February 24, 2006: Headlines: COS - Dominican Republic: Married Couples: Hamilton Journal News: Lori and Brad Mills have spent roughly half their married life with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic
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February 24, 2006: Headlines: COS - Dominican Republic: Married Couples: Hamilton Journal News: Lori and Brad Mills have spent roughly half their married life with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic
Lori and Brad Mills have spent roughly half their married life with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic
“We didn’t have a refrigerator,” said Lori. “On a corner near our house was a small store. It sold small amounts of everything. For instance, people would bring their little bowls and buy 10 cents worth of sugar, along with a little of other things, then go home and cook it. “I learned to do that. And water was scarce. Water was like gold. When I got home to this country I realized what a luxury a hot bath is, and how good it feels to wash your hands in warm water.”
Lori and Brad Mills have spent roughly half their married life with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic
Hamilton couple call Peace Corps stint 'amazingÂ’ /2-25
HAMILTON — Lori and Brad Mills are back home in Butler County after spending roughly half their married life with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.
The Ohio State University grads were married in 2002.
“The Peace Corps was an amazing experience,” said Brad, “living in a different culture, speaking a different language.”
Both said the experience had a tremendous influence on their lives, one that will stay with them always.
The little village, called Batey, Santa Fe, Brad explained, “had formerly been used to grow and refine sugar. It was just outside a larger city.”
“We didn’t have a refrigerator,” said Lori. “On a corner near our house was a small store. It sold small amounts of everything. For instance, people would bring their little bowls and buy 10 cents worth of sugar, along with a little of other things, then go home and cook it.
“I learned to do that. And water was scarce. Water was like gold. When I got home to this country I realized what a luxury a hot bath is, and how good it feels to wash your hands in warm water.”
Lori, a graduate of Fairfield High School who holds a degree in occupational therapy from OSU, spent her days teaching teachers in a school for the deaf.
“Schools for the deaf are very rare in that country,” she said, “I worked with five teachers-in-training, helping them set up curricula for the deaf; I taught sign language and helped do such things as show how to build educational toys for the deaf.”
Brad, a civil engineer, was assigned to build latrines and put concrete floors in the small corrugated zinc-sided homes for the residents. Soon, he lost his disdain for building latrines, seeing how important they were to the health of the people; “I got so I was proud of them. Thought they looked pretty good.”
The Dominicans, who previously lived in dirt-floored dwellings, were involved in the construction work.
“It was important that they have a sense of ownership from having helped build,” he said. “The Peace Corps’ goal is to help people help themselves. And one of my main projects was helping build a community by showing folks how to organize. They called them Neighborhood Groups and they learned how organizing gave them more power to help themselves by knowing how to gain access to the government.
“It’s almost selfish, it makes you feel so good to help people. Lori saw the school for the deaf needed books and she organized a fund-raising thing and was able to put a library in.”
She wrote to her parents, Pattie and Don Tegge of Fairfield, and they rounded up some others to help and eventually delivered enough books to the school.
“It was very rewarding,” Lori said.
Then there was a little boy who needed eye surgery. His parents had never been out of the village; so Lori and Brad started seeking funds and working with the community to get him to a hospital.
“He was an important part of our stay there and being able to help him was an amazing opportunity,” Brad said. The youngster’s eyes are now healed and he is well.
The couple made lasting friendships while living among the people whose lives were so different.
“We are so proud of them,” said Lori’s mother. “They gave up good jobs in Columbus to go and do this.”
Now they’re back and ready to open a new chapter of their lives. Lori, who was the 1997 prom queen at FHS, is working in a pediatric clinic in Beaver Creek; Brad’s plans include coaching cross country at Hamilton High School. He will also be assistant track coach.
And they plan to live in an East Hamilton home that used to belong to Lori’s grandmother.
Contact Ercel Eaton at (513) 820-2168 or e-mail her at eeaton@coxohio.com.
When this story was posted in March 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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| March 1, 1961: Keeping Kennedy's Promise On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issues Executive Order #10924, establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency: "Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs. Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed--doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language. But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps--who works in a foreign land--will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace. " |
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| Paid Vacations in the Third World? Retired diplomat Peter Rice has written a letter to the Wall Street Journal stating that Peace Corps "is really just a U.S. government program for paid vacations in the Third World." Director Vasquez has responded that "the small stipend volunteers receive during their two years of service is more than returned in the understanding fostered in communities throughout the world and here at home." What do RPCVs think? |
| RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace Corps Timothy Ronald Obert has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer. "The Peace Corps has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law or standards of conduct established by the Peace Corps," said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. Could inadequate screening have been partly to blame? Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children. Read what RPCVs have to say about this case. |
| 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. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject. |
| PC establishes awards for top Volunteers 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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Story Source: Hamilton Journal News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Dominican Republic; Married Couples
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