Guntersville girl fulfills dream in Peace Corps in Ivory Coast
Read and comment on this story from the Sand Mountain Reporter on Ivory Coast RPCV Heather Smith of Guntersville who always wanted to travel and see the world, but she wanted more than the pass-through-it-in-a-week as a tourist experience. She wanted to live in the villages, learn the culture and get to know the people. Read the story at:
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G’ville girl fulfills dream
By Trisha Forsythe
The Reporter
Published November 30, 2002
If you could travel anywhere you wanted to, where would you go? Many people have been asked that very question. Where would you go, and better yet, how long would you stay?
Heather Smith of Guntersville always wanted to travel and see the world, but she wanted more than the pass-through-it-in-a-week as a tourist experience. She wanted to live in the villages, learn the culture and get to know the people.
It wasn’t until her junior year at Auburn that she knew the Peace Corps had her name written on it.
A Peace Corps recruiter came as a speaker in one of her college history classes. The recruiter assured them that, although people think that the Peace Corps is for those who had a background in agriculture, the Peace Corps needed people with all majors.
“I had been thinking about it for a couple of years and really began thinking about it when graduation day got closer,” Smith said.
The Peace Corps did appeal to Smith, who after graduation in 2002, completed an application to volunteer with the Peace Corps. She was invited to serve as a Rural Water and Sanitation volunteer in the West African Country of Cote d’Ivoire. The invitation to join the Peace Corps would give Smith the opportunity to travel and live in another country just as she wanted. After accepting the invitation to become a volunteer, Smith participated in a 12-week pre-service training in the village of Moga in Cote d’Ivoire.
After the weeks of training, she was assigned to the village of Anyanou in the central western region of Cote d’Ivoire. She worked closely with local villagers, community leaders, fellow Peace Corps volunteers, non-governmental development agencies and local government officials in addressing and implementing a water and sanitation act.
Her term with the Peace Corps was shortened due to civil unrest and evacuation in the region of Cote d’Ivoire. She had five and a half months in her term left when she was sent home.
“I felt cheated because the last few months are the best part. You’re wrapping things up and saying goodbye. I had to leave everything in my hut because I wasn’t in the village when we had to leave. Because I left the way I did, there was no closure,” Smith said.
The Peace Corps promotes world peace and friendship through three goals: to help the people of interested countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained workers; to help promote a better of understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served; and to help promote a better understanding of other people on the part of Americans.
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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; PCVs in the Field; COS - Ivory Coast
