Three strikes and you're out!

In the Peace Corps, you usually get three strikes before you're shipped home. The first strike is for minor offenses and you only receive a verbal warning. The second strike is for more serious offenses; you're written up, and that goes into your file. For the third strike you're taken into serious consideration for removal out of the country. If the offenses are serious enough, you can jump from nothing on your record to a second or third strike (and thus consequently sent home).

Here's how a few of us from Group 71 bypassed our first written warning and almost got kicked out of the Peace Corps before even swearing in. When reading, here's some things to keep in mind for perspective:

1.) In Tonga, we quickly realized how large a role that weather plays in planning events. Last week the weather was raining off and on so we had to cancel our plans to visit the resort island of Pangai'motu. This Sunday we were lucky and the weather was just perfect. When the weather is right, you just go with it.

2.) To understand our thinking, I have to explain the cultural context of Sundays in Tonga. On Sundays, most Tongans go to Church (sometimes as often as 3 times in the day) and all shops (except for bakeries) are closed. It is so significant that it is officially illegal to work on these days; Sundays are designated specifically for spending time with family and relaxing.

3.) One of the Peace Corps policies that was heavily stressed was the importance of lifejackets; the reasoning is that the often fickle weather causes the sea to behave erratically, with sometimes dangerous results. The sea may be perfectly calm one second and within the span of a few minutes, a boat may capsize from the pounding seas. Another Peace Corps group had decided to ignore the policies, and thus consequently received their first (verbal) warning.

With that in mind, we approached the Peace Corps office on a beautiful Sunday morning. Normally our life vests are lying on an open table. The original plan was for us to talk to the on-site security guard, grab our vests, and catch our boat to the small island resort of Pangai'motu. To say the least, things did not go as planned.

When we arrived, the jackets were no where in sight and we searched in frantic desperation, hoping to catch the boat on time. We found them inside a locked storage room and asked the Peace Corps guard for permission to open the room. He nodded in agreement, but did not have a key.

We did not want to disturb the Peace Corps staff on a Sunday so we did what we've always done since arriving in the Kingdom of Tonga; be incredibly resourceful. Thanks to some quick thinking, a plastic credit card, and some deft fingers, we were walking out of the office with our life vests in a matter of minutes. The security guard made no effort to stop us and watched curiously as we 'did our thing'.

After returning from our mini-vacation, we found a Peace Corps vehicle waiting for us. The staff inside were not entirely happy with our actions. Now with perfect hindsight, I agree that what we did was not acceptable behavior! The official terminology is something akin to “breaking and entering into a federal building” and "stealing government property"; that's some hefty charges, especially when you're in a foreign developing country. However, to our credit, at the moment we didn’t see it in this particular light.

Always the optimist, we thought we were considerate in not disturbing anyone on a sacred Sunday, we were resourceful with what we had, we already signed out for the lifejackets (so we weren’t stealing), we didn’t damage anything, and we tried to follow policy by wearing our life jackets.

There was a rumor that we would have all been kicked out if there weren't so many of us (over half of Group 71). It seemed unlikely since it would seriously damage the Peace Corps' reputation if say half the volunteers promised to key government offices and NGOs suddenly disappeared just days before their start date. For a brief moment they tried to single out the person who finally broke in, but we stuck together saying they were arguing over semantics; it was only a matter of time before someone pried open a window or found another way in. In the end, we were all written up and went from a clean slate to one remaining warning before getting kicked out of the Kingdom of Tonga.

I feel awful about the incident and completely understand what we did wrong, but at the same time I'm already chuckling inside at the twisted humor of it all. Our next breach of policies might get us sent back to the States so don't be surprised if I'm back early.

P.S. Totally inappropriate, but someone should really consider investing in better locks...