My time in Azerbaijan has been both difficult and challenging, but in a good way. I know I will face many struggles in my remaining 20 months in Azerbaijan, but Kansas City has prepared me well. I descend from a long line of frontiersmen and farmers from northwestern Missouri — tough, hard-working, independent people. People like me; people like you.
Peace Corps Volunteer Rachel Carter writes: I am writing this letter from 10 time zones away in my bedroom in Akhsu, Azerbaijan
KC dreams, hard work travel well on my mission overseas
By RACHEL CARTER
Special to The Star
More News
To my dear friend Kansas City, from your daughter in Akhsu.
You and I have known each other for more than 26 years now. I was born in Kansas City in 1983, at Research Hospital. My father carried me through the January snow to bring me to my first home on Pennsylvania Avenue. Many of my happiest memories are of Kansas City — spending spring days at Kauffman Stadium, shaking Bill Clinton’s hand at the Matthew Tucker Race in 1992, meeting Elvis Costello at the Midland Theatre, and seeing concerts at the Uptown Theater.
Now I am gone, and I miss my old friend. This past September I left my comfortable, happy home to serve 27 months as an English teacher in the Peace Corps.
I am writing this letter from 10 time zones away in my bedroom in Akhsu, Azerbaijan. For those of you whose geography is a little rusty, Azerbaijan is a little country about the size of Maine that is comfortably nestled between Iran, Russia, Georgia and the Caspian Sea.
Despite its perhaps unfortunate geographic location, Azerbaijan is a wonderful country. Like Kansas City, Akhsu is full of friendly, welcoming, kind-hearted people. But things are still very different for me here. This small town among the mountains has few of the modern conveniences that I am used to. In Akhsu, there are no movie theaters, no Chipotle, no supermarkets and no Internet. I do a lot of reading here.
I stay connected to my family and friends with my Azerbaijani cell phone, primarily with text messages. It really helps me stay in touch. Last November my father texted hourly updates about the presidential election to my cell phone, which I shared with my Azeri friends. I am quite certain that I was one of the first people in Azerbaijan to know that Barack Obama had been elected president of the United States. Politics aside, that was a really good day.
There are currently 102 Peace Corps volunteers in Azerbaijan, and four are from Kansas City. We came for many reasons, but mostly we came to show the world that Americans still carry the spirit of President Kennedy’s dream. They, like me, are trying to make a difference in a place far from Barry Road, or Brush Creek, or the Crossroads.
My time in Azerbaijan has been both difficult and challenging, but in a good way. I know I will face many struggles in my remaining 20 months in Azerbaijan, but Kansas City has prepared me well. I descend from a long line of frontiersmen and farmers from northwestern Missouri — tough, hard-working, independent people. People like me; people like you.
From time to time, take a moment to look around you. Really look. Appreciate how lucky and blessed you are to live in a wonderful city like Kansas City. Maybe it doesn’t look like anything special to you, but from the point of view of this Peace Corps volunteer, it is paradise on Earth.
Best wishes from Akhsu, Azerbaijan, to all the wonderful residents of the city I call home.
Rachel Carter, a Peace Corps volunteer, is from Parkville.
