July 5, 2005: Headlines: COS - Nepal: COS - Sri Lanka: Tsunami: Daily Press: Just one year after returning from a Peace Corps tour of Nepal where he helped the Women Skills Development Project establish a textile industry, Darren Defendeifer stepped off a plane and onto the tsunami-devastated soil of Sri Lanka
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July 5, 2005: Headlines: COS - Nepal: COS - Sri Lanka: Tsunami: Daily Press: Just one year after returning from a Peace Corps tour of Nepal where he helped the Women Skills Development Project establish a textile industry, Darren Defendeifer stepped off a plane and onto the tsunami-devastated soil of Sri Lanka
Just one year after returning from a Peace Corps tour of Nepal where he helped the Women Skills Development Project establish a textile industry, Darren Defendeifer stepped off a plane and onto the tsunami-devastated soil of Sri Lanka
Defendeifer was among the first wave of relief workers to arrive in Sri Lanka. He, along with seven other Crisis Corps volunteers, plans to help initiate reconstruction efforts on the island. Over the next two months, the Peace Corps will send 22 others to join Defendeifer's team.
Just one year after returning from a Peace Corps tour of Nepal where he helped the Women Skills Development Project establish a textile industry, Darren Defendeifer stepped off a plane and onto the tsunami-devastated soil of Sri Lanka
Lending a hand far from home
A veteran aid worker from Poquoson journeys to Sri Lanka, where the effects of last year's tsunami are far from resolved.
BY JULIE HAGY
247-4753
Published July 5, 2005
Caption: Before traveling to Sri Lanka, Darren Defendeifer helped shop workers in Nepal set up a handbag industry as part of his Peace Corps work .
POQUOSON -- Judith Defendeifer has a collection of brightly colored handcrafted cotton purses from Nepal that she didn't pay a cent for. In fact, someone flew across the country, walked up to her front door and handed them to her.
That was her son.
Earlier this month, just one year after returning from a Peace Corps tour of Nepal where he helped the Women Skills Development Project establish a textile industry, Darren Defendeifer stepped off a plane and onto the tsunami-devastated soil of Sri Lanka.
Defendeifer, of Poquoson, is part of the first-ever team of Crisis Corps volunteers sent by the Peace Corps to assist Sri Lanka in recovering from December's disaster.
Defendeifer was among the first wave of relief workers to arrive in Sri Lanka. He, along with seven other Crisis Corps volunteers, plans to help initiate reconstruction efforts on the island. Over the next two months, the Peace Corps will send 22 others to join Defendeifer's team.
The Crisis Corps was created in 1996. Since then, nearly 600 volunteers have responded worldwide to natural disasters as well as to AIDS and HIV epidemics. Currently, Sri Lanka and Thailand are the only nations where Crisis Corps volunteers are helping with disaster relief.
For the next six months, Defendeifer will help to reestablish small businesses in Trincomalee, a town on the northeast coast of Sri Lanka.
His work could range from rebuilding boats to helping restaurants and vendors re-establish clientele, said Peace Corps spokesman Nathan Arnold.
Defendeifer is used to this kind of work. A 2002 graduate of Old Dominion University, Defendeifer, in a 2002-2004 Peace Corps tour, applied his master's in business administration to help women in Nepal establish a handbag industry. He credits his experience working with the Nepalese people with heightening his interest in humanitarianism.
"I applied for Crisis Corps ... after my tour ended in Nepal because of the excitement, interest, and gratification that comes with doing this kind of work," Defendeifer wrote in an e-mail from Sri Lanka.
"Darren is definitely one of the better qualified people we have," Arnold said. "He has the business skills necessary to go to Sri Lanka and help them get their feet back on the ground.
All Crisis Corps members have previous Peace Corps experience. Defendeifer's group in Sri Lanka is operating in a partnership with the Peace Corps and World Vision, an international relief organization.
After the 2004 tsunami, there was a lot of assistance coming into Sri Lanka, Arnold said. "Now the novelty sort of wore off, and these people still need to rebuild lives."
"I have no personal fear taking on this project," Defendeifer said in his e-mail. "My only concern is doing a good job and leaving a legacy of work behind that will benefit the people of the district where I am posted."
When this story was posted in June 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Daily Press
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