Mollie McCurdy will leave for the island of St. Lucia, where she will train for a 27-month Peace Corps assignment



Mollie, a 2003 graduate of Cadillac High School, said that after spending her junior year in Brazil, she knew she wanted to work in the Peace Corps. That was the year she learned to rely on herself. She became fluent in Portuguese, made international friends through the Rotary, and became an avid world traveler. And although her host family was middle class, living in Brazil was her first exposure to “real” poverty, exposure that inspired her to pursue a degree that would enable her to work with impoverished populations.

Mollie McCurdy will leave for the island of St. Lucia, where she will train for a 27-month Peace Corps assignment

Cadillac, K-College grad joins the Peace Corps

By Mardi Suhs, Cadillac News

Caption: While studying in Spain, Mollie McCurdy took a break to go backpacking in Morocco. Here she is on a camel ride in the Sahara Desert. Photo courtesy of Mollie McCurdy

CADILLAC — After attending her brother’s wedding in Connecticut, where she will walk down the aisle in a strapless pink bridesmaid’s dress, Mollie McCurdy will hug her family goodbye and leave for the island of St. Lucia, where she will train for a 27-month Peace Corps assignment.

After her training she will live in poverty with a local population somewhere on an eastern Caribbean island. For two years she will work in community development with an emphasis on HIV/Aids education. The Caribbean, she said, is second only to “sub-Saharan Africa in the prevalence of Aids.”

She has been told to pack a short wave, battery-operated radio and duct tape. She should also take hiking boots and children’s books and crayons.

Mollie, a 2003 graduate of Cadillac High School, said that after spending her junior year in Brazil, she knew she wanted to work in the Peace Corps.

That was the year she learned to rely on herself. She became fluent in Portuguese, made international friends through the Rotary, and became an avid world traveler. And although her host family was middle class, living in Brazil was her first exposure to “real” poverty, exposure that inspired her to pursue a degree that would enable her to work with impoverished populations.

She chose Kalamazoo College so she could do two study-abroad programs, one in Mexico and one in Spain.

“My anthropology class traveled to little villages on the outskirts of a city in Mexico,” Mollie recalled. “I taught the children English and played games with them. I really liked that.”

After Mexico, Mollie spent six months studying in Spain.

With her degree in Human Development and Social Relations almost complete, she started interviewing with the Peace Corps last year to accept an assignment to live in poverty and “give people tools to help themselves.”

She said from her experience, living in those circumstances brings joy.

“I think I’m happier in those places,” she confessed. “It’s just a different value system than America. They value personal relationships and family and they can’t value material things as much as we can so small things matter more.”

“I just knew I wanted to do this,” she said of joining the Peace Corps after her June college graduation. “This was my plan in high school. Brazil was the biggest challenge of my life. Anything less than a year is a piece of cake so this two-year commitment is my next big challenge.”

Some Q&A

# What will you be paid as a Peace Corp volunteer?

You get a monthly stipend to cover bills, food and living expenses. Then, at the end, if you stay for two years, I’ve heard you get $6,000. This is to help you get back on your feet when you get back. You also are guaranteed a no-contest government job for a year.

# What about your safety? You are a young, blond American. Does this worry you?

I’ve stuck out in every country except Spain. You just make smart decisions and you are fine. I think anyone could be a target. They may think I have money. Hopefully I’ll be on a small island and they’ll figure it out soon enough. I’ve never had any problems although initially I might get more attention.

# During your two-year stay are you able to come back home?

I get two days of vacation every month. That equals 24 days a year. I’m going to try to save them to come back.

# During your travels around the world, what are the strangest things you’ve eaten?

Crickets! I had a cricket taco and it was really gross. You put them on the tortilla. I added some guacamole. I took a bite and said, no!

Another time in Brazil I was pouring out some chicken noodle soup and a claw came out, an entire chicken leg. It scared me. It looked like a baby’s hand.

I’ve eaten a worm in Mexico. We went to a tequila factory and they give you free samples and they said — who wants to try a worm and my friends and I did it. It was gross.

# Are you prepared to live in poverty with a local island population?

I was actually prepared to give up running water and electricity but with this assignment in the eastern Caribbean, they are a lot more modern than a lot of places. I’m lucky and I’ve been told I can actually take my computer.

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Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: July, 2007; Peace Corps Saint Lucia; Directory of Saint Lucia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Saint Lucia RPCVs; Peace Corps Brazil; Directory of Brazil RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Brazil RPCVs

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