Kelly Meeker will be in Mali
Healdsburg woman leaving home for 27-month stint in the Peace Corps
Kelly Meeker will be in Africa after training
By Nathan Wright, Staff Writer
Kelly Meeker had what her mother calls "a very macho Christmas."
The 23-year-old Dry Creek Valley resident unwrapped a U.S. Marine survival kit, a Leatherman utility knife, a solar powered battery charger, a satellite radio, and lots of Kool-Aid.
Meeker will include all of her gifts in her government regulated 80-pound pack next month when she leaves home for a 27-month journey in the Peace Corps.
"I'm nervous, I'm excited," Meeker said. "It's equal parts. It's going to be an adventure."
Meeker leaves for the Peace Corps on January 17, but isn't sure where she'll be living for the next two years. She'll be trained in Mali for three months, but the government-run program does not inform its volunteers where they'll be serving until after they've left U.S. soil. She has been told that she will be serving in Africa.
"It's a scary thought that you don't get to pick where you go," she said. "You're surrendering a lot of control to a big government bureaucracy."
The Peace Corps currently has 7,500 volunteers in 137 different countries all over the world. The program, established in 1961 by President Kennedy, has sent 170,000 volunteers to foreign soil in the past 43 years.
Wherever she ends up, Meeker knows she'll be doing forestry and soil conservation work, and all members of the Peace Corps participate in HIV/AIDS education.
Meeker was introduced, and ultimately decided to join, the Peace Corps while attending college at Georgetown University. The Jesuit institution stresses service, and she quickly warmed to the idea of joining the humanitarian effort.
The program will also help Meeker in her future aspirations of working in development policy for the United States government. "They say, to get into it, you either go into the military or join the Peace Corps," she said. "I didn't want to go into the military."
She's looking forward to representing her country in Africa, offering a foreign community a face not associated with the United State's current military operations. "I'm proud to be an American, doing work that will be helpful and useful," she said.
Meeker brings a diverse background to the Peace Corps. A southern California native, she moved to Sonoma County after she graduated from high school when her family decided to focus on its winery. She graduated from Georgetown with a degree in Science Technology and International Affairs, which she says combines policy with hard science.
After finishing school she moved back to Sonoma County and worked at the Meeker family winery as the bookkeeper and in the cellar during harvest. Her parents are sad to see her go, but are also excited.
"It's a wonderful organization and we hope the very best for her," mother Molly Meeker said. "This is going to be a life altering experience. It's something she will take with her for the rest of her life."
Both parents are concerned that she won't be near a telephone and communication will be sparse. "She's going to have to put up with a lot of inconveniences in able to serve," her mother said.
"And none of it seems to concern her," added father Charlie Meeker.
