"Community development" could mean a lot of things. You could argue I did community development building a school and a well in sub-Saharan Togo. Maybe that's what Dave will do. I wondered why Dave joined the Peace Corps. Every now and then I talk to a young Free Press staffer who claims to be thinking of joining the Peace Corps. I always urge them to do it. They never do. They can't break themselves away from what they think are burgeoning careers in journalism. Too bad. They are missing out on an amazing experience. What I hear from them is this: "If I take two years off, I might never get back into journalism." Like many PCVs, Dave Hannon seems to have decided to put Peace Corps service ahead of career.
Togo RPCV Joel Thurtell writes: Dave Hannon is training for community development as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan
Salem grad in Peace Corps brings back Togo memories
September 2, 2007
By the time you read this, 21-year-old Dave Hannon of Plymouth Township will be two weeks into training for some kind of community development job in Kazakhstan. The recent Michigan State University alum and 2003 graduate of Salem High School signed up for a two-year hitch in the Peace Corps. He arrived in Almaty, Kazakhstan's biggest city, on Aug. 21.
Incidentally, while I don't know Dave, my younger son Abe does. They ran on former coach Geoff Baker's track and cross-country teams.
I wasn't able to reach Dave by e-mail at press time. He may not have access to a computer. His mom, Jean Hannon, said all the new PCVs (shorthand for Peace Corps volunteer) were being taken to someplace outside the big town, probably for orientation or maybe the beginning of language training. I plan to write another story about Dave after I hear from him.
Meantime, his mom tells me she's not sure what "community development" means. Dave has a degree in international relations. Maybe he'll put it to use by helping Kazakh business people better understand western ways of doing business, she said, adding that she really doesn't know. But he might be teaching.
I wasn't much help. I was a PCV once upon a time. But I was on another continent -- Africa -- and it was a long time ago.
"Community development" could mean a lot of things. You could argue I did community development building a school and a well in sub-Saharan Togo. Maybe that's what Dave will do.
I wondered why Dave joined the Peace Corps. Every now and then I talk to a young Free Press staffer who claims to be thinking of joining the Peace Corps. I always urge them to do it. They never do. They can't break themselves away from what they think are burgeoning careers in journalism. Too bad. They are missing out on an amazing experience. What I hear from them is this: "If I take two years off, I might never get back into journalism."
Like many PCVs, Dave Hannon seems to have decided to put Peace Corps service ahead of career.
Why?
"I'm not sure," his mom told me. "It's hard to put into words. Part of it was it was a good opportunity to do now in his life rather than later. He thought it was an opportunity for him both to be able to give back to other communities and also to grow and learn and stretch himself as a person. I think he saw this as an opportunity to go out and really try something that is different."
In Togo, we lived in dirt houses with no electricity or running water. We used an outhouse. Our water came from holes dug in the ground which we called wells.
Dave knows how to rough it, too, if it comes to that. He was a counselor at a backpacking camp in New Mexico one summer. But his assignment is in a spot with lots of heavy industry and well-developed farming; I suspect life will not be primitive.
Not having heard from her son since he left, his mom is boning up on the history, culture and geography of Kazakhstan.
It's nearly four times the size of Texas. It has a long border with China, and is doing lots of business with China. In the north is western Siberia, where it gets pretty cold. In the south, it can go up to 105 degrees. In the west, there's a long coastline on the Caspian Sea.
The country has vast natural resources, including minerals, gas and oil. Ninety-eight percent of the people can read and write.
Dave packed lots of long underwear in case he goes to Siberia. And he took shorts and summer clothes as well. He has no idea where his post will be.
Contact JOEL THURTELL at 248-351-3296 or thurtell@freepress.com.
