PCV Tips: Making Your Home Feel Like Home

It’s so important to find ways to make your home feel like home once you’ve moved to your site after pre-service training.  You should make your house feel comfortable and welcoming (at least for yourself) and of course make it a place in which you feel like you can function and a place in which you can meet your basic needs (cooking, etc.).

First things first:  get your furniture!  Get mattress and bed frame of course.  Then there are the tables, chairs, etc.  What you need to get really will vary upon the country you are in, what is already in your house, what you feel like you need, and the amount of money that you are willing to spend.  In my house, I have my bed, two wood tables, a wooden cabinet, a bamboo table, bamboo, bench, and another bamboo piece with multiple cubbyholes for clothes, etc.

In addition to furniture, make sure you got all of the other essentials you need:  stove, buckets for water (if you are in a country like Ethiopia if you need to get your water from a source outside of your house), plates, cups, etc.  Anything that you will require to meet your basic needs.  *As I mentioned with the buckets, certain things may be based upon the country you are placed in, etc.

Once you have gotten all of these things, make sure that you arrange everything in a way that is comfortable to you.  You are living here for two years!  It is important that you are comfortable and happy!  With that being said, make sure that you have other things that make you feel at home.  Hang things up around your house.  This could mean artwork, photos, etc.  On one wall of my house, I have all of the letters that have been mailed to me throughout my service hanging up.  I do this for two reasons.  One:  it looks better to have all of these letters up rather than having a completely blank wall.  Two:  all of the letters remind me of how much support and encouragement I have been receiving from people back home.  I realize that the support received from back home looks different for everyone, but it is really good to have a way to remind yourself of all the positive support you are receiving for doing this experience.  Trust me when I say that remembering that support and encouragement really does help you get through those 27 months of service.

For other ideas:

• Paint your walls a color to one that is comforting, welcoming, and one that you like
• Draw on your walls with chalk

*Keep in mind that these two ideas work best in houses that are made of cement.  Also, keep in mind of what would be appropriate with the people whom you give rent.  In a country like Ethiopia, you could do either and most likely, no one would care.  This may not be the case in other countries.

Remember that this is your home for two years.  Make it feel like home to you.  Make it feel comfortable and welcoming.  Have reminders of the things that you like, the ones you love all throughout your home.  Make it a place in which you can come to at the end of the day and be able to find some comfort in knowing that this is your safe place.  This should be a place in which you can get away from all of the hardships and struggles that you deal with throughout your service and be able to take a break.   And this is important:  No matter what your overall service is like, no matter what you are handed; your home is your place.  This place is your safe place, your place in which you can take refuge, your place in which you can relax, your place in which you can do what you want and your place in which you can fully be yourself.  Keep this in mind.  When it comes to making your home feel like home, there are no limits.

*Below are some pictures of my home in Ethiopia:

On this portion of my wall, I have a calendar and timeline.  When I made my timeline, I put up one blue post it for each month of service I had left.  Each purple post it below the blue ones lists birthdays.  I also have different events and things to look forward to on the post its.  This time line has helped give me things to look forward to in order to help me get through service.

In Ethiopia, we are required to sleep under a mosquito net.  Don't want to get malaria!

Here's my letter wall.  If you encourage people to write to you and write back to them regularly, you may be able to accumulate a good collection of letters by the end of your service.

And of course put up pictures.  

*As always, please let me know if you have any comments, questions, concerns.  They are always welcome!