Sara Robertson and Michael Yocum recently returned from about two years in the Dominican Republic



The couple was sent to the village of Guayajayuco in February 2004. They lived in a simple Peace Corps house surrounded by a variety of plants and left their door open for about 12 hours a day to accommodate the constant stream of children, 10 at any given time, who would throw rocks at the door until it opened. The attention was partly a result of the friendly Dominican culture. “People sit out on their front porches and visit,” Robertson said. “Whatever they’re cooking, they send some to their neighbors.”

Sara Robertson and Michael Yocum recently returned from about two years in the Dominican Republic

A world not their own
Couple donates time to serving the Peace Corps
By Nate Poppino
Times-News writer

TWIN FALLS — When it came to the western United States, finding a Peace Corps recruiting event was hard for Sara Robertson and Michael Yocum.

So the married couple took advantage of the technology they would soon leave behind and signed up using the Internet.

Robertson, 31, a Twin Falls native, and Yocum, also 31, from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., recently returned from about two years in the Dominican Republic, where they replaced dirt floors with concrete, installed water filters and helped with many other development and education projects in villages in the area.

The two were among 64 Peace Corps volunteers from Idaho serving worldwide last year. Since the organization was founded in 1961, 1,088 Idahoans have served in it.

“I think both of us liked the idea,” said Robertson, the daughter of Twin Falls lawyer J. Evan Robertson. “We’ve both been kind of fortunate in life.”

The couple was sent to the village of Guayajayuco in February 2004. They lived in a simple Peace Corps house surrounded by a variety of plants and left their door open for about 12 hours a day to accommodate the constant stream of children, 10 at any given time, who would throw rocks at the door until it opened. The attention was partly a result of the friendly Dominican culture.

“People sit out on their front porches and visit,” Robertson said. “Whatever they’re cooking, they send some to their neighbors.”

The couple’s final project was installing the cement floors in homes in the nearby villages of Pashutico, Villiguin and Carata. The project cost about $13,000, Yocum said, and was initially funded by community groups in the Dominican Republic. When that money ran out, the couple turned to their home country for help.

The two received grants from several foundations, but what they are most proud of is the response they got from Twin Falls residents: $6,700 for the last village, donated mostly by Twin Falls people.

“The response from people here was overwhelming,” Robertson said. “I was very impressed. It was easily fully funded.”

Unfortunately, Robertson’s time in the country was cut short by a broken foot suffered in a wreck.

She returned to the United States in February and had surgery in Washington, D.C., before moving to her father’s house in Twin Falls. Yocum was allowed two weeks off to be with her during the surgery, but then returned to the village until May 18 to finish the project.

The accident didn’t ruin the experience for the two, however, who say they hope to visit the village again someday.

“What’s nice about the DR is it’s close,” Yocum said. “We talked to one (volunteer) from Africa who said, ‘I’m never going to see those people again.’”

When this story was posted in June 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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