Peace Corps vets help decorate wall

Peace Corps vets help decorate wall ; Others mark 40th anniversary by cleaning alleys

Sep 30, 2001 - Courier-Journal Louisville, KY Author(s): Shannon Tangonan, The Courier-Journal

Volunteers worked with paste, mortar and handmade ceramic tiles yesterday to transform a Memorial Park retaining wall into a colorful mosaic.

About a dozen volunteers from Spalding University and the Kentuckiana Peace Corps Association worked several hours to help with the ongoing project to restore Memorial Park.

It was one of two community service projects that returning U.S. Peace Corps volunteers in the Louisville area were involved in as part of the agency's 40th anniversary, said Shannon Al-Hindawy, chairwoman of the association. Other members cleaned up alleys in the Portland neighborhood, she said.

The mosaic project "was a chance for us to beautify the parks," said Al-Hindawy, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco.

Peace Corps volunteers who have returned home after helping people in other parts of the world are celebrating the corps' 40th year through projects in their communities, said Anne Baker of the National Peace Corps Association in Washington, D.C. She was among those piecing together the mosaic.

The restoration of Memorial Park, at the corner of Fourth and Kentucky streets, is a long-term project involving Spalding University, associate professor Joyce Ogden said.

Spalding students worked with urban youths, teaching them about design and tile-making, Ogden said. They also went on field trips to discover nature.

Triangle tiles depicting things below the earth - such as worms - line the bottom of the wall the group worked on yesterday. Above those are tiles showing objects above the ground - a large tree with bare branches, flowers and animals. Topping the wall are square tiles depicting rainbows, birds and the sky.

Nine-year-old Fatima Sy of Jeffersonville, Ind., whose aunt used to be in the Peace Corps, spent the morning using her bare hands to mix the mortar used in the mosaic. She said she would encourage others her age to get involved and "help your community."

Rafael Macaranas brushed glue on the wall before Peace Corps volunteers and others applied mortar and tiles.