Amos said the landlocked country in southern Africa has a population of about 1 million and has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. According to data from the Ministry of Health, 42.6 percent of women seeking neonatal care tested positive for HIV, and the infection rate for adults is 26 percent. Amos has been adopted into a Swazi host family where she has her own one-room house, pit latrine and single electrical outlet. She said she carries her water in plastic jugs from a nearby water tank. "My host family is the most amazing part about living in Swaziland," Amos said in a news release. "I have 13 kids and a dog on my homestead, so I'm never alone. When I'm having a rough day, they remind me why I'm here." The homestead's mkhulu, or grandfather, has given Amos a Swazi name, Phindile Simelane, which she is known by in the community. Though Julie Amos said she worries about her daughter, who often has no phone, Internet service or electricity, she and her husband couldn't be prouder. She said her daughter may stay in Africa after her time with the Peace Corps is finished.
Peace Corps Volunteer Justine Amos said she never expected to call a hut in a rural Swazi village "home"
Topekan volunteers in Africa
Caption: Justine Amos, of Topeka, paints a map of Swaziland at the high school in the rural Swazi village where she is serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. Amos painted maps of Swaziland and the world on the walls in the courtyard of the school, which teachers use to educate local students, who can't afford textbooks.
By Adrielle Harvey
Created January 14, 2010 at 8:31am
Updated January 14, 2010 at 5:19pm
As a native Kansan, Justine Amos said she never expected to call a hut in a rural Swazi village "home."
Amos, a 2004 graduate of Washburn Rural High School, joined the Peace Corps in 2008 and has committed two years to voluntary service as a community health and HIV/AIDS educator in Swaziland, Africa.
"She has always been a take charge kind of person," said Julie Amos, Justine's mother. "Anything she sees that isn't right, even when she was little, she would jump in there and she would do whatever needed to be done to change things."
Though Amos expressed interest in international affairs through debate, forensics and an art history class in high school, and interest in the Peace Corps from an inspiring teacher, it wasn't until college that her passion really blossomed.
"She was involved in a lot of things," said Cindy Burgett, Amos' high school debate coach and teacher. "She lived a full life, full of energy. She's one of those people who exemplify that whole 'bloom where you're planted.' "
At American University in Washington, D.C., Amos majored in international development focusing on Africa and spent her junior year studying in Nairobi, Kenya, and Durban, South Africa. Upon returning to the United States, she devoted her senior year to figuring out plans to return to Africa.
In May 2008, Amos was accepted into the Peace Corps, a U.S. government-funded organization that sends volunteers abroad to assist in development.
"She just sees how much need there is over there, and she just really feels like she can do something to help," Julie Amos said.
Amos has begun a Peace Corps partnership project with an HIV-positive support group. Together, they will create a community vegetable garden and increase the community's access to clean water.
Support group members will cultivate maize, beans and vegetables in a large plot funded by Amos' project.
Amos' mother and father, Joe Amos, will be joining their daughter in Africa later this year for a visit, where they plan to help her with the community garden.
In addition to Amos' project, she teaches high school life skills classes, including HIV/AIDS education, self-awareness, reproductive health and sexually transmitted infections, peer pressure, and goal setting. Amos helps provide meals and preschool for orphans and other children at the local neighborhood care point. She also assists with the distribution of anti-retroviral treatment drugs at a local clinic and trains children's home staff on caring for HIV-positive children.
Amos said the landlocked country in southern Africa has a population of about 1 million and has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. According to data from the Ministry of Health, 42.6 percent of women seeking neonatal care tested positive for HIV, and the infection rate for adults is 26 percent.
Amos has been adopted into a Swazi host family where she has her own one-room house, pit latrine and single electrical outlet. She said she carries her water in plastic jugs from a nearby water tank.
"My host family is the most amazing part about living in Swaziland," Amos said in a news release. "I have 13 kids and a dog on my homestead, so I'm never alone. When I'm having a rough day, they remind me why I'm here."
The homestead's mkhulu, or grandfather, has given Amos a Swazi name, Phindile Simelane, which she is known by in the community.
Though Julie Amos said she worries about her daughter, who often has no phone, Internet service or electricity, she and her husband couldn't be prouder.
She said her daughter may stay in Africa after her time with the Peace Corps is finished.
Adrielle Harvey can be reached at (785) 295-1285 or adrielle.harvey@cjonline.com.
