Shaping the Future

I got involved with FIMRC when I was a freshman in college and it really shaped, not only my time in college, but my future. Throughout my first two years in school, I was on the fence about joining the Peace Corps. It was something that I had wanted to do, but i was unsure of how I would handle the potentially unstructured lifestyle in a foreign country. It was my trips to the DR with FIMRC that really convinced me that Peace Corps was something that I would enjoy doing.

I had been on two previous trips with FIMRC, but DR was unique in the fact that you really get to connect with the locals due to the fact that the site is in a small town, not a large city. The work was structured so that volunteers had an opportunity to do a variety of work. Some days, I would work in the clinic. Other days, I found myself hiking around surrounding villages doing health surveys or checking on projects that had been set up by the FOM. The second year I was there, my group had the chance to do a health fair in a rural school that went incredibly!

Outside of the work, the DR is also a beautiful country with all sorts of excursions. One year I was there, my group went to a series of waterfalls. We started at the top and jumped, swam, and slid our way to the bottom. It was loads of fun. Aside from that, there are incredible beaches and an exciting night life if you want to take a day or two before or after the volunteer work.

Now, as I sit here writing this review as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Belize, I think of all that FIMRC did to help my service. While in the DR, the FOM was working on a latrine project that my group helped with. I took my knowledge from my FIMRC experience and have used it to start a latrine project of my own in the village. I also had a health fair in which I drew from my experience in the DR. Having gone on the two trips with FIMRC has allowed me to have the success that I am having today as a Peace Corps Volunteer.