August 12, 2004: Headlines: COS - Honduras: Recruitment: Greenburg Daily News: Christy Mauer is going to be an agricultural development volunteer for the Peace Corps for the next 27 months in Honduras

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Honduras: Peace Corps Honduras: The Peace Corps in Honduras: August 12, 2004: Headlines: COS - Honduras: Recruitment: Greenburg Daily News: Christy Mauer is going to be an agricultural development volunteer for the Peace Corps for the next 27 months in Honduras

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-239-147.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.239.147) on Tuesday, August 17, 2004 - 10:47 am: Edit Post

Christy Mauer is going to be an agricultural development volunteer for the Peace Corps for the next 27 months in Honduras

Christy Mauer is going to be an agricultural development volunteer for the Peace Corps for the next 27 months in Honduras

Christy Mauer is going to be an agricultural development volunteer for the Peace Corps for the next 27 months in Honduras

Westport woman delivers Peace to the world
Paul Glasser, Staff Writer

Even though her daughter is going to be thousands of miles away in a remote rural region in Honduras for more than two years and won’t have access to e-mail, telephones or reliable mail service, Carol Mauer, of Westport, is confident God will keep her safe.

“I learned not to worry,” she said. “Worrying is a useless expenditure of time and energy.”

Her daughter Christy graduated from De Pauw University in May with bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and Sociology and is going to be an agricultural development volunteer for the Peace Corps for the next 27 months. As an agricultural worker, Christy will help farmers improve their farming methods and become more cost efficient.

Christy said she joined the Peace Corps because she wanted to help people and discover what she wants out of life.

“I hope to touch the lives of the people I encounter and help them become the best they can be,” she said. “I also hope this experience will help pinpoint what direction I’m going in after college.”

Christy said she’s not nervous about working in Honduras because she speaks the language and has been immersed in foreign cultures before when she built homes in Juarez, Mexico, during a service project.

Melanie Finney, professor of communications at De Pauw, also worked on the same project in Juarez and said the trip showed that Christy will succeed in Honduras.

“She interacted very well with the children and local people,” Finney said. “She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty either.”

She also said Christy will do very well in Honduras because she’s familiar with the culture. Christy was the cultural affairs officer for the trip to Juarez and helped the group deal with culture shock by hosting workshops and discussing cultural differences.

“She hosted workshops before we left and while we were in Juarez and provided information on things that women on the trip needed to watch out for,” Finney said.

Christy’s mother agreed that Christy’s previous experience shows she won’t have any problems in Honduras.

“She’s very level-headed and thinks about all the issues before making a decision,” Carol said. “She’s confident and I think she’ll make good choices.”

Christy said she knows the trip to Honduras will be a life-changing experience, because all her previous travel experiences have changed her perspective on things.

“I view the world differently,” she said. “It’s not so big and complex as it seems, and you don’t need to be so close-minded.”

Carol agreed that Christy’s previous experiences abroad have had life altering effects.

“We’re so accustomed to our comforts here that we can’t begin to realize how blessed we are,” she said. “We need to be forced out of this bubble to realize how much God has blessed us.”





When this story was prepared, this was the front page of PCOL magazine:

This Month's Issue: August 2004 This Month's Issue: August 2004
Teresa Heinz Kerry celebrates the Peace Corps Volunteer as one of the best faces America has ever projected in a speech to the Democratic Convention. The National Review disagreed and said that Heinz's celebration of the PCV was "truly offensive." What's your opinion and who can come up with the funniest caption for our Current Events Funny?

Exclusive: Director Vasquez speaks out in an op-ed published exclusively on the web by Peace Corps Online saying the Dayton Daily News' portrayal of Peace Corps "doesn't jibe with facts."

In other news, the NPCA makes the case for improving governance and explains the challenges facing the organization, RPCV Bob Shaconis says Peace Corps has been a "sacred cow", RPCV Shaun McNally picks up support for his Aug 10 primary and has a plan to win in Connecticut, and the movie "Open Water" based on the negligent deaths of two RPCVs in Australia opens August 6. Op-ed's by RPCVs: Cops of the World is not a good goal and Peace Corps must emphasize community development.





Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Greenburg Daily News

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Honduras; Recruitment

PCOL12884
21

.


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: