2011.09.26: September 26, 2011: William Blakely Ruble serves as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana
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2011.09.26: September 26, 2011: William Blakely Ruble serves as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana
William Blakely Ruble serves as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana
I'm serving as a community capacity builder in a program dedicated to combating HIV/AIDS. My primary role has placed me in a clinic, assisting in systems strengthening and information management. The clinic I'm working in is severely understaffed and has an infrastructure that desperately needs improvement. Outside the clinic, I spend a lot of my time teaching English at a local primary school. I have a class of around 30 kids who are 11-13. While my work at the clinic is important, teaching is becoming my passion. As a volunteer, I need to be able to see visible change so I know that my time is well spent. Seeing a child take an active interest in learning helps me through the difficult days of service.
William Blakely Ruble serves as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana
The Peace Corps celebrates five decades
Who from here is serving over there
By Dick Hughes
SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 11:42 a.m. Comments (0)
[Excerpt]
William Blakely Ruble, Spartanburg
Serving in the Peace Corps has been one of my goals since I was 15. I would daydream about living in another culture and not only of having the chance to serve but also taking the opportunity to grow as a person.
I knew from the onset it would be one of the greatest challenges of my life. I knew Peace Corps service would come with all kinds of struggles. These include overcoming cultural barriers, dealing with loneliness and separation, and leaving behind the things I love the most.
Today, I'm a Peace Corps volunteer in Mahalapye, Botswana, and I can honestly say service is every bit as hard as I imagined.
I'm serving as a community capacity builder in a program dedicated to combating HIV/AIDS. My primary role has placed me in a clinic, assisting in systems strengthening and information management. The clinic I'm working in is severely understaffed and has an infrastructure that desperately needs improvement.
Outside the clinic, I spend a lot of my time teaching English at a local primary school. I have a class of around 30 kids who are 11-13. While my work at the clinic is important, teaching is becoming my passion. As a volunteer, I need to be able to see visible change so I know that my time is well spent. Seeing a child take an active interest in learning helps me through the difficult days of service.
Every day of service comes with its own challenges. However, embracing these challenges allows volunteers to participate in an amazing journey of self-discovery. I've never been more challenged, nor have I ever felt so in touch with myself.
William Blakely Ruble, 23, began his two-year commitment in April. William is a graduate of Dorman High School and Wofford College.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: September, 2011; Peace Corps Botswana; Directory of Botswana RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Botswana RPCVs; South Carolina
When this story was posted in November 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Peace Corps: The Next Fifty Years As we move into the Peace Corps' second fifty years, what single improvement would most benefit the mission of the Peace Corps? Read our op-ed about the creation of a private charitable non-profit corporation, independent of the US government, whose focus would be to provide support and funding for third goal activities. Returned Volunteers need President Obama to support the enabling legislation, already written and vetted, to create the Peace Corps Foundation. RPCVs will do the rest. |
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
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Story Source: Journal Watchdog
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Botswana
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