During my senior year of college I had the brilliant idea of joining the Peace Corps. I wanted to save the world and experience different cultures. I got as far as the interview and backed out. I realized that two years was a long time to spend teaching English in Uzbekistan away from my family, friends and working toilets



During my senior year of college I had the brilliant idea of joining the Peace Corps. I wanted to save the world and experience different cultures. I got as far as the interview and backed out. I realized that two years was a long time to spend teaching English in Uzbekistan away from my family, friends and working toilets

We all try to save the world in our own ways


By Sarah Rutherford
srutherford@md-times.com

Saturday February 26, 2005


During my senior year of college I had the brilliant idea of joining the Peace Corps. I wanted to save the world and experience different cultures.

I got as far as the interview and backed out. I realized that two years was a long time to spend teaching English in Uzbekistan away from my family, friends and working toilets.

I chose, instead, to make an impact on society by becoming a journalist and informing the community about issues that affect them and allow them to make informed decisions.

My twin sister, on the other hand, chose a different path. She enrolled in Indiana University Medical School immediately after graduation from IU undergrad and has been locked in her room studying ever since.

When Kim is not in her room studying, the next place to look for her is at Starbucks with a cup of coffee in hand and a book in front of her.

After constant studying I would imagine that most medical students look forward to spring break when they can kick back on a beach with a fruity drink at hand and no cares in the world. At least, that’s what I would do.

While her fellow med students were working on their tan last year, Kim was treating underprivileged people in rural Nicaraguan communities.

She was involved with an alternative spring break program in which 11 first- and second-year medical students from IU led by cardiologist Joe Grossman were sent to Puerta Cabezas on the east coast of Nicaragua to help prevent illness.

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and in desperate need of outside help.

Over a span of a week, they staffed a clinic , built latrines to improve sanitation and taught CPR to hundreds of children and parents.


Their free time was sparse and spent getting acquainted with the Nicaraguan culture by visiting local markets and visiting the beach.

They lived in houses with local host families and slept in mosquito nets. Each morning they would wake and shower by pouring a bucket of water over their heads in a dark scary room, from what I could tell from her pictures.

Flipping through her rolls of pictures I can only imagine not only the hardships but also the rewards. In one picture several smiling children held Cabbage Patch Kid dolls that Kim brought from our personal childhood collection for use in teaching CPR.

In Kim’s spare time from studying, she has taken co-chair responsibilities and is planning this year’s trip, which will take place the second week of March. This year they will be visiting Tucuantepe, Nicaragua, just outside the capital city of Managua.

She has been spending the last few months raising money so that this trip can continue year after year.

For more information about the trip or to make a donation contact Kim Rutherford at kdruther@iupui.edu.

Rutherford graduated from Indiana University in May 2003 and worked at a radio station and a public relations firm before deciding newspaper reporting was right for her.

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

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March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory.

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February 26, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Folk-Singer Steve Schuch releases "Trees of Life" 26 Feb Christopher Bartlett maintains Marine Protected Area 25 Feb Joseph Frey uses amputation experience to help others 25 Feb James McCann concerned by maize in Ethiopia 25 Feb Sen. Obama says PC can help improve diplomacy 24 Feb PCVs help remove batteries in Belize 24 Feb Jimmy Carter praises mother's PC service 24 Feb Craig D. Wandke's lunar passion began in Honduras 23 Feb Char Andrews discusses her experience with cancer 23 Feb Beverly Seckinger tells stories through film 23 Feb J. Tyler Dickovick: As Togo goes, so may go Africa 23 Feb Andres Hernandez searches for PCV for 40 years 23 Feb Bulgaria is now like second home to Aaron Wills 22 Feb Bernadette Roberts to serve as diplomat in Albania 22 Feb USA Freedom Corps downgraded at White House 22 Feb Tom Skeldon seeks to control pit bull trade 21 Feb Gabriela Lena Frank writes music on Dad's PCV service 21 Feb

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Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.

WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

RPCVs mobilize support for Countries of Service RPCV Groups mobilize to support their Countries of Service. Over 200 RPCVS have already applied to the Crisis Corps to provide Tsunami Recovery aid, RPCVs have written a letter urging President Bush and Congress to aid Democracy in Ukraine, and RPCVs are writing NBC about a recent episode of the "West Wing" and asking them to get their facts right about Turkey.

Read the stories and leave your comments.