Stephanie Knox returned from her assignment to New Zaire, West Africa, in February
Making a difference
By Mary Pickels
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, June 12, 2005
[Excerpt]
OPPORTUNITY ABOUNDS
An interest in acquiring a new language. A desire to give back, to make a difference at a relatively young age. A healthy sense of wanderlust.
Talk with a couple of returned Peace Corps volunteers, and one is likely to hear all three of those reasons for joining the international service agency. With humor and enthusiasm, they tell their tales, from living in isolated villages with few creature comforts, to the best methods of discouraging pickpockets.
After Stephanie Knox, 26, graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, in 2001 she became interested in serving in the Peace Corps. While an undergraduate focusing on environmental studies and international development, she traveled to Panama with a group of students.
"We found people with nothing," she said, "and they would give you everything they had. Seeing that was inspiring. I just sort of came to the decision I wanted to try doing something abroad."
Knox, originally from Allison Park, Allegheny County, returned from her assignment to New Zaire, West Africa, in February. She will spend the summer working with her brother, Will, 24, on an Idaho guest ranch.
Although she speaks French, the language of the government in West Zaire, she had to learn the local language, Zarma, as well. Knox said she gave some thought to the idea of committing to West Africa for more than two years.
"I knew nothing about New Zaire," she said. "Two-thirds of the country is in the Sahara. My friends and family were all very supportive. ... In terms of my personal safety, I felt safer there than at home."
She lived in a mud hut with no electricity. The heat often drove her outside to sleep. Although her title was environmental volunteer, she worked on many projects in her village of 500.
"I worked with gender development with the women, and started a seed bank with peanuts," she said.
The women borrowed the seeds, and were expected to return 1 1/2 times the amount they borrowed from their own crop. She also started a letter exchange program between the students in her Hampton High School French teacher's class and the elementary students with whom she worked.
"It was so much more rewarding than I could ever have imagined," she said. "For some of the students, it was the first letter they ever received in their lives, and it was from America."
