September 11, 2004: Headlines: COS - Namibia: Attrition: Early Terminations: Blue Springs Examiner: Amy Stein is one of the eight members of Group 19 in Namibia to complete their assignment. There were 22 that started in May 2002. Some left early for personal reasons. Others had difficulty adjusting to the Namibian lifestyle. It was not always easy, but those who finished are glad they did.

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Namibia: Peace Corps Namibia : The Peace Corps in Namibia: September 11, 2004: Headlines: COS - Namibia: Attrition: Early Terminations: Blue Springs Examiner: Amy Stein is one of the eight members of Group 19 in Namibia to complete their assignment. There were 22 that started in May 2002. Some left early for personal reasons. Others had difficulty adjusting to the Namibian lifestyle. It was not always easy, but those who finished are glad they did.

By Admin1 (admin) (151.196.185.151) on Saturday, October 02, 2004 - 2:48 pm: Edit Post

Amy Stein is one of the eight members of Group 19 in Namibia to complete their assignment. There were 22 that started in May 2002. Some left early for personal reasons. Others had difficulty adjusting to the Namibian lifestyle. It was not always easy, but those who finished are glad they did.

Amy Stein is one of the eight members of Group 19 in Namibia to complete their assignment. There were 22 that started in May 2002. Some left early for personal reasons. Others had difficulty adjusting to the Namibian lifestyle. It was not always easy, but those who finished are glad they did.

Amy Stein is one of the eight members of Group 19 in Namibia to complete their assignment. There were 22 that started in May 2002. Some left early for personal reasons. Others had difficulty adjusting to the Namibian lifestyle. It was not always easy, but those who finished are glad they did.

Farewell to the Peace Corps
By Robert Hite
Special to The Examiner

Amy Stein has some advice for Peace Corps volunteers about to finish their 27-month service. "Buy a dog. You'll need something to hold on to," she said.

Stein, 23, is one of the eight members of Group 19 in Namibia to complete their assignment. There were 22 that started in May 2002. Some left early for personal reasons. Others had difficulty adjusting to the Namibian lifestyle.

It was not always easy, but those who finished are glad they did.

Kelli Ranck, 26, described her time in the Corps this way:

"This experience, it takes you, it tears you apart and it twists you and bends you and then allows you to rebuild yourself, rediscover who you are, what you want and what you need, while learning from others and teaching in return."

She wants more and has decided to stay for another few months to finish the school term. Group 19 members officially completed their service in August.

"It feels good to finish," Ranck said. "I don't want to leave. I have so much to do."

Cameron McHenry agreed and said she wants to come back some day. That day might not be for a long time. The people she has come to know and love and the village where she worked will not be the same. A lot will change.

"I won't see the kids grow up into men and women. Some of them will die in car accidents or of AIDS," she said.

Cynthia Turner, 32, got a lot out of the experience. "It allows me to embrace all parts of myself."

That realization and understanding did not come without difficulties. Turner said a lot of the first year was spent dealing with loneliness and, too often, deaths in her community.

She said it was also difficult always having to prove herself worthy. Her efforts were a success to her satisfaction. "I've made lifelong friends with people," she said.

Marie Shockley, 66, had difficulties getting people's help with her projects, such as building a library. She said she also expects to write letters and for people to write in return.

"On a personal basis, they are there for you," she said. "I think I'll have long-term contact with three of them."

She hopes more will. She will miss them like she misses her own children and grandchildren. One reason she held on and finished was to show them that being a volunteer has merit and that you complete what you start.

A part of her heart will stay with her new kids in Namibia.

"I miss the children because I love them," Shockley said, "I'm going to cry."

Stein said part of the reason volunteers made good friends with the Namibians is the lifestyle. Life moves at a slower pace than American life. Namibians take more time for relaxing and for people.

"Everyone is easy going and relaxed. I'll miss freedom. The freedom of doing what I want every day," Stein said.

Malvenia Lewis, 56, said the easygoing lifestyle sometimes made being a volunteer difficult. This was especially true in getting the community and school to work together. That is the general overall assignment of Group 19 members.

"It was a challenge and it was hard," she said about being a volunteer. "I ran up against a brick wall and that's why I'd do it again. If it's too smooth, there's no challenge. The challenge is what I want," Lewis said.

Kim Miller, 26, has some advice for people considering being volunteers.

"It's a roll of the dice," she said.

So much depends on what program the Peace Corps assigns you, what country you work in, where you are in that country and so much more, Miller said. No one should generalize that one person's experience will be the same as another's, even in the same country. Everyone's circumstances are unique.

"People are people," she said. "There are good people and bad people wherever you go. There's a lot of different ways of doing things."

Robert Hite is a former reporter for The Examiner. He completed his Peace Corps tour in August with the rest of the Group 19 members.





When this story was posted in October 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Director Gaddi Vasquez:  The PCOL Interview Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview
PCOL sits down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before.

Plus the debate continues over Safety and Security.
Schwarzenegger praises PC at Convention Schwarzenegger praises PC at Convention
Governor Schwarzenegger praised the Peace Corps at the Republican National Convention: "We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children." Schwarzenegger has previously acknowledged his debt to his father-in-law, Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver, for teaching him "the joy of public service" and Arnold is encouraging volunteerism by creating California Service Corps and tapping his wife, Maria Shriver, to lead it. Leave your comments and who can come up with the best Current Events Funny?
 Peace Corps: One of the Best Faces of America Peace Corps: One of the Best Faces of America
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 can you come up with a Political Funny?


Read the stories and leave your comments.






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: Blue Springs Examiner

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Namibia; Attrition; Early Terminations

PCOL13924
80

.


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: