literally nothing about Madagascar, so keep things simple and accessible. Humor is always good because so much of Peace Corps life is inherently funny.
What are you waiting for? Opportunities like this don’t come often. If you have a passion for service and an adventurous spirit like Thomas’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 Madagascar Government.
