July 9, 2004: Headlines: COS - Ghana: COS - Brazil: Multi-generational: Amesbury News: "The Peace Corps always seemed like an option because both my parents spent more than three years in Brazil in the Peace Corps," said Michael Hildt, a volunteer in Ghana "and we grew up watching their slide shows. The Peace Corps was always something that really amazed me. I was intrigued by the idea of going to live in foreign countries and immersing myself in other cultures."

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Ghana: Peace Corps Ghana : The Peace Corps in Ghana: July 9, 2004: Headlines: COS - Ghana: COS - Brazil: Multi-generational: Amesbury News: "The Peace Corps always seemed like an option because both my parents spent more than three years in Brazil in the Peace Corps," said Michael Hildt, a volunteer in Ghana "and we grew up watching their slide shows. The Peace Corps was always something that really amazed me. I was intrigued by the idea of going to live in foreign countries and immersing myself in other cultures."

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-22-73.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.22.73) on Tuesday, July 13, 2004 - 5:48 pm: Edit Post

"The Peace Corps always seemed like an option because both my parents spent more than three years in Brazil in the Peace Corps," said Michael Hildt, a volunteer in Ghana "and we grew up watching their slide shows. The Peace Corps was always something that really amazed me. I was intrigued by the idea of going to live in foreign countries and immersing myself in other cultures."

 The Peace Corps always seemed like an option because both my parents spent more than three years in Brazil in the Peace Corps, said Michael Hildt, a volunteer in Ghana and we grew up watching their slide shows. The Peace Corps was always something that really amazed me. I was intrigued by the idea of going to live in foreign countries and immersing myself in other cultures.

"The Peace Corps always seemed like an option because both my parents spent more than three years in Brazil in the Peace Corps," said Michael Hildt, a volunteer in Ghana "and we grew up watching their slide shows. The Peace Corps was always something that really amazed me. I was intrigued by the idea of going to live in foreign countries and immersing myself in other cultures."

A peace of cake?

By Carol Feingold/ Amesbury@Cnc.Com

Friday, July 9, 2004

Caption: Michael Hildt followed in the footsteps of his father, Mayor David Hildt, who also served in the Peace Corps (Courtesy photo)

The following is the first of two stories relating the experiences of a Peace Corps volunteer. The second installment will be featured in next week's edition.

Volunteering in foreign lands is nothing new for Peace Corps volunteer Michael Hildt, who currently is home in Amesbury for a vacation after spending nearly two years in Ghana.

After graduating Amesbury High School in 1996, Hildt spent a year volunteering in a rain forest preserve in Costa Rica and then worked on organic farms in New Zealand as part of the Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) program. After graduating UMass Amherst in 2002, the Peace Corps seemed to be the next natural step.

"The Peace Corps always seemed like an option because both my parents spent more than three years in Brazil in the Peace Corps," said Hildt, the son of former State Rep. Barbara Hildt and Amesbury Mayor David Hildt, "and we grew up watching their slide shows. The Peace Corps was always something that really amazed me. I was intrigued by the idea of going to live in foreign countries and immersing myself in other cultures."

Michael Hildt applied to the Peace Corps in the fall of 2001, and was assigned as an environment volunteer in Ghana in July, 2002. The Peace Corps has different sections, he explained, including environment, health, HIV/AIDS, education, business, and technology.

In August, 2002, 41 Peace Corps trainees "got on the plane to Ghana, but 11 dropped out during the first two months of training," Michael Hildt said. "Since then another nine have dropped out. We've lost nearly half our training group."

That's a record low for Ghana Peace Corps volunteers, he said, and Ghana is the oldest continuously running Peace Corps country, operating for the past 43 years.

After the first week of training in Ghana, Michael Hildt was assigned to northern Ghana, near the Burkina Faso border. He took the 14-hour bus ride north from Accra to Bolgatanga where he lived with a home-stay family for nine months, learned the language, and received specific training in the tasks he was to perform.

"I learned how to start a tree nursery and the basics of agri-forestry, which is the incorporation of crops and trees together, and natural resource management," he said.

Things did not run smoothly. The NGO (non-government organization) serving as his supervisor was supposed to provide his housing, but the house wasn't ready. Michael Hildt had to stay with his home-stay family for an additional two and a half months.

"It was a bit frustrating," he said, "but it gave me time to travel around and meet people."

In February, 2003, he moved into the house in Kayoro, where his goal was to establish a tree nursery to create a sustainable wood lot for the village. He also tried to establish dry season gardening as a means of income generation. His main focus was to save the habitat of the area.

"Just across the border in Burkina Faso was a wildlife game preserve," Michael Hildt said. "There was a big problem with men from my village crossing the border to hunt elephant, Cape buffalo, antelope and baboons. We were on a migration corridor for the elephants, and elephants would come through and destroy an entire year's harvest."

Because Michael Hildt arrived late due to the housing problem, he couldn't get a good start on dry season gardening. Then he had to leave early so he never saw the results of the tree nursery.

"I was removed from Kayoro due to a snake problem at my house," he said. His house was inhabited by a puff adder, which the villagers called ankwobayi. Translated into English, the name is "Your sister won't see you before you die."

"My sister wasn't thrilled to hear that," he said.

In addition, Kayoro was a very remote village, the only transportation being one market truck every six days. On one trip it flipped over killing two people. In August, 2003, Michael Hildt was moved to Sirigu, a much larger village with some electricity, easy transportation, and one telephone.

"We have a tree nursery in Sirigu growing mango and cashew trees for food and income, and fast growing trees for fuel wood," he said. "They have wonderful pottery in Sirigu and have a tradition of elaborate house painting, so I've been working with the Sirigu Women's Organization of Pottery and Art (SWOPA) trying to help them improve by teaching them accounting, marketing and guest relations skills. I've also done some HIV/AIDS education in Sirigu and surrounding communities."

It's not all work. Hildt has found the time to make friends with the children in the orphanage across the street from his house.

"I have seven small guys who come around my house," he said. "I play with them and teach them how to do wheelies on their bikes and things like that."

Michael Hildt's stint in the Peace Corps ends in November. Looking back, there were positive and negative aspects to it.

"I've had a particularly unstable run with all the moving around," he said. "I just now feel settled in and that I know the village. Had I been there from the beginning, I feel like I could have gotten a lot more done. I feel I was cheated out of a year. On the other hand, I've made wonderful connections with people there and really enjoyed experiencing life in a small village."

Michael Hildt said he will miss "being a celebrity."

"I'm the white guy in the village," he said. "Everyone knows me and everyone wants to talk with me. Some days I really eat that up, and other days I really want to hide in my house, but I'll miss the people most. I'll really miss how relaxed the people are there."

At times their laid back attitude could frustrate Michael Hildt when he wanted to get work accomplished, he said, "but it's equally frustrating to come back here and see people totally stressed out over ridiculous things and caught up in somewhat frivolous pursuits. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get to my Play Station."

Michael Hildt said he is irate that during the past year, the Peace Corps budget has been decreased, along with the budgets for the embassies and the U.S. Agency for International Development, the agency that distributes aid to third world countries.

"They all had their budgets slashed because we're too busy paying for a war," he said. "I think it's absolutely ridiculous because we're in a battle for hearts and minds as much as anything, and if you want to win over those people who could potentially dislike America, what better way to do it than to lift them up out of poverty with development projects and allow them to see the positive face of America through a Peace Corps volunteer.

"Most of the people I meet see America, aside from me, as a war-monger. They say America 'likes war too much.' It's time for the bully to change its image."




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Story Source: Amesbury News

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ghana; COS - Brazil; Multi-generational

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