It was fulfilling helping hundreds of women and young girls over a period of two and one-half years. The people loved me, and I loved them. I found the Ukrainians to be hard working, loving, caring and just all around good people. They appreciated all that I did for them, and I so appreciated the opportunity to help them. I came home with lots of love in my heart for so many of the people there, especially those I was able to help. I was touched by these people and remain so to this day.
Ukraine RPCV Lynn Jarrett writes: For many years I'd thought about going to the Peace Corps, and about three to four years before retiring at 60, I set a goal for myself and applied to fulfill a longtime dream
Peace Corps life in Ukraine, Nepal, and West Indies
February 25, 2011|THERESA WALKER
As the Peace Corps celebrates its 50th anniversary, we asked members of the Orange County Peace Corps Assn. to tell us a little bit about their experiences as Peace Corps volunteers. Here's what some of them shared.
[Excerpt]
Lynn Jarrett, 70, of Laguna Woods, served in Ukraine from 2001 to 2003. She retired as a technology manager at the Union Tribune in San Diego and then joined the Peace Corps:
For many years I'd thought about going to the Peace Corps, and about three to four years before retiring at 60, I set a goal for myself and applied to fulfill a longtime dream. Since older volunteers usually have a long medical history, it took a while to get through the approval process. After acceptance, I was so excited to be sent to Ukraine, where I ended up in February 2001.
With my MBA education and long years of experience in the publishing and IT field, I knew that I could prove useful. I was assigned to a Women's Center in Lviv, Ukraine, and flourished in many areas that were useful to the people there. I was able to advise many women in the city with their small business endeavors. I also found that the proposal writing I did during my career was very valuable in attaining grants for the Women's Center where I was assigned.
I helped train women and teenage girls in classes like resume writing, business planning, marketing and more that would help them get jobs and/or become entrepreneurs. This would give them expertise and keep them from being unemployed. And some from even becoming trafficked to other countries.
I was able to write proposals that led to several of the women from the center getting all-expense-paid trips to the U.S. to speak at various universities or conferences. And I was instrumental in helping students obtain scholarships to U.S. universities. This type of work was as fulfilling for me as it was for them.
The Women's Center was housed on the campus of a university, so I was able to make a great many contacts that allowed me to help a lot of people that I may not have been able to help otherwise. The networking that I did in Ukraine was valuable in being able to bring higher level people to the Women's Center for seminars, speeches and consultation.
At one point when I found out that U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby was coming to Lviv, I contacted the embassy lawyers who helped me persuade Sen. Shelby to visit the Women's Center. This was really a coup. Can you imagine a U.S. Senator coming to a small NGO somewhere in the U.S.? He was really a hit, and he and his wife enjoyed their visit there. In fact, he wrote me a letter when he returned to the States, saying that his time at the center was the best part of his trip to Ukraine!
I formed an English class on late Friday afternoons with local high schoolers who would come to my flat for English practice, games, American movies and social interactions. The city had nowhere for teenagers to congregate and socialize. Most of these teenagers had never spoken to a foreign person before, so they were happy to get to practice their English with someone other than their Ukrainian English teacher.
They really looked forward to Friday afternoons at my place, and their English improved remarkably. Working with these young people was a fun part of my time there even though it was secondary to my main assignment.
It was fulfilling helping hundreds of women and young girls over a period of two and one-half years. The people loved me, and I loved them. I found the Ukrainians to be hard working, loving, caring and just all around good people. They appreciated all that I did for them, and I so appreciated the opportunity to help them. I came home with lots of love in my heart for so many of the people there, especially those I was able to help. I was touched by these people and remain so to this day.
