2006.10.08: October 8, 2006: Headlines: COS - Guatemala: Immigration: Daytona Beach News-Journal: Torrey Peace's friends told her not to go to Guatemala as a Peace Corps Volunteer but she's glad she didn't listen
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2006.10.08: October 8, 2006: Headlines: COS - Guatemala: Immigration: Daytona Beach News-Journal: Torrey Peace's friends told her not to go to Guatemala as a Peace Corps Volunteer but she's glad she didn't listen
Torrey Peace's friends told her not to go to Guatemala as a Peace Corps Volunteer but she's glad she didn't listen
Her job was to help the people in her town make better use of funds from immigrants working in the United States. "It is interesting to see the other side of the situation," she said. "That is, the fear of failure and lack of opportunity drives people to the U.S., where they believe they will have a better life." Peace met many people who had not seen their mothers, fathers, sisters for more than 10 years because they couldn't get a tourist visa, yet without the U.S. funds being sent, Sija and the economy of Guatemala would suffer.
Torrey Peace's friends told her not to go to Guatemala as a Peace Corps Volunteer but she's glad she didn't listen
Volunteers will always have a piece of the Peace Corps
By NICOLE SERVICE
Staff Writer
[Excerpt]
Seeing the other side
Caption: Torrey Peace dressed in "Traje," the traditional dress of Guatemala. Photo: Fred Peace
Torrey Peace's friends told her not to go.
They said Guatemala was too dangerous, that it wasn't the place to be a Peace Corps volunteer, but the 26-year-old DeLand resident didn't listen.
And she's glad she didn't.
Peace described her time in San Carlos Sija, a tiny Guatemalan town of 2,000 people, as one of the most rewarding experiences of her life.
"By the end of the two years I felt like I knew the majority of the people," Peace said. "Everyone was very friendly, and even more what struck me was their generosity."
People she barely knew would invite her to dinner and give her food. Someone even loaned her a gas stove to use during her stay.
"How is it that a country known to have so little can give so much?" Peace said.
Her job was to help the people in her town make better use of funds from immigrants working in the United States.
"It is interesting to see the other side of the situation," she said. "That is, the fear of failure and lack of opportunity drives people to the U.S., where they believe they will have a better life."
Peace met many people who had not seen their mothers, fathers, sisters for more than 10 years because they couldn't get a tourist visa, yet without the U.S. funds being sent, Sija and the economy of Guatemala would suffer.
"It was a challenge which proved too complex for me to resolve during my service," she said.
Peace joined the Corps two years after getting a business degree at the University of Florida. She was working in an entry level position for a big company, contemplating her future.
"I wanted to go back to school, but decided it was too expensive," Peace said. "I had always been fascinated by the idea (of the Peace Corps) and when I found out I would be going to Central America, I decided to do it."
For two years from 2004-06, she lived in an adobe house with 12 chickens and an apple tree in her backyard. For the first year, she was the only "gringa" in the area and achieved a kind of celebrity status -- something with its advantages and disadvantages.
"When you want to go to the store a block away and to get there you have to talk to three or four people for 15 minutes, what would be a five-minute trip in the states easily became an hour," Peace joked.
Her new challenge as she returns to the U.S. is to educate her fellow Americans.
"I carry back these lessons with hope that gringos can learn that Guatemala, in many ways, is just as much a land of opportunity," she said.
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Headlines: October, 2006; COS - Guatemala; Immigration
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Story Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Guatemala; Immigration
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