It was hard at first, finding a way through the government bureaucracy of Barbuda, getting the people to accept them, learning what they could do to help. But in the end, they're glad they went. The decision was made years ago around the dinner table, when the couple talked about life. "Life goes in cycles," Sharon said. "You go like crazy about one thing for a while, and then it changes. We wanted to do something different when we retired." When James suggested the Peace Corps, Sharon said she was excited. "I remember a story in my grade school paper about the Peace Corps, and I saved the story through the years. It was something I always wanted to do." So they signed up. There were three months of training in the corps, covering social issues, literacy, health and safety. Then, they were flown to the tiny island 650 miles southeast of Haiti. When they got off the plane and saw the island, one of the first thoughts was "What are we doing here?" "We asked ourselves that many times in the first six months," James said. "But once we got to know the people and how to work through the government, things turned around."
James and Sharon Muir served in the Peace Corps in the Eastern Caribbean in Barbuda for two years
Peace Corps gives couple the ‘perfect opportunity'
by Mike Peters
When most of us retire, we look forward to taking it easy, do a little fishing maybe, taking off our shoes and relaxing.
But not James and Sharon Muir.
When James retired from his job as property manager for the city of Fresno, Calif., Sharon semi-retired as an accountant. And then they went to work: two years in the Peace Corps.
Two years on a small 7-mile-by-13-mile island in the Caribbean, where the temperatures stayed above 90 most of time, and the people were poor and wary of strangers.
Now they're home in Greeley.
It was hard at first, finding a way through the government bureaucracy of Barbuda, getting the people to accept them, learning what they could do to help. But in the end, they're glad they went.
The decision was made years ago around the dinner table, when the couple talked about life.
"Life goes in cycles," Sharon said. "You go like crazy about one thing for a while, and then it changes. We wanted to do something different when we retired."
When James suggested the Peace Corps, Sharon said she was excited. "I remember a story in my grade school paper about the Peace Corps, and I saved the story through the years. It was something I always wanted to do."
So they signed up.
There were three months of training in the corps, covering social issues, literacy, health and safety. Then, they were flown to the tiny island 650 miles southeast of Haiti. When they got off the plane and saw the island, one of the first thoughts was "What are we doing here?"
"We asked ourselves that many times in the first six months," James said. "But once we got to know the people and how to work through the government, things turned around."
They had to find their own assignments - the way they could help the people the most - and James began teaching woodworking and computer skills to the older children and some adults, while Sharon reactivated the island residents' sewing, cooking, and arts and crafts, and also helped them with their computer skills.
Even with the poverty, the island residents had cell phones, televisions and computers.
"It was kind of hard at first, " James said, "starting a woodworking class without any wood, but we found some broken up furniture, and we began making things from that."
Eventually, James used his own money to buy lumber for the students.
The people themselves don't have much money. The government brings income by selling sand and rocks from the island landfills. They then pay the working residents about $80 per week. The Muirs found that the food and other items on the island were expensive because they had to be shipped in.
The highlight for Sharon was her lessons on the steel drums (55-gallon metal drums played with sticks) and her experience playing with the steel drum orchestra on the island.
But two years on the island were draining.
"It was more difficult than we expected," Sharon said. "At times it was mentally and physically exhausting."
And now, their advice to anyone considering the Peace Corps? Do it.
"It was a terrific experience," Sharon said. James called it "the perfect opportunity to do something good."
The couple met in California over the Internet and married seven years ago. Sharon grew up in Greeley, where her father, David Reichert, worked at the University of Northern Colorado.
After they married, after they retired and after the Peace Corps, they decided they would come home to Greeley. They're living on the west edge of Greeley in a house her father built.
And if you ask, they'll bring out all the photos, the arts and crafts and albums and memories of the little things that made their Peace Corps experience unforgettable.
Staff writer Mike Peters' column about Weld County people appears Mondays in The Tribune. His humor column, the Gnarly Trombone, appears Saturdays.
