Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Maury Sterns can be contacted at maurysterns2000ayahoodcom
Country of Service: Venezuela
Training Group: University Education
Cities you served in: Maracaibo
Arrival Year: 1962
Departure Year: 1964
Work Description: University Education and Community Development
Bring us up to date on your life after the peace corps:
Completed PhD in Human Development at University of Chicago;
taught at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada; taught and
conducted research in Brazil. Have been involved in international
training work for the past several years; currently at the World Bank in
Washington, D.C. where I manage our Executive Developmnent
Program and do a lot of team-building facilitation in particular
Bank/Client teambuilding in the field. Have been back to Venezuela
twice since Peace Corps days. Just completed 17 years on the Board
of Directors of the National Peace Corps Association where I served as
Vice President and as Secretary and I continue to serve as Chair of the
Awards Committee.
Any thoughts you have now looking back on peace corps days?:
I look back on Peace Corps sojourn as "golden days" It gave me great
perspective on my own country as seen through the eyes of others. I
developed friendships that persist even today. I take special pride in
having established a School of Re-Education at the National Prison and
a Program where blind adults teach blind children in the Maracaibo
community, as well as university classes I taught. I also recall how
many Venezuelans, including strangers, came up to me to convey
condolences after JFK's assassination. It was touching and made me
feel almost like it was a loss in my immediate family.
Originally posted: October 3, 2001
