2007.02.12: February 12, 2007: Headlines: COS - Kiribati: Uvalde Leader-News: John Peterek and his wife, Mica Clark-Peterek to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers in Kiribati
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2007.02.12: February 12, 2007: Headlines: COS - Kiribati: Uvalde Leader-News: John Peterek and his wife, Mica Clark-Peterek to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers in Kiribati
John Peterek and his wife, Mica Clark-Peterek to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers in Kiribati
The couple will be education volunteers, an extension of their careers in Uvalde, where John was coordinator of youth ministries at St. Philip's Episcopal Church and Mica taught at Dalton Early Childhood Center. “John will be working in a secondary school, like a junior high school, an I will be working in a primary school, like an elementary school,” said Mica. “We will be working on teaching, curriculum lessons plans and co-teaching.” She said both of them would be working with other teachers and other educators. In addition to his work as director of spiritual formation and outreach at St. Philip's Episcopal Church, John Peterek also formed SkateUvalde with parents, concerned local business people and a group of young skateboard enthusiasts in 2004 with the goal of building a skateboard park at Memorial Park with the blessings of city council.
John Peterek and his wife, Mica Clark-Peterek to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers in Kiribati
Uvalde couple volunteers for Peace Corps
Posted: Monday, Feb 12, 2007 - 08:47:50 am CST
by Margaret Palermo - Staff writer
John Peterek and his wife, Mica Clark-Peterek are on their way to what promises to be an interesting, rewarding adventure - the couple has been invited to the Republic of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean as Peace Corps volunteers.
“It's an island nation made of up 33 coral atolls,” said John Peterek, who, with his wife, was at the Leader-News office for an interview Tuesday. “There are three sets of distinct islands: the Gilbert Islands, the Line Islands and the Phoenix Islands. We'll be working in the Gilbert Islands.”
He said Kiribati is at the intersection of the Equator and the International Dateline in the area termed Micronesia north of Fiji.
“There was a World War II battle there on Tarawa, the capital city island,” he said.
The couple will be education volunteers, an extension of their careers in Uvalde, where John was coordinator of youth ministries at St. Philip's Episcopal Church and Mica taught at Dalton Early Childhood Center.
“John will be working in a secondary school, like a junior high school, an I will be working in a primary school, like an elementary school,” said Mica. “We will be working on teaching, curriculum lessons plans and co-teaching.”
She said both of them would be working with other teachers and other educators.
In addition to his work as director of spiritual formation and outreach at St. Philip's Episcopal Church, John Peterek also formed SkateUvalde with parents, concerned local business people and a group of young skateboard enthusiasts in 2004 with the goal of building a skateboard park at Memorial Park with the blessings of city council.
Mica Peterek taught pre-kindergarten at Dalton. “I worked at Benson Elementary School for one year and have been with Dalton for three years,” she said in an interview Tuesday.
She said education where they are going is compulsory until eighth grade.
“You have to pass a standardized test to qualify for higher grades,” John said.
Learning a new language may or may not pose a problem for the pair. “Official languages of the country are I-Kiribati and English,” said Mica.
Language not withstanding, it's not going to be an easy life for the couple. John said they will be living on an outer island, possibly without electricity or running water.
“It's all extinct volcanoes with coral grown on top,” he said. “That's what an atoll is.
“We'll get a living wage while we're there, enough to buy food and clothes, about $24 a month. We will also get a readjustment allowance upon our return based on our time of service.”
Mica, a graduate of Ray High School in Corpus Christi and The University of Texas at Austin, said she wanted to get a wider worldview, and had a relative who worked with the Peace Corps and Volunteers In Service To America. “My aunt was in the Peace Corps in South America and did some work for VISTA. A lot of people are saying, ‘Isn't that kind of a hippie thing to do?'”
John graduated from Gonzalez High School in Gonzalez and from Texas Lutheran University in Seguin before coming to Uvalde. “I want to live in a different country,” he said of his interest in joining Peace Corps.
Asked how they thought the experience would change their lives, both had answers that showed they had given the matter a lot of thought.
“It's going to change our perspective,” said John. “It's one thing to go on vacation. It's another to live and immerse yourself in another culture for a period of two years.”
“Our goal is to get there and become part of the community, form relationships, work together and work within the community,” said Mica.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: February, 2007; Peace Corps Kiribati; Directory of Kiribati RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Kiribati RPCVs
When this story was posted in March 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Uvalde Leader-News
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