One thing that many people have asked me about is what I plan to do after my Peace Corps service. (For those of you just tuning in, I was originally scheduled to go to The Gambia in West Africa in June of 2020; that’s been delayed until June of 2021 because of COVID-19.) Training in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, should last three months, so I should begin service in September 2021 and complete my service in September 2023.
So, what comes next? The answer: I don’t know. But I have been giving thought to various possibilities. Among them are:
Accept a job in Africa (or elsewhere in the developing world). My resume after Peace Corps service might make me in high demand for certain jobs. It’s possible that there would be a Peace Corps staff position that would open up where they’d be interested in me, both for my Peace Corps service and for my experience in journalism before the Peace Corps, in which I had managerial and supervisory duties. Other jobs I might be considered for include various Rotary projects.
Start a business in Africa. Peace Corps Volunteers are expressly forbidden from investing in the country while they’re in service, but there’s no rule against doing that when you’re done. It’s possible that I’ll see a great opportunity in which a modest investment could be a lucrative business that provides a valuable public service in The Gambia or someplace else in the region.
Run a business in the USA. I’m particularly interested in a publishing concern that I think could be expanded into underserved areas. I think this could be lucrative and provide a valuable public service to a specific industry. However, I’m not going to be self-employed in the USA again unless healthcare is fundamentally overhauled, making it easier on the self-employed. That might well happen over the time I’m abroad.
Serve as a diplomat. Many Peace Corps Volunteers end up working as diplomats. If I were to get accepted as a Foreign Service officer, I’d spend half my career working at State Department headquarters in Washington and half overseas. The U.S. government is a good employer; it offers defined-benefit pensions for its retirees.
Work for the U.S. government in some other capacity. It turns out that people returning from Peace Corps service are treated as if they were internal applicants. It makes sense since they are already in the government’s civilian personnel database. For this, I’d most likely be doing writing and editing; my work as a newspaperman has helped me develop skills at understanding acts of government and explaining them in simple English to a lay audience. Pretty much every agency of the U.S. government needs people who can do this.
Work in the private sector. There are any number of possibilities for this.
So those are the possibilities I’m looking at. I’m willing to consider just about anything.