“With all the stuff going on in the U.S., it’s probably just as safe there as it is here,” she said. “The Corps takes good care of them. They have state-of-the-art medical care. They've been doing it so long, they have it down.” Anne said there are also a lot of opportunities associated with serving in the Peace Corps. “There’s a program called Peace Corps Fellowship and she may try to go back and get her masters,” she said. “You can put Peace Corps time into your degree.” Though the service is all-volunteer, there is a minimal stipend involved, Anne said. Other than that, however, those who serve pretty much earn their wages like everyone else in Ethiopia. “They don’t want to bring any money — they want them to live as they live,” Anne said. “The philosophy is that this will be the only way they will be accepted in the community.”
Julia Anne Histed probably never imagined that someday she would be joining the Peace Corps and going to Ethiopia for two years
Peace Corps volunteer
to work 2 years in Ethiopia
Dream comes true
for Northeastern grad
By Toby Tate
Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Julia Anne Histed probably never imagined that someday she would be joining the Peace Corps and going to Ethiopia for two years.
Then again, maybe the 2004 Northeastern High School graduate did.
According to Julia’s mother, Anne Histed, her daughter has an adventuresome spirit.
“She backpacked across Spain, and also has been to Europe,” Anne said. “She enjoys the health field and she really wants to make a difference.”
Histed departed Wednesday for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she will receive three days of training. She will then go to her assigned town where she will live with a host family to become fully immersed in the country’s language and culture.
After acquiring the language and cultural skills necessary to assist her community, Histed will serve for two years in Ethiopia, living in a manner similar to people in her host country.
According to a press release from the Peace Corps, Histed joins the 225 North Carolina residents currently serving in the Peace Corps. More than 3,540 North Carolina residents have served in the Peace Corps since 1961.
Anne Histed said her daughter, who graduated from Appalachian State University this year with a bachelor of science degree in health promotion, went to a Peace Corps recruiter at the school and signed up. Anne said she didn’t think twice about her daughter’s safety overseas, even though she will be working with HIV/AIDS patients.
“With all the stuff going on in the U.S., it’s probably just as safe there as it is here,” she said. “The Corps takes good care of them. They have state-of-the-art medical care. They've been doing it so long, they have it down.”
Anne said there are also a lot of opportunities associated with serving in the Peace Corps.
“There’s a program called Peace Corps Fellowship and she may try to go back and get her masters,” she said. “You can put Peace Corps time into your degree.”
Though the service is all-volunteer, there is a minimal stipend involved, Anne said. Other than that, however, those who serve pretty much earn their wages like everyone else in Ethiopia.
“They don’t want to bring any money — they want them to live as they live,” Anne said. “The philosophy is that this will be the only way they will be accepted in the community.”
Volunteers are only allowed 50 pounds of luggage, Anne said, and transportation is provided on one condition.
“You have to bring a bicycle helmet, or you don’t get issued a bicycle,” she said.
Julia also had to get all her shots and apply for several visas.
“They have to get a whole new series of vaccinations in (Washington D.C.), and she has to take malaria pills the whole time she’s in Ethiopia,” Anne said. “They have about 12 different visas just in case they have to leave the country.”
Anne said one thing that surprises her is the lack of knowledge about the Peace Corps and its services.
“(Julia) told people what she was doing, and so many people don’t understand what the Peace Corps does,” she said.
Volunteers for the Peace Corps work in the areas of public health and HIV/AIDS awareness, many receiving support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program.
Volunteers serve in hospitals, regional health centers, village health centers, community organizations and HIV/AIDS resource centers where they provide quality prevention, care and treatment services. Currently, 30 volunteers are serving in Ethiopia, with 40 trainees expected to arrive in December 2008.
Anne said she knows of two other people who recently went to Africa as Peace Corps volunteers, and they all had something in common — they all went to kindergarten at the same school, grew up together and graduated from the same high school. They were also friends of her daughter, Julia.
“About three months ago, these three kids who all grew up together and graduated in the class of 2004 at Northeastern High School joined the Peace Corps at around the same time, and they’re all going Africa,” she said.
