January 24, 2002 - Lancaster Sunday News: PCV Joslin Heyn works in forestry in the South Pacific on the island of Niue

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Peace Corps Library: Reference: PCVs in the Field: January 24, 2002 - Lancaster Sunday News: PCV Joslin Heyn works in forestry in the South Pacific on the island of Niue

By Admin1 (admin) on Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 5:40 pm: Edit Post

PCV Joslin Heyn works in forestry in the South Pacific on the island of Niue





Read and comment on this excerpt for a story from the Lancaster Sunday news on PCV Joslin Heyn and her work in forestry in the South Pacific on the island of Nue at:

Peace Corps experience opens up a whole new world *

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



Peace Corps experience opens up a whole new world

Jan 24, 2002 - Sunday News Lancaster, PA

Joslin Heyn had never heard of Niue Island, a sparsely populated speck in the South Pacific northeast of New Zealand.

But soon after learning of its existence, she spent two years there -- from January 1999 until last February -- as a Peace Corps volunteer.

A 1994 graduate of Lampeter-Strasburg High School who holds a degree in environmental earth science from Johns Hopkins University, Heyn was assigned to the island's forestry division.

"Niue is the epitome of a tropical island paradise," she wrote while still there. "It's about the size of Baltimore city in land area but with the population similar to that of my freshman dorm. I felt like I had landed on a whole new planet where problems aren't caused by overpopulation but rather under-population....

"Niue's biggest problem is every year they lose a few more of their talented and intelligent youth to New Zealand, a "brain drain,'" she added.

"Peace Corps was started here to help develop both the public and private sectors in order to make it more appealing for people to stay...."

"Having little to no background in forestry, I was very scared that I would have nothing to contribute once I got here. I was wrong," wrote Heyn, whose projects included planting indigenous seedlings with youth. "My learning curve since I first set foot on Niue has been a near vertical line....

"They sum it up very well in the Peace Corps motto: "It's the toughest job you will ever love," she added.

Heyn is working on a master's in environmental sciences (forestry) at the University of Montana, where she is a Peace Corps recruiter. To fulfill the program's service requirement, she has applied for a Fulbright Scholarship to do land mapping in New Zealand.


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: : COS - Micronesia; PCVs in the Field; Special Interests - Forestry

PCOL144
14

.


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: