Shelli Perry set up the first Peace Corps program in Cameroon where she taught environmental education and agro-forestry for more than two years
MEET: SHELLI PERRY, WRWA EDUCATION COORDINATOR
Caption: Shelli Perry stands by the banks of the Head of Westport. Her work has taken her to Cameroon, the Berkshires and Washington State.
Shelli Perry is the new education coordinator for the Westport River Watershed Alliance. Ms. Perry grew up in Tiverton where she attended the Ranger School, middle school and Tiverton High School. She has strong family ties to Tiverton -- her grandfather worked at the fire station on Crandall Road -- and also to Westport where her mother grew up.
After graduating from the University of New Hampshire, Ms. Perry joined the Peace Corps. She set up the first Peace Corps program in Cameroon where she taught environmental education and agro-forestry for more than two years.
PEACE CORPS: "It was the best learning experience that I've ever had. The village I was in was Lewoh. It was a very nice community. I never had any troubles."
LANGUAGES: "Cameroon was colonized by Germans and other countries, too. Now there are French sections and English sections so it is bilingual. There are 360 native languages. The one in my village was called Bangwa."
WHY TEACH ENVIRONMENT: "They had a history of slash and burn agriculture, which caused them to walk farther and farther to get to their farms. I taught a practice of sustainable agriculture so they could use the land over and over again. The Ministry of Agriculture was embracing that."
ON YOUR OWN: "You're in your own village and they pair you off with someone. In my case, it was a math and science volunteer who was two and a half hours away. We were considered post-mates even though he was so far away. I actually saw him more than anybody else because we had the same tribe and they would gather for celebrations."
TRIBAL CELEBRATIONS: "The Cameroons hold many celebrations. A year after someone passes away, they do a celebration of life with dancing, drums. When twins are born, that's considered very special so they have a celebration for days. Twins are supposed to have special powers."
BACK IN THE USA: "I came back and worked for Nature's Classroom teaching environmental education in Beckett in the Berkshires. I worked at the Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown, R.I. for a summer and then I went out west to Washington State. I worked for Fish & Wildlife. They had an elk reserve where we fed the elk hay, just enough in the wintertime so they wouldn't go into the apple orchards to eat. I also worked with Big Horn Sheep and salmon recovery and did surveys of woodpeckers, harlequin ducks and hawks. After I moved back here, I worked for Massachusetts Audubon Society at the Stonybrook Wildlife Sanctuary in Foxboro."
TEACHING HERE: "I'll be the education coordinator for classes from kindergarten to 10th grade. The education is geared to different age groups like the Adopt-a-Trout program in seventh and eighth grades. I'll be teaching Adopt-a-Watershed at the high school. The high school has just started a new environmental science class where they started raising quahogs."
HOBBIES: "I'm a big birder. I go windsurfing down at Fogland Beach. I kayak in the Sakonnet River and Westport River."
by peggy aulisio
paulisio@eastbaynewspapers.com
