Bill Davis finds fulfillment serving in the Peace Corps in Tanzania
OHS grad finds fulfillment serving in the Peace Corps
By: Jennifer Marie Savage
12/31/2003
Bill Davis was working at a research lab, feeling as if there had to be something more out there.
There was, and Davis has found it in Tanzania, Africa, where, as a volunteer with the United States Peace Corps, he teaches high school chemistry.
Davis, a 1993 graduate of Octorara Area High School and resident of Parkesburg, said he thought about joining the Peace Corps after his graduation from Franklin and Marshall, but didn't pursue it at that time because "I thought it would be too scary or too hard."
But after attending graduate school at the University of Colorado, majoring in science, and working for awhile, he knew what he had to do.
Now, after a year and three months with the Peace Corps, he said, "I like the sense of adventure and I'm also helping people."
Davis sat down to discuss his avocation with the Post Ledger this week while home visiting his family for Christmas. He left Sunday to go back to Tanzania.
According to Davis, the application process took about a year. He needed security and medical clearance.
"You could select the region you wanted to go to," he said, adding that he picked Africa because it was the farthest place. He lived with a host family during training.
To date the biggest challenge Davis has experienced is conveying to the natives what he's doing in Tanzania. The language, Swahili, is a mix of tribe, Arabic and Indian, he said.
The Peace Corps provides Davis' quarters, and Davis said he lucked out with a nice place to reside: a house with his own stereo. A teacher and his family live in the other half.
"I had expected worse," he said. "A mud hut with no plumbing or electricity."
He said there are a total of 120 Peace Corps volunteers in Tanzania.
Get the complete story in this week's Post Ledger.
