"But how will it work?" you may ask. Well, we will be shipping a journal between us for the duration of our services and each volunteer will receive the journal twice. During that time, we will add pictures, sketches, poems, doodles, mini-journal entries, anecdotes, or anything we want to a two-page spread. Whatever we feel will show where we are in our service at that time. Then we pass the journal along to the next person in line, and so on, and so on. Eventually, the journal will make its way back to me and I will have another opportunity to provide another snapshot into my life as a PCV. Since there are 50 volunteers and only 100 pages in the journal, there will be two volumes of the project with two different sets of volunteers. At the end, we will have a creation that is unique to us and able to be shared with others in the Peace Corps community.
"Why 50 volunteers?" No, it's not just a random number. It just so happens that 2011 (the year we all leave for service) is the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps! So 50th anniversary, 50 countries, 50 volunteers. Awesome.
-Courtesy of Ashley W., Mongolia
A Birth of a Plan:
Once upon a time, in a bowling alley on the campus of the University of Florida, three invitees sat talking with each other during a Peace Corps Applicant and RPCV Bowling Social. During the course of conversation one of them brought up an idea, an idea she had been thinking about for some time: A travelling journal. A journal that would hop from PCV to PCV and country to country; something that would allow a group of people to provide small glimpses into their service at various points of time. While there are plenty of books out there for future, current, and returned PCVs, nothing is quite like this project and it is most definitely something a little different from the norm. What will become of it? Who knows! While it would be awesome for it to one day to make it into nifty book form that could help raise money for PCV projects, it may very well wind up a scanned e-book, and that's okay so long as others find some enjoyment in it!
And so a plan was born....
Step One: Find 25 50 people leaving for Peace Corps service in 2011 who want to be a part of a sweet, sweet project!
Step Two: Find the perfect journal for such an endeavor. Check! (Bought Two Four!)
Step Three: Determine a project name.
Step Four: Gather Snapshot member information!
Step Five: Compile a list of tips for the first page of the journal. Rules of the Road, so to speak.
Step Six: Make this blog. All information will be in one place!
Step Seven: Send the journals on their way!
I do need to give some credit to a fellow blogger from Las Vegas who put together a similar project amongst artsy folk in the Tumblr community. Great ideas can go far :)
-Kimberley O., Ukraine
