February 20, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ivory Coast: COS - Afghanistan: Minority RPCVs: African American Issues: Montgomery Advertiser: Shannon Olive joined the Peace Corps in 1998 and spent more than two years in west Africa's Ivory Coast
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February 20, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ivory Coast: COS - Afghanistan: Minority RPCVs: African American Issues: Montgomery Advertiser: Shannon Olive joined the Peace Corps in 1998 and spent more than two years in west Africa's Ivory Coast
Shannon Olive joined the Peace Corps in 1998 and spent more than two years in west Africa's Ivory Coast
"This is what you are supposed to do with your life," he says. "Give to others. Your life is potentially threatened anywhere, but if I died tomorrow, I would have no regrets and I would do it all over again. I'm helping out mankind and wouldn't have it any other way."
Shannon Olive joined the Peace Corps in 1998 and spent more than two years in west Africa's Ivory Coast
Shannon Oliver aims to make a difference
By Topher Sanders
Montgomery Advertiser
Caption: Shannon Oliver, shown in Afghanistan, has circled the globe as a humanitarian worker for the Peace Corps, The Carter Center and Catholic Relief Services.
Shannon Oliver's life sounds like a best-selling spy novel, complete with desert nomads, historic earthquakes, sex trafficking, European skinheads and even alleged CIA connections.
But there is nothing sinister about Oliver. The Tuskegee native has circled the globe as a humanitarian worker for the Peace Corps, The Carter Center and Catholic Relief Services.
"I'm from a small town in Alabama," he said. "I really wasn't exposed to the world. I really wasn't exposed to any culture outside of African-American culture."
Fresh from earthquake relief in Pakistan, Oliver is spending a few days with his family in Tuskegee. He has spent the last eight years working in nearly every corner of the world for the good of mankind.
Oliver, 31, was bitten by the humanitarian bug shortly after graduating from Tuskegee University in 1997. He joined the Peace Corps in 1998 and spent more than two years in west Africa's Ivory Coast.
"I really wanted to travel and I really wanted to learn a foreign language," he said. "Plus, it was a chance to give back to the world."
He worked alongside villagers in huts without running water or electricity. He even stayed in Africa after his commitment was over.
"I drove all the way to the Sahara desert and I stayed with nomads and camels," he said. "I just hung out in the desert for three months."
Oliver's mother, Farestine Smith, said she could see a change in her son when he got home from Africa.
"Just like most Americans are, he was kind of wasteful of food, but after his Peace Corps experience, I saw him wrap up a half a piece of cornbread to save for the next day," she said. "He just saw the world differently, and the things we take advantage of he no longer did."
Oliver landed a job with the The Carter Center in late 2001 and went to the war-torn Sudan to help fight disease.
"We were there helping to eradicate the guinea worm disease, a water-borne disease people get from drinking stagnant water," he said.
All the traveling he had to do for the job made some in the country question his motives.
"One of the leading factions in south Sudan thought I was CIA because I was traveling from north Sudan," he said. "They refused to let me provide aid in their region of the country."
A few years later, he was in Sierra Leone providing emergency assistance in a pediatric hospital and refugee camp with Doctors Without Borders.
He then went to Serbia to study sex trafficking for his master's degree.
"We were trying to come up with a national referring mechanism so that all the actors who come in contact with abducted sex trafficking victims will know how to treat and take care of them," he said.
Oliver said situations sometimes got dicey.
"I had an incident with skinheads in Serbia," he said. "But that kind of stuff is part of doing this work."
Smith said she fears for her son at times.
"I'm very proud of Shannon; he has a very compassionate heart," she said. "Sometimes I'm a little afraid for him but I know he is doing good work."
Oliver is now a project manager for Catholic Relief Services in Pakistan. He traveled to Pakistan after the October earthquake that devastated parts of the country. He plans to return to the Middle East late next month.
"We create shelter kits for people to help get people through the winter and gave them instruction on how to build homes that will better withstand an earthquake.
Leadership with Catholic Relief Services praised Oliver's work.
"The commitment that he shows and his willingness to learn about local cultures help to endear him to the people he works with and that can't be replaced," said Sean Callahan, vice president overseas operations for the organization. "CRS is lucky to have him."
Oliver is happy about the work he does.
"This is what you are supposed to do with your life," he said. "Give to others. Your life is potentially threatened anywhere, but if I died tomorrow, I would have no regrets and I would do it all over again. I'm helping out mankind and wouldn't have it any other way."
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Story Source: Montgomery Advertiser
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ivory Coast; COS - Afghanistan; Minority RPCVs; African American Issues
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