2011.07.27: July 27, 2011: Octogenarian Millicent Agnor finishing first year of Peace Corps service in Romania

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Romania: Peace Corps Romania : Peace Corps Romania: Newest Stories: 2011.07.27: July 27, 2011: Octogenarian Millicent Agnor finishing first year of Peace Corps service in Romania

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Octogenarian Millicent Agnor finishing first year of Peace Corps service in Romania

Octogenarian Millicent Agnor finishing first year of Peace Corps service in Romania

Agnor said her first year teaching was a good one -- for her fourth- and fifth-grade students and for her. "They, and I, have grown in the experience," she said. The children and her school colleagues "have learned about a new and different culture through my American ways. And for sure, I have learned much from them." In addition to teaching English, Agnor helped introduce her school to the concept of after-school programs, with children lingering after classes to play English games. Other cross-cultural activities include hosting American family film nights, arranging email pen pals between her Romanian students and youngsters at Hudson Montessori School, and a weeklong summer creative arts camp. She also helped the school land a grant to build a science laboratory, to open in the fall. Also, to celebrate the Peace Corps' 50th anniversary, Agnor and more than 50 other volunteers gathered in early June to build a house in six days. The house was given to a couple with two children who had been living in a 230-square-foot room with no heat. Agnor said she regularly gets to chat with a couple of other Peace Corps volunteers who are within 35 miles of her location. "Strong bonds are built among volunteers that we trained with," she said. They support one another by talking about similar challenges and encounters.

Octogenarian Millicent Agnor finishing first year of Peace Corps service in Romania

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McClatchy-Tribune Information Services -- Unrestricted-

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Jul 25, 2011 (The Akron Beacon Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Millicent Agnor was busy raising a young family when John F. Kennedy issued his famous challenge: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Listening to that inaugural address, she thought, "Oh, yes, I believe in what you say," she said, "and I tucked that away for future consideration."

Half a century later, 80-year-old Agnor kissed her grown sons and grandchildren goodbye and ran off to Romania with the Peace Corps. She is the second-oldest of nearly 9,000 people serving in the corps.

''I was ready for a new challenge and experience,'' said Agnor, who has lived in Hudson, Lakewood and Millersburg, where she sold her home and quilting service business before embarking on her overseas adventure a year ago.

JFK established the Peace Corps within weeks of becoming president. Volunteers commit to spending 27 months abroad, aiding in the social and economic development of other countries while exchanging a better understanding of each other's cultures.

Agnor said she followed the Peace Corps' development throughout its history -- the program turned 50 this year -- and as a wife and mother, she did what she could to engage members of her family in learning about other people.

They hosted an exchange student from Italy while sending son Ross off to stay with a German family. Now Agnor's granddaughter is spending two weeks in Milan, Italy, with the family of their former exchange student.

In 2005, Agnor stepped out on her own, volunteering for a three-week Global Volunteers program in China, where she taught English.

"That was a fantastically positive experience," she said, and one that made her hungry for more.

In researching opportunities with the Peace Corps, her age was never a consideration, she said.

"I was in excellent health and physically active," she said.

Agnor arrived in Romania on May 18, 2010, with 44 other volunteers.

The first three months were spent training for the two-year stint that was to follow. That meant mornings learning the Romanian language and afternoons covering "health and safety issues, cultural understandings, historical perspectives, Peace Corps policies and procedures and teaching methods," Agnor said.

The Romanian government requested that all of the volunteers be put to use teaching English, and communities competed to get a volunteer.

By August, Agnor was given her assignment and began integrating into a rural village in the region of Moldovia, nestled in the Trotus River valley, one of four passes through the Carpathian Mountains.

"There is one business here, a gravel facility," she said, describing her community. "Most raise their own foods, have a cow or two, a few sheep and some chickens, and maintain a subsistence level of living. Most families have generations who have preceded them there. Wood is the fuel for either heating by central furnace or stoves."

Busy first year

Agnor said her first year teaching was a good one -- for her fourth- and fifth-grade students and for her.

"They, and I, have grown in the experience," she said. The children and her school colleagues "have learned about a new and different culture through my American ways. And for sure, I have learned much from them."

In addition to teaching English, Agnor helped introduce her school to the concept of after-school programs, with children lingering after classes to play English games.

Other cross-cultural activities include hosting American family film nights, arranging email pen pals between her Romanian students and youngsters at Hudson Montessori School, and a weeklong summer creative arts camp. She also helped the school land a grant to build a science laboratory, to open in the fall.

Also, to celebrate the Peace Corps' 50th anniversary, Agnor and more than 50 other volunteers gathered in early June to build a house in six days. The house was given to a couple with two children who had been living in a 230-square-foot room with no heat.

Agnor said she regularly gets to chat with a couple of other Peace Corps volunteers who are within 35 miles of her location.

"Strong bonds are built among volunteers that we trained with," she said. They support one another by talking about similar challenges and encounters.

Meanwhile, Agnor stays close with friends and family back home through the Internet and Skype.

"Although it has been difficult sometimes, I have not been truly homesick, but, yes, I miss family and friends," she said, and she's planning a trip home soon. But then she'll return to Romania to complete her second year of service.

"I understand from more experienced volunteers that the second year is easier. I can fully appreciate that because the end of this year is certainly more comfortable than the first months were," she said. "There's still work to be done, I have projects under way and I look forward to next year."

Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: July, 2011; Peace Corps Romania; Directory of Romania RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Romania RPCVs; Older Volunteers





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Story Source: McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Romania; Older Volunteers

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