April 8, 2005: Headlines: COS - Vanuatu: PCVs in the Field - Vanuatu: Vanuatu Online: Lucas Merrigan has spent more than a year living in a small village in Vanuatu without electricity or running water as a volunteer with the Peace Corps
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April 8, 2005: Headlines: COS - Vanuatu: PCVs in the Field - Vanuatu: Vanuatu Online: Lucas Merrigan has spent more than a year living in a small village in Vanuatu without electricity or running water as a volunteer with the Peace Corps
Lucas Merrigan has spent more than a year living in a small village in Vanuatu without electricity or running water as a volunteer with the Peace Corps
Lucas Merrigan has spent more than a year living in a small village in Vanuatu without electricity or running water as a volunteer with the Peace Corps
Vanuatu - Not a single luxury
By Matt McKinney South Idaho Press correspondent
Posted Friday, April 8, 2005
Caption: Lucas Merrigan, left, of Paul, and his friend "Domelip" prepare some freshly caught fish on the island of Ambrym, in Vanuatu. Merrigan, 24, has spent more than a year living in a small village without electricity or running water as a volunteer with the Peace Corps.
Minico grad dedicated to helping villagers in the South Pacific
PAUL-USA. Despite having no lights, no phone, no motor cars, Lucas Merrigan, of Paul, is finding life on a remote island in the South Pacific very satisfying.
Like many young people, after earning a degree in history from the University of Idaho in 2003, Merrigan wasn't sure what to do with his life. But he knew he didn't want to return home to teach or to be a third-generation farmer.
While in college, Merrigan had heard a lot about the Peace Corps. Considering that it was a good way to see the world, learn about other cultures and help people, he joined up.
Merrigan, a 1998 Minico High School graduate, said he wanted to share what he had growing up with people in another country who hadn't been so fortunate.
Fans of the reality television program "Survivor" will remember the series filmed a season at Vanuatu from June to September of 2004.
The Peace Corps is a federal agency that seeks to bring aid and enrichment to developing nations. Volunteers are sent out with three goals in mind: to learn the culture of the land and to help the people therein, to teach them about American culture and to return to the United States and share the other nation's culture here.
Merrigan was sent to Vanuatu in March 2004. He has been visiting his family in Paul during a short vacation and returns to the small country, comprised of 83 islands situated between Australia and Fiji, today.
Fans of the reality television program "Survivor" will remember the series filmed a season at Vanuatu from June to September of 2004.
Peace Corps volunteers in Vanuatu tried to challenge the "Survivor" cast to some sort of contest, but nothing came of it. Merrigan said it's a good thing the contest never materialized because the volunteers would have "made them look bad."
Merrigan is finding life in the Peace Corps so satisfying he plans to extend his service by a year or more once his current tour of duty is finished in 14 months.
"Your first priority in life should be happiness," Merrigan said.
His parents, Patrick and Linda Merrigan, are supportive and proud of their son, but say limited contact, due to Vanuatu's remoteness, has been a major adjustment for the whole family.
The island of Ambrym, where Merrigan is living, has no electricity or running water. Merrigan has a satellite phone for emergencies, but usage is very expensive. Other than mail, which takes a long time to reach the remote island, Merrigan can get in touch with his family only when he travels to the capital, Port Villa, by boat or airplane. Phone rates there are less prohibitive and Internet access is available.
"I'm extremely proud of him," Patrick Merrigan said. "I think that's something that will stay with him the rest of his life. I'm impressed he'd make that decision to devote his time to help another people."
Lucas' mother agrees.
"I think it's a wonderful opportunity. I wish I'd done it," she said.
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Story Source: Vanuatu Online
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Vanuatu; PCVs in the Field - Vanuatu
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