Money, money, money, MON-ey!

“So how does that whole money thing work then? I mean, I know you guys are Volunteers, but I also know that Peace Corps provides you with enough cash to get by. So what’s the deal?” Good question.

So here’s the rough scoop. The idea is that PCVs are supposed to live as close to the local lifestyle as possible. This can controlled largely by limiting the monthly stipend PCVs receive. PC tries to determine, to the best of its ability, what the local wage might be, and then determines if a PCV can honestly get by with this amount, making adjustments if necessary. Again, just a rough scoop.

Here in Jamaica, all Volunteers receive the same amount for the month, regardless of where you’re located on island. The one thing that does vary from Volunteer to Volunteer is how much we pay in rent. One Volunteer might pay $130 US in rent a month, while the next pays $200. A PCJV’s stipend will reflect this difference.

In the beginning of PST, we were all given our own personal ATM (ABM as they’re called here) cards. PC automatically deposits our monthly stipend into our accounts towards the end of each month. PC does reimburse some random costs, such as travel if PC requires for us to travel into Kingston for example, and PC also reimburses us when we have to fill our propane cylinders we use for cooking.

Aside from all of this, PCVs get somewhere around $400US/month for everything else: food, transportation, phone usage, utilities, ‘personal sundries’, etc., etc., etc. This means that in Jamaica the average PCV, including rent, lives off of less than $6,000US/yr.

Jamaican Cooking!

A nice benefit to this is that there’s no keeping up with the Jones’ here. All your PC friends know you’re broke, and they understand, because they’re just as broke as you are. So, for get-togethers everyone’s always trying to figure out the best deals, cheapest rates, and all-around most affordable fun-time-activities. And there’s surely no embarrassment in admitting that you have less than $10US in your bank account.

Now, does that better answer your question?