Listen on:

Caitlin Lanigan (@lanarams) didn’t even own a passport growing up in suburban Buffalo, New York. But deciding to do a semester abroad in Australia sent her down a Divergent Path that took her all around the world. After college, Caitlin volunteered for the Peace Corps in Botswana. She lived there and worked in a medical clinic for two years.

Caitlin has some amazing stories to tell from her experience Botswana. She was profoundly impacted by the kindness of the people there every day. And experiences like having to wash her clothes by hand or being without tap water for weeks at a time made her grateful for the little things we take for granted. She hitch hiked around the country and met many generous and friendly Botswanan people. She even learned to speak Setswana, the national language of Botswana.

Botswana has the highest concentration of elephants in the world and is home to such natural beauty. Caitlin would see elephants almost every day on her way to work! They would even terrorize the village at times and dig up sewer drains in search of water. Crazy stuff!

Caitlin and I worked together guiding bus tours around the United States for G Adventures. Nowadays, Caitlin in living in Australia on a Working Holiday Visa and she is doing rural farm work. But she remembers fondly her time in the Peace Corps and the huge impact it had on her life.

It was so great hearing her story!