2007.08.02: August 2, 2007: Headlines: COS - Madagascar: Belleville News-Democrat: Jill Welker spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Madagascar: Peace Corps Madagascar : The Peace Corps in Madagascar: 2007.08.02: August 2, 2007: Headlines: COS - Madagascar: Belleville News-Democrat: Jill Welker spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar

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Jill Welker spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar

Jill Welker spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar

'There were definite slow moments and quick moments,' Jill said. 'When you are busy and have a lot of projects, you feel like a local and you get caught up in their way of life. Time flies. Around the holidays, you hear something about your family at home, time drags and you wish you were somewhere else.' Language was a hurdle. 'For 2 1/2 months, I felt like a child, completely uneducated,' she said. 'I had no sense of language, no sense of culture. It was very humbling. 'Just being there is work. Going to the market. The struggles of everyday conversations.' At night, she'd tuck in her mosquito netting and turn out the lights. 'I dreaded mornings. I'd wake up and think, 'I am still here. Another day of this.' The coast is hot. People don't want to go to school.' Neither did she. Most mornings, she climbed on a bike and pedaled 2 miles. Teaching in a hot classroom with few resources was a challenge. 'It was hard being creative. Nothing prepared you like the actual experience. I wanted to let them see a different side of education. I wanted to be entertaining. I would draw pictures.' Every couple weeks, she shared stories with Peace Corps volunteers who lived in neighboring villages. 'It was nice to have that support system, to be able to let out all those frustrations with someone who can understand what you are going through.'

Jill Welker spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar

Into Africa Peace Corps teacher became one of the family in Madagascar

Belleville News-Democrat

August 02, 2007

* Original Belleville News-Democrat article: Into Africa Peace Corps teacher became one of the family in Madagascar Read the original story

Jill Welker is a year removed from her Peace Corps experience, but it's still a part of her.

The 1999 Belleville West grad spent two years (2004-2006) in Madagascar, a large island off the southeastern coast of Africa, where she taught English to middle-schoolers ages 9 to 17.

Her first stop there was a Peace Corps camp that acclimated her to the country, the people and the diet -- lots of rice. She lived 2 1/2 months with a young family before moving to a bedroom-size frame house near a seaport.

'I went to my town (Vohemar, population 8,000) on my own. It was on the northeast coast. That was the hardest thing I had ever done. Such heart-breaking loneliness.

'The first night when I turned on the light, there were geckos on the walls and hissing cockroaches. You've heard of the Madagascar cockroach?'

They were everywhere.

Jill, 25, who has long dark hair and a deep-dimpled smile, is back home, tutoring part-time for the International Institute in St. Louis and selling men's suits at JC Penney.

She sat at the kitchen table of her parents' home. Maky, her playful cat vied for attention as she paged through a photo album of her life in Madagascar -- sitting near a stream playing with children a friend washed clothes; her home-away-from-home, a small building framed by palm trees and partly hidden by tall orange flowers; standing in a doorway with her students, smiling boys dressed in light blue uniform shirts; Peace Corps friends, Madagascar friends.

'There were definite slow moments and quick moments,' Jill said. 'When you are busy and have a lot of projects, you feel like a local and you get caught up in their way of life. Time flies. Around the holidays, you hear something about your family at home, time drags and you wish you were somewhere else.'

Language was a hurdle.

'For 2 1/2 months, I felt like a child, completely uneducated,' she said. 'I had no sense of language, no sense of culture. It was very humbling.

'Just being there is work. Going to the market. The struggles of everyday conversations.'

At night, she'd tuck in her mosquito netting and turn out the lights.

'I dreaded mornings. I'd wake up and think, 'I am still here. Another day of this.' The coast is hot. People don't want to go to school.'

Neither did she.

Most mornings, she climbed on a bike and pedaled 2 miles. Teaching in a hot classroom with few resources was a challenge.

'It was hard being creative. Nothing prepared you like the actual experience. I wanted to let them see a different side of education. I wanted to be entertaining. I would draw pictures.'

Every couple weeks, she shared stories with Peace Corps volunteers who lived in neighboring villages.

'It was nice to have that support system, to be able to let out all those frustrations with someone who can understand what you are going through.'

Fellow teacher Victor Ranaivoson, a native of Madagascar, also made a difference.

'He helped me with the language,' she said. 'He understood I didn't think the same way. He provided emotional support, encouraging me when I had a bad day. He gave me insight into the culture.'

And became her best friend.

The tenacious Jill mastered the language after a year, learning jokes and slang. She even developed a 1,000-word dictionary in the local dialect to help her and her students.

Jill credits her high school teacher Cindi Thornycroft (now Oberle-Dahm) with sparking her love for travel. Jill was one of 15 students who accompanied the world history teacher to England and Ireland between Jill's junior and senior year.

The chance to study abroad is part of the reason Jill chose Webster University. The media communications major spent her junior year in London. While at Webster, she volunteered to tutor refugee and immigrant students at the International Institute in St. Louis for her religious studies class.

'I fell in love with helping others.'

She applied to the Peace Corps after graduation, requesting Africa or Eastern Europe. When she learned her assignment was Madagascar, she knew it was an island off the coast of Africa, that , but not much more.

Jill had a couple months to prepare for her two-year assignment.

'How do you pack for two years? You can't take the world with you.

'I took lots of pictures of my family.'

She came home for three weeks to attend her sister Jenny's wedding in 2005.

'I was anxious to get back (to Africa). I had just finished the first year. I was totally immersed in their life. I felt part of the community.'

She described Malagasy as a kind, giving people that looked at her with curiosity.

'I felt really welcome and safe. They're happy people. You will find that in a lot of places, even if they don't have much.'

She liked life's simplicity. 'Life is slow and no one rushed around.'

She compared her experience to what it must have been like growing up in America when life wasn't so grand.

'In my tiny, little house, there was enough room for a bed, a table. I had a toilet and a shower area. It didn't work, so I used a bucket.'

She looked forward to a call from her parents every Sunday.

After two years in Madagascar, she was ready for the comforts of home. She missed movies and everyday conveniences, such as laundry detergent and peanut butter. She missed fast food and frappacinos.

'It made me appreciate America so much more,' she said. 'It's something people can't learn until you live somewhere else.'

Copyright © 2007 Belleville News-Democrat, All Rights Reserved.




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Story Source: Belleville News-Democrat

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