October 6, 2005: Headlines: COS - Jamaica: Humor: Syracuse Post-Standard: Miguelina "Mickie" Cuevas Post heads to Jamaica in Peace Corps
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October 6, 2005: Headlines: COS - Jamaica: Humor: Syracuse Post-Standard: Miguelina "Mickie" Cuevas Post heads to Jamaica in Peace Corps
Miguelina "Mickie" Cuevas Post heads to Jamaica in Peace Corps
We arrived at Miami International with plenty of time before boarding our connecting flight to Kingston. The waiting area was virtually deserted, except for Cindy, my traveling companion, a young man slouched over a seat (looking as if he had partied too long and hard, wearing a white muscle shirt and green Army fatigues), and I. Fearing that everyone waiting in the same area might be traveling together, I whispered to Cindy, "I hoped he's not traveling with us."
Miguelina "Mickie" Cuevas Post heads to Jamaica in Peace Corps
On the Way to Peace Corps
By Miguelina "Mickie" Cuevas Post
Post-Standard
Syracuse, N.Y.
October 6, 2005
JFK Airport, Aug. 1, 1976. I had decided to join the Peace Corps earlier that year, requesting a leave of absence from my teaching position in New York City. I had gone through the pre-induction selection and training process in Chicago, and now on my way to Miami International to join the rest of the volunteers who comprised volunteer Group XVI, heading for two years in Jamaica, West Indies. I left relatives and friends behind and met a fellow volunteer from New Jersey who was experiencing mixed emotions as she faced a new adventure, while leaving her long-time boyfriend behind.
We arrived at Miami International with plenty of time before boarding our connecting flight to Kingston. The waiting area was virtually deserted, except for Cindy, my traveling companion, a young man slouched over a seat (looking as if he had partied too long and hard, wearing a white muscle shirt and green Army fatigues), and I. Fearing that everyone waiting in the same area might be traveling together, I whispered to Cindy, "I hoped he's not traveling with us."
Full of apprehension at the sight, I hoped that the young man was simply sleeping off a night of partying while waiting for another passenger, or perhaps too far "gone" to realize that his flight had left him. Much as I feared, the young man not only boarded the plane, but settled on the back of the plane where a larger group of fun-loving volunteers sat. Cindy and I settled comfortably closer to the center of the plane. She cried during most of the flight, while I listened to laughter coming from the back of the plane.
We arrived in Kingston that night, and settled into our temporary quarters in a Kingston hotel.
The next morning, we all gathered to begin our training. The disheveled young man was nowhere to be found. In his place was a good-looking, neatly dressed young man. I found out that he had remained at his farewell party too long the night before our departure.
We were married in Jamaica on Dec. 18, 1976, four months after our initial encounter. Our three daughters, the oldest of whom was born a year later in Jamaica while we were still in service, enjoy hearing about our initial encounter.
Miguelina "Mickie" Cuevas Post is principal at Owasco Elementary in Auburn; Kenneth Post is a mechanic at Nucor Steel Bar Mill. The couple also owns a family farm.
When this story was posted in October 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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| 'Celebration of Service' a major success The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here. |
| PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident" The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted. |
| Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. |
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Story Source: Syracuse Post-Standard
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Jamaica; Humor
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