Although Dila Perera's Peace Corps commitment ended during the summer 2001, she accepted an invitation to stay on for a third year to continue her health education work in a port city in Madagascar.
Ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things
On the strikingly unique and lush island of Madagascar, Puget Sound graduate Dila Perera ’95 is fighting the war against HIV/AIDS. Although Madagascar has the lowest rate of the disease in Sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in neighboring South Africa and Malawi makes prevention education extremely important for the local Malagasy population.
The process of educating high-risk members of society, however, can be difficult. “You have to fight for people to believe that danger exists, since they have never seen a person with AIDS and still consider it to be a ‘foreign’ disease,” explained Perera. “But studies show that fear doesn’t change behavior, while peer education can.” Using a grant from the U.S. Ambassador, Perera and two Malagasy outreach workers have helped implement a peer education program that addresses HIV/AIDS prevention.
Perera has been conducting her efforts on the island since 1999 as a member of the Peace Corps. According to Perera, the strength of her Puget Sound education has been instrumental in building the necessary background to take on such a challenge. A politics and government major, she also earned a double minor in women’s studies and comparative sociology.
“The Peace Corps has been a synthesis of not only my major and minors, but all themes therein: social stratification; political and cultural systems; and the interplay between power, culture, poverty, gender and development,” she explained. “Just as the premise of a liberal arts education is breadth of knowledge, the goal of good international development is sustainability based on depth of understanding—of not only the immediate problem that faces a community, but the underlying causes, cultural norms and the interplay of those factors. At Puget Sound I had professors that encouraged their students to look for connections between issues and delve beyond the obvious; this type of thinking has helped me when faced with difficult issues or problems.”
The rewards that her efforts and abilities have garnered are priceless, instilling in her a life-long passion to address women’s reproductive health and the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Moreover, Perera has gained an incredible sense of personal accomplishment. “Watching people react with pride to what they did is deeply moving. I have seen great ideas hatched and executed based on drawings made in the dirt with sticks—the Peace Corps has completely rekindled my belief that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things.”
Puget Sound holds a perennial position in the top ten list for small colleges and universities for Peace Corps volunteers, with 17 delegates currently in service. Although Perera’s Peace Corps commitment ended during the summer 2001, she accepted an invitation to stay on for a third year to continue her health education work in a port city in Madagascar.
—Nate Snodgrass ‘01
