Just a little back ground on the Peace Corps for everyone:
The Peace Corps is an organization sends people out "to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries." (Peace Corp Mission Statement) They were founded in the 1960s under President Kennedy and have3 goals:
- Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
- Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
- Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
Firstly, your contract is for 2 years (though sometimes due to war or illness you can leave earlier) and you are sent to an impoverished part of the world to live with the people and help them. Many times you are given training and have a set goal (ie build a well, rebuild houses). There are different positions, but on your first time out usually you are alone with your village and without contact with others. Of course this varies from case to case.
The interesting thing I find about Maureen is that she wants to join the Peace Corp instead of Amri Corp or other organizations where she could help in the same way. I suspect this is for to reasons:
1. The Peace Corps works internationally so she would be very far away.
2. She refers to working in a village so probably there would be no direct communication with her family.
So maybe she is drawn to this work partly because she would have a legitimate excuse not to interact with her family? Not that she doesn't also want to help people, but limited communication may be a factor.
Also, I wonder how she suspects her village would treat her? Does she think she will be welcomed and showered with praise? Or does she expect to start from the bottom up?
I feel like both these could be possibilities and the answers could vastly affect the character.
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