December 2, 2005: Headlines: COS - Namibia: Cavalierdaily.com: Tina Schuster served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia
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December 2, 2005: Headlines: COS - Namibia: Cavalierdaily.com: Tina Schuster served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia
Tina Schuster served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia
"When you leave the country, you start to define who you are because you are out of your usual contact," Schuster explained. Schuster also described the sense of fulfillment to be gained. The Peace Corps "was something I knew I'd be proud of doing," Schuster said. "It seemed like an adventure."
Tina Schuster served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia
Tough love
University students volunteer for Peace Corps; overcome challenges to help others
Daniel Reinish, Cavalier Daily Staff Writer
A creatively designed curriculum may be able to bring diversity from the outside world to the students in the classroom, but some members of the University community have chosen to try this the other way around.
[Excerpt]
For Schuster, the Peace Corps was an opportunity to help define her future.
"I was looking for some more direction about what I wanted to do when I came back," she said.
Schuster did in fact find this direction, she explained, for she later entered the Education School after discovering she wanted to be a teacher.
"When you leave the country, you start to define who you are because you are out of your usual contact," Schuster explained.
Schuster also described the sense of fulfillment to be gained.
The Peace Corps "was something I knew I'd be proud of doing," Schuster said. "It seemed like an adventure."
[Excerpt]
Schuster's initial challenge was convincing her parents to let her go. She said both her parents were very nervous and tried to talk her out of it.
She laughed as she recalled that her mother was also very worried about her previous decision to study abroad in Ireland.
"Now I look back at Ireland," she said, trailing off.
Schuster served primarily as an English teacher for grades eight to ten. She said she also had the challenge of teaching three periods of physical education for girls without any equipment.
Like Hildt, Schuster had to accustom herself to a new culture and style of living.
"I didn't want to say, 'This is what Americans do because we're right,'" she said.
One example of this tension, according to Schuster, was recognizing that women in the culture did not have a lot of power even though this tended to contribute to a large HIV/AIDS problem.
Schuster said she also had to adjust to constantly being stared at.
"You were a novelty," Schuster said. "I went jogging one day and every car driving by thought something was wrong. It was a strange concept to see someone jogging."
One thing that really stood out for Schuster about the Namibians, she said, was how musical they are.
"They sing to keep themselves busy," she said.
She described one situation where she attempted to give the punishment of singing the school song in front of the class. Schuster said every student then called out, "I wanna do it!"
Schuster also said she discovered that their culture was much more laid back.
"In American culture, we're always so go-go-go," she said. "I live by my watch and pack a million things into a day."
In Namibia, it was OK to sit outside and watch the cows go by or to take a short nap because it was too hot outside, Schuster said.
Schuster also noted significant revelations about her own country upon returning home.
"I walked into a grocery store and saw a whole aisle devoted to dog food," Schuster said. "It was such a weird concept," she thought at the time, for so many actual people didn't have enough to eat.
On a more positive note, she said she was pleasantly surprised at all the flags and patriotism she encountered when she came back to the United States. The events of 9/11 had occurred while she was away.
When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
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Gaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9. |
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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. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject. |
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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. |
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Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
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170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
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Story Source: Cavalierdaily.com
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