June 21, 2006- A caveat to any readers...

If at any point throughout these entries, you find yourself wondering why they are so painfully boring to read, allow me to defend myself. Apparently, blogs are considered a sticky issue within the Peace Corps because while serving, there is certain information that is considered sensitive. Therefore blogs are not considered the most appropriate forum to share such information. For example, one Peace Corps volunteer who was serving a couple of years ago wrote a letter home to his mother which contained a simple statement against the president of the country he was serving in, such as “The president here is a jerk.” His mother, only considering the beauty of the rest of his letter, decided that she would send it in to her local newspaper in order to share it with the surrounding community. This local newspaper slowly made its way back to the country this volunteer was serving in, and the president was terribly offended, especially considering that badmouthing the president is illegal in this specific country. Subsequently, this Peace Corps volunteer’s service was terminated.

For this reason, we are encouraged to exercise caution with what we post online, and even what we share in private, keeping in mind the previous example. I thought about this for a while, and hesitated to start a blog for that reason, but have ultimately decided that I would start one, and just make a continuous effort to be conscious of what may need to be censored. What possessed me to stick to my plan of starting one is that the third and final mission of the Peace Corps is to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of American (North American) people. This blog is my first step towards that goal. However, because of the trouble it could get me into, I have decided not to express my opinions in detail on this blog. I am sticking more to objective description than opinion expression. While this sort of takes the joy out of journaling, I hope this blog can still be meaningful. For clarification, the information on this blog is written solely from my perspective, and is independent of the Peace Corps.