Robert “Bob” Link, one of the newest Peace Corps volunteers in Belize.
Robert “Bob” Link, one of the newest Peace Corps volunteers in Belize.
BOB LINK: Peace Corps Volunteer Making a Difference
Sometimes it takes a while to make a dream come true, but when it does it’s appreciated all the more. That’s how it was for Robert “Bob” Link, one of the newest Peace Corps volunteers in Belize. He was sworn in as a volunteer On August 4 and assigned as an information technology specialist to the MNREI’s Department of the Environment.
Bob hails from Kona, Hawaii and earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology in at the University of Oregon in 1975. He came of age during the idealistic period of the Kennedy Administration and fell in love with the dream of Camelot. He dreamt of going forth with the Kennedy-inspired Peace Corps to volunteer his services as a teacher in the underdeveloped world. But the Vietnam war intervened. He was drafted and spent two years in the Army, fortunately, in the then West Germany and not the steaming jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam.
Back in the U.S. he and his wife Mary Jo, another idealistic person who was committed to making the world a better place resumed a normal life but never gave up their dream. The condensed version of their lives is they got married, raised a son and daughter (the daughter is now a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines) and, finding themselves facing the “empty nest” syndrome, decided to make their dream of long ago come true ... ergo the Peace Corps.
“Belize has lots of similarities to Hawaii,” said Link. “It’s multi-cultural, is tropical, is peaceful and has absolutely wonderful people.”
For Bob, working in Belize is quite different from working in Hawaii. There he taught educational psychology at the University of Hawaii, then worked for an international observatory doing astronomical observations. He was surrounded by the latest high-tech equipment. Here, he has to make do with basic equipment and limited resources.
“In many ways this is more of a challenge,” he admitted. “ However, I have some great co-workers. I’ve been fully accepted by my colleagues. Of course, compared to American institutions, the DOE is understaffed and under budgeted. I’m truly amazed at how much the department gets done and how upbeat the staff is. Believe me, there are many institutions back home that could learn about “making do” from you.”
Bob and Mary Jo are fitting in quite well in Belize. Oh, yes ... she is a Peace Corps volunteer assigned as an information technologist to the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture in Belmopan.
