2007.03.03: March 3, 2007: Headlines: COS - Nicaragua: Muskegon Chronicle: Peace Corps Volunteer Sarah Hawley shares tales of Nicaragua
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2007.03.03: March 3, 2007: Headlines: COS - Nicaragua: Muskegon Chronicle: Peace Corps Volunteer Sarah Hawley shares tales of Nicaragua
Peace Corps Volunteer Sarah Hawley shares tales of Nicaragua
Working in the Peace Corps changes a person, Hawley suggested. "I think it was Gandhi (who) said, 'You must be the change you wish to see in the world.' "The PC offers a chance to experience another culture, to learn a language, to understand development, but more so to realize that just one smile from a Nicaraguan, because you tried to carry a bucket of water on your head like them but ended up all wet, does make a difference." Those smiles will be hard to escape, Hawley said. When she returns home to the U.S. in 2008, she said, "all of Nicaragua will follow me -- the laughter, the kind-hearted people and the simple joy of conversation. Nicaragua and the people will always hold a place in my heart and I hope to share them with the rest of the world." In the meantime, Hawley said, her dream continues to be that the people will come to call her "Nica" -- the shorthand term for a resident Nicaraguan.
Peace Corps Volunteer Sarah Hawley shares tales of Nicaragua
Corps volunteer shares tales of Nicaragua
Saturday, March 03, 2007
By Clayton Hardiman
chardiman@muskegonchronicle.com
By Clayton Hardiman
chardiman@muskegonchronicle.com
In the countryside of northern Nicaragua, the sun makes a magnificent alarm clock -- and so do the chickens. When they rise, Sarah Hawley rises with them.
"I like to take a morning walk," she said. "The view is like nothing else in the world."
What happens next is never predictable and always an adventure. On some days, she says, she helps mill the corn and make tortillas. On other days, she takes up her machete and goes out chopping firewood.
She teaches children. She helps haul water. She bakes rosquias, a sweet delicacy. She sorts through garbage.
It may sound as if a judge has sentenced Hawley, a 22-year-old graduate of Grand Valley State University (studying journalism and Spanish) to hard labor. But this is what Hawley has been dreaming of for most of her life.
"The Peace Corps has always been on my mind," she said. "There are so many paths in life, and it was just a matter of getting to the point where I could adventure into the PC."
When Hawley received notification of her assignment, she said, she was so excited she could barely bring herself to open the envelope.
"The first thing I did was run to the world map hanging in the bathroom and scout out my new country," she said. "I knew absolutely nothing about Nicaragua, and my Spanish was rusty."
After their training, when she and other volunteers specializing in agriculture boarded a bus and headed north into the campo, or countryside, another revelation awaited.
"The difference between the city and the campo is incredible and really shows the huge division between poverty and the rich," Hawley said.
Hawley attended Hart Public Schools before graduating from Lakeshore Academy. She also attended Muskegon Community College.
In a sense, she was raised for the Peace Corps. Not that she was following a family tradition. There were no grandparents who had served in the corps, no older siblings.
But her parents had always preached the joy of service, whether it meant handing out groceries at the food pantry or pounding nails for Habitat for Humanity.
And "as a small-town farm girl, working hands-on and outside is best," Hawley added. "Nothing was ever a direct influence. I think it was just interpreting class material, information (and) reading about poverty and living in luxury."
By luxury, Hawley said, she meant having such things as running water and electricity. These are not things you can count on, particularly in Nicaragua.
"In my site, there is no water and no electricity," Hawley said. "Something that made me really step back and think was that without these two necessities, the people are still happy. They constantly smile and thank God daily."
Hawley has incorporated herself into their lives. She works with a group of children, and what they do varies from one day to the next. Sometimes they plant tree nurseries. On other occasions, Hawley and the children sort through refuse the children have collected, saving what is reusable and burning what is not.
"It is sort of a competition that I created ... and we will have prizes at the end," Hawley said. "I created this with the hope of teaching them about protecting the environment and their health."
The impact Hawley is having on this far-away land is no surprise to her mother, Kathy Hamilton of Hart.
"Sarah's always been an ambitious person," Hamilton said. "I'm very, very proud that she is willing to make these sacrifices. And she says it's not a sacrifice because it's such a learning experience."
When Kurt Troutman learned Hawley was in the Peace Corps, he wasn't surprised either. "I talked with her a few times about it," he said. "She was just one of our favorite students."
Hawley cited Troutman, an instructor of international relations at Muskegon Community College, as a particularly strong influence.
He "really encouraged thinking about development and diplomacy," Hawley said. "He really opened my eyes even further to the possibilities beyond our borders."
From 1993 to 1995, Troutman was a Peace Corps volunteer himself.
In his two years in Lesotho, a small landlocked country entirely surrounded by South Africa, Troutman, too, worked to help the residents, primarily "raising chickens and digging wells," he said.
Thinking about it, Troutman laughed. "I grew up in Detroit," he said. "I thought chickens were raised in plastic packages.
"I really tried to bring home those values," he added.
Working in the Peace Corps changes a person, Hawley suggested. "I think it was Gandhi (who) said, 'You must be the change you wish to see in the world.'
"The PC offers a chance to experience another culture, to learn a language, to understand development, but more so to realize that just one smile from a Nicaraguan, because you tried to carry a bucket of water on your head like them but ended up all wet, does make a difference."
Those smiles will be hard to escape, Hawley said.
When she returns home to the U.S. in 2008, she said, "all of Nicaragua will follow me -- the laughter, the kind-hearted people and the simple joy of conversation. Nicaragua and the people will always hold a place in my heart and I hope to share them with the rest of the world."
In the meantime, Hawley said, her dream continues to be that the people will come to call her "Nica" -- the shorthand term for a resident Nicaraguan.
About the Peace Corps
* The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries.
* The Peace Corps was officially established March 1, 1961 as an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship. This week, ending Sunday, is celebrated as National Peace Corps Week.
* Since that time, more than 187,000 Peace Corps volunteers have been invited by 139 host countries to work on issues ranging from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation.
* Peace Corps volunteers typically serve for two years.
Joining the Peace Corps
Recruitment number is (800) 424-8580 or visit www.peacecorps.gov.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: March, 2007; Peace Corps Nicaragua; Directory of Nicaragua RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Nicaragua RPCVs
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Story Source: Muskegon Chronicle
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