In September 2002, I will be moving on to join the Peace Corps. My placement is a little known place in Central Asia called the Kyrgyz Republic
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Angela Bowden, '01
Vista Volunteer, 2001-2002
Bridgeport, CT
Peace Corps, 2002-2005
Kyrgyz Republic
Angela Bowden (center) with student volunteers,
student volunteers, Stephen Brine and Erin Healy.
As part of Americorps*VISTA, a domestic volunteer program instituted by CNS (the Corporation for National Service), I returned to Sacred Heart University after graduating in 2001. There, working with the wonderful staff of the Office of Service-Learning and Volunteer Programs, I have been responsible for the coordination of volunteers and literacy programs in the Bridgeport community. While coordinating more than 30 Read Alouds in Bridgeport schools such as Marin, Winthrop, Webster, McKinley, Dunbar, and Roosevelt, I have also coordinated a volunteer mentoring program at Columbus Elementary School for 2nd to 6th graders.
Carol-Anne Dabek at a Read-Aloud.
The mentors work one-on-one with a child 1-2 hours a week, as well as doing weekend group activities. Group activities included going to Sacred Heart University basketball games and to the University?s International Festival, having the Audubon Society come to Columbus with their "Live Animals" show, and an end of the year trip to the Bronx Zoo. The mentors are great, and the children have given so much to them in lessons of life.
In September 2002, I will be moving on to join the Peace Corps. My placement is a little known place in Central Asia called the Kyrgyz Republic (formerly Kyrgyzstan). There I will be teaching English primarily on the secondary level (ages 12-17), as well as teaching younger children and implementing community programs. My service will be from September 30, 2002 to December 14, 2004. I have listened to my heart and mind, and both call me to this opportunity. As a woman of faith, I not only talk about the issues around me and pray, but I choose to act in the tradition of radical Christianity. While I myself am moving on to the Peace Corps, I highly recommend being a part of a program like AmeriCorps*VISTA. My philosophy is not just to give and do an occasional service project, but be truly engaged. Don?t just be there to be there. Show you care and are willing to make much needed change in the world. Start local, and then go global. That is part of what I learned as an undergraduate and what I tell others as a coordinator of those programs I once was a part of as a student from 1997-2001.
My advice for anyone who is truly part of the social justice movement and is looking for a way to be less reactive and more proactive is to be a part of something that is scary. Make it a goal to go beyond your comfort zone. I am a big advocate of discussions, but I also feel it is important to act. Now that I have let the wonderful community members in Bridgeport change me even more, I am going to use that passion in another place most people are afraid to go to. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: ?Cowardice asks the question ? is it safe? Expediency asks the question ? is it politic? Vanity asks the question ? is it popular? But conscience asks the question ? is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because is it right.? Americorps has been amazing, and I expect that the Peace Corps will enable me to take my proactivity to a whole new level. It is not always safe, it is not traditionally politic, it certainly is not popular, but I know it is right.
If you have any questions at all, please contact me by email me. For more information on the Peace Corps, click here or call 1-800-424-8580. For information on Americorps, click here. A good way to become involved on the local level is to email the University's Office of Service-Learning and Volunteer Programs or to contact the Bridgeport Catholic Worker.
