Alexandra Schlegel decided to join the Peace Corps in Guatemala.

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Guatemala: Peace Corps Guatemala: Peace Corps in Guatemala: Alexandra Schlegel decided to join the Peace Corps in Guatemala.

By Admin1 (admin) on Sunday, July 01, 2001 - 3:52 pm: Edit Post

Alexandra Schlegel decided to join the Peace Corps in Guatemala.



Alexandra Schlegel decided to join the Peace Corps in Guatemala.

Alexandra Schlegel:


Alex was raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. Alex's training for a rewarding international career began in earnest in 1996. As an Economics major and Latin American Studies minor at Northwestern University in Evanston Illinois, she spent a semester of her junior year abroad with the Catholic Learning Program in Chile. During that time, Alex studied at the Catholic University in Valparasio, Chile and lived with a Chilean family. In Chile, Alex conducted an independent research project on the wines of Chile (Chile is now the third largest wine exporter to the US). The summer after Alex returned from Chile, she began an internship with the Import-Export Bank of the United States. When Alex graduated from Northwestern University in 1997, she began work briefly in New York, but later in the Spring of 1998 decided to join the Peace Corps in Guatemala.

During her two month Peace Corps training, Alex lived with Guatemalan families and received in-depth language instruction. As part of her training, Alex learned how to be self-sufficient while living overseas, an invaluable skill in any context.

Currently, Alex lives in her own two-room house in the Guatemalan town of Salama. Each day she travels by pick-up truck or bus to small villages where she works with out-of-school youth teaching them basic business development skills. In addition, she works with women weavers and agricultural workers helping them start their own businesses. All this is done with the goal of creating self-sufficiency for the indigenous people of Guatemala who are poor and often illiterate. Alex also presents a popular workshop on self esteem. Those who participate receive a special certificate. Alex loves her work and has made many friends among the Guatemalans and other Peace Corps volunteers. The Peace Corps describes its work as "the toughest job you'll ever love!" Alex seconds that view. Alex will finish her job with the Peace Corps in August 2000. Afterwards, she plans on returning to graduate school and then continuing work with the developing countries of Latin America. Whatever Alex decides to do, her Peace Corps background will be of invaluable assistance.



Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Guatemala

PCOL2304
12

.


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: