In Pepeekeo, Cabell said the women set up housekeeping in a home economics room, while the men occupied a science lab. "So that's where we got our toothbrushing done," she said. "We had communal bathrooms. It was sort of like a high school gym - scorpions along the baseboard. It was wild. Forty-three years later, we still remember that." Cabell described PCV reunions as similar to a military veterans' gathering. "(We've) been through a stressful situation together," she said. "Even though we spent two and a half months there, it never wore off. We just pick up the conversation where we left off." Sherman said he enjoyed getting back in touch with the group. "After training, we were spread all over the Philippines," he said. "There was only one of these guys that was anywhere near me. You get put in a village and you're there for two years. You don't see anyone else." The experience allowed Mike Kaplan, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., who now lives in Greenville, S.C., to meet lifelong friends. "When you're away from home, fresh out of college, there's like an instant bonding that takes place," he said. "And although I only see these people once every five years, it really is family. It's a wonderful feeling."
Philippines RPCVs from 1966 reunite at training facility in Hawaii
Former Peace Corps volunteers reunite in Villages
By AZIA LI FORREST, DAILY SUN
Monday, November 2, 2009 12:38 AM EST
THE VILLAGES - Forty-three years ago, nine Peace Corps volunteers entered an abandoned school in Pepeekeo, Hawaii.
"We all looked and said, ‘Are you sure we are in the right place?'" recalled Chris Cabell, now a resident of northern Virginia. "There were 20 beds in each place, and the bed (was) one of those World War I Army cots with canvas strung between two posts. We (are not) talking Beautyrest."
That same nine volunteers - who have called themselves the "Pepeekeo Poopers" since the time they spent training together - recently reunited in The Villages.
Villager Gerry Sherman helped organize the event. Sherman has attended several PCV reunions throughout the years and believed his hometown would be the perfect location for a reunion.
"I've been telling them ever since the first reunion that this is the place," the Village of Santiago resident said. "And most of them didn't want to come here because, like everyone else who doesn't live here says, ‘Why would we want to have a reunion in an old people's home?' So I think (when they came here) they were a little overwhelmed.''
Sherman organized many activities to showcase Florida's Friendliest Hometown.
The former volunteers gathered as a group for a breakfast at TooJay's at Lake Sumter Landing, and took a Villages trolley tour.
"We had three of them at Katie Belle's after the Village Voice concert, and their drawers were just dragging on the floor," Sherman said.
Pepeekeo, Hawaii
In Pepeekeo, Cabell said the women set up housekeeping in a home economics room, while the men occupied a science lab.
"So that's where we got our toothbrushing done," she said. "We had communal bathrooms. It was sort of like a high school gym - scorpions along the baseboard. It was wild. Forty-three years later, we still remember that."
Cabell described PCV reunions as similar to a military veterans' gathering.
"(We've) been through a stressful situation together," she said. "Even though we spent two and a half months there, it never wore off. We just pick up the conversation where we left off."
Sherman said he enjoyed getting back in touch with the group.
"After training, we were spread all over the Philippines," he said. "There was only one of these guys that was anywhere near me. You get put in a village and you're there for two years. You don't see anyone else."
The experience allowed Mike Kaplan, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., who now lives in Greenville, S.C., to meet lifelong friends.
"When you're away from home, fresh out of college, there's like an instant bonding that takes place," he said. "And although I only see these people once every five years, it really is family. It's a wonderful feeling."
Joining the Peace Corps
Kaplan said he didn't plan to join the Peace Corps.
"It was the mid-'60s, and I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life," he said. "It permitted me to do good and also figure out where I go from here."
When he completed his service in 1968, Kaplan knew he wanted to teach.
"I taught in three states, two foreign countries, and for the last nine years, high school English," he said.
Kaplan's son Matthew followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Peace Corps. He's currently stationed in Samoa.
"In a three-month training period, the Peace Corps taught me skills that would help the whole country," Kaplan said.
Sherman said he applied for the Peace Corps on Nov. 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
At the time, he was a junior at the University of
Connecticut.
"My career goal was to be a college English professor," he said. "There was a Peace Corps recruiter - just by coincidence - on campus that week. It was an incredible shock. You felt hopeless, and you wanted to do something.
"The Peace Corps was one of Kennedy's babies, and I decided this was something I could do to show my caring for what was going on," he said.
In the Peace Corps, Sherman's job was training teachers to teach English as a second language, and also modern math - his strength.
"I hope I helped, but I know I got a lot more than what I put into it," he said.
In the Philippines, Sherman met his wife Freya, a native of the town he was assigned to.
"The Peace Corps is absolutely a life-changing experience," Sherman said. "I have no tolerance for Americans who think they are entitled to everything - people that I see on TV screaming, ‘This is my right, this is my right.' They have no clue what the rest of the world is like. Nothing will make you more appreciative of what we have here than living in another country. Especially a Third World country. It changes you forever."
Azia Li Forrest is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9069, or azia.forrest@the
villagesmedia.com.
