2008.04.15: April 15, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Tunisia: Staff: Deputy Directors - Olsen: Flyer News: For Jody Olsen, the first step to a better understanding of America is gaining trust in a foreign country

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Tunisia: Special Report: Peace Corps Deputy Director Jody Olsen: 2008.04.15: April 15, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Tunisia: Staff: Deputy Directors - Olsen: Flyer News: For Jody Olsen, the first step to a better understanding of America is gaining trust in a foreign country

By Admin1 (admin) (ppp-70-135-9-78.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net - 70.135.9.78) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 11:05 am: Edit Post

For Jody Olsen, the first step to a better understanding of America is gaining trust in a foreign country

For Jody Olsen, the first step to a better understanding of America is gaining trust in a foreign country

For Olsen, the first step to a better understanding of America is gaining trust in a foreign country Jody Olsen, Deputy Director of the Peace Corps appointed by President George W. Bush, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia.

For Jody Olsen, the first step to a better understanding of America is gaining trust in a foreign country

Stander’s keynote speaker offers students inspirational Peace Corps memories
Jennie Szink
Assistant News Editor

For Dr. Jody Olsen, the hardest part of living away from home in a third world country isn’t sleeping behind mosquito nets or eating unrecognizable dinners.

The hardest part is wondering if she really is making a difference, if anyone in the community cares she is there.

“That’s the common thread of what holds the Peace Corps together,” said Olsen, the Peace Corps’ deputy director.

Olsen came to UD 9 a.m., Wednesday as the keynote speaker for the Stander Symposium and held a question and answer session at 10:30 a.m.

Olsen has spent 40 years with the Peace Corps and visited 80 countries. She said most of the world transformed over the years but one program keeps its original core.

“The essence of what Peace Corps is doesn’t change by country or by year,” Olsen said.

The Peace Corps’ mission is to have men and women serve two years in order to help interested countries meet their need for trained men and women, develop a better understanding of America and create a better understanding of the rest of the world.

For Olsen, the first step to a better understanding of America is gaining trust in a foreign country.

Olsen traveled to Namibia after their independence to evaluate Peace Corps’ volunteers’ performances. When she met with a local minister to find out how they were doing as teachers, he didn’t focus on that role. The volunteers had made a larger impact in a smaller way.

“It was the first time the Namibians had a non-local speak their language,” Olsen said. “It gave them a sense of pride.”

Olsen said appreciation for the Peace Corps will come soon after the volunteers’ expressed appreciation for the community. It took no more than a cup of chamomile tea in Tunisia to prove she had found place in her adopted family’s home. Though she had never expressed her distaste for their daily coffee, she arrived to the dinner table one day and found a cup of tea instead, waiting just for her.

That sense of making a difference is what kept Olsen in the Peace Corps. It’s also what moved the current 8,000 people to train and volunteer for the program.

“It’s kind of a guaranteed cool life,” said Jen Scherbauer, who applied to the Peace Corps. “It’s like a base for flying out for the rest of your life.”

Olsen said the Peace Corps is the perfect step for a student who might not know what’s next. The next 25 years don’t need to be planned in order for a community to care that there is help.




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: April, 2008; RPCV Jody Olsen (Tunisia); Figures; Peace Corps Tunisia; Directory of Tunisia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Tunisia RPCVs; Staff





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Story Source: Flyer News

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Tunisia; Staff; Deputy Directors - Olsen

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