Four years ago my son, Andy, then a senior at Kent State, informed me he was seriously considering joining the Peace Corps after college. I responded instantly - and negatively - with all the motherly reasons that it was a bad idea. Eventually I relented, and resigned myself to letting go, as all parents must do
Overseas trip has far-reaching effects
By Kathy Thompson
The Coshocton Tribune
Newark, Ohio
May 29, 2005
It's a small world - a familiar phrase that was brought home when I had the privilege to witness how hands from Coshocton County are reaching around the world.
Sometimes international connections begin in the most unlikely way, and this is part of what makes life such a daily adventure.
Four years ago my son, Andy, then a senior at Kent State, informed me he was seriously considering joining the Peace Corps after college. I responded instantly - and negatively - with all the motherly reasons that it was a bad idea. Eventually I relented, and resigned myself to letting go, as all parents must do.
I was not thrilled when Andy's Peace Corps assignment was in the Philippines, which is considered the most dangerous country in Southeast Asia. However, I realized many mothers find themselves with no control of the places their sons and daughters are sent. He departed overseas in July 2002, leaving family and many friends to miss and worry about him.
Andy's degree from Kent State is in education, and in the Philippines he was assigned as a teacher and curriculum advisor in Vigan, a town in the northern part of Luzon, the largest of the country's 7,100 islands. After three months of culture and language training near Manila, Andy took the 12-hour bus ride to Vigan where he lived with a family consisting of a widow and her five children. The nearest American was another Peace Corps volunteer who was stationed approximately four hours away.
Despite the fact that I knew Andy was living in a third-world country without running water or refrigeration, 33 months was too long for me to go without seeing my son. Thus, after a year's absence, my husband Scott and I made the 22-hour flight half-way around the world to visit Andy and the Philippines.
In our nine days in the country, we had numerous new experiences. We watched a glorious sunset over the South China Sea, we viewed a dog being cooked in a large pot (yes, they do eat dog) and we saw women doing the family's laundry on a rock in the river.
Through all these adventures, which included strange language, transportation and food, I was delighted to find something familiar - a Rotary Club!
As a member of the Coshocton Rotary Club, I was aware there are 31,000 Rotary clubs in 167 countries around the world. Yet somehow I never imagined that Andy's village of Vigan would be home to one of these. While we were in Vigan, we met with several Rotary club members at their president's home. They gave us marienda (snacks) and Coca Cola, and we exchanged club banners and stories about our respective group's service projects.
The Vigan Rotary Club members had met Andy at his school, where the club was interested in helping with a project to add bathrooms. This high school serves a large area in the province surrounding Vigan and houses approximately 6,000 students, whose school day spans eight hours. Amazingly enough, all of these students are served by a mere six toilets - that is not rest rooms, but the total number of toilets. The result, quite naturally, has been the necessity for students to find other venues for their toileting needs - whatever those might be.
Unfortunately, the Vigan Rotary club had relatively few funds to help the situation. When I learned of the need, I promised the Filipino Rotarians that I would mention the plight of the Vigan schools to the Coshocton club. This I did and the Coshocton board voted to lend a hand. Thus an international connection was made between the Vigan and Coshocton Rotary clubs.
Coshocton Rotary was already in the process of working to provide a water well in the African country where Amy Helmick of Warsaw is serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. The bathroom project in the Philippines seemed to be a natural extension of this outreach mission.
The project was coordinated in Coshocton by Rotarian Kevin Pyle, who worked with Rotary International and the Vigan Rotary Club. Even with the convenience of e-mail, oftentimes communication with Vigan was difficult, with language and interpretation barriers. Kevin persevered, however, and the project progressed, albeit slowly.
A week before Andy's return to the United States in March of this year, the paperwork through Rotary International was finalized and approved. As a result, the Ilocos Sur National High School in Vigan, Philippines, will soon have an additional six toilets for student and teacher use, and another 12 toilets will be installed in other elementary schools in Vigan, where similar needs have been identified.
In mid-June, members of the Vigan Rotary club will be visiting Coshocton, meeting their benefactors and connecting once again with Andy. International understanding and cooperation can be enhanced one person and one organization at a time. Helping hands are reaching across the world, and the Coshocton Rotary Club, which has always been extremely active and involved in our local community, has also responded to needs on the other side of the globe.
"Service Above Self" - this is the Rotary motto that could indeed double as the mission of the Peace Corps. In a world filled with fear and trouble, caring, committed individuals are indeed making a difference, both abroad and right here at home.
