Michael's reply to another exPCV's comments about the Peace Corps' influence on our lives.
" I was a volunteer from 1974 -76 in Rio Grande do Norte. I was from Mississippi. I left my home and really never went back. Peace Corps for me, and for many of friends there, was an awakening. A realization that there is not one "universe" but many. It dawned on me on the beach, Praia do Futuro, in Fortaleza, Ceara, on a Sunday morning shared with good friends that I am part of a greater universe. Greater than my hometown or my family. Peace Corps may have been a right of passage but it was also an awakening to the world that existed beyond my horizon. I sometimes think of what my life would have been like without Peace Corps and I fear that it would have been so limited. Peace Corps opened my eyes and took me to a path that has been exciting and full of love and joy and hardship and pain but overall a magnificent experience. I was taken hostage at the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru in December 1996 and as we were threatened I thought back on my life and the things that mattered the most. I fondly remembered Peace Corps and the days in Rio Grande do Norte. I survived the hostage taking. I still work with the US Embassy in Peru and I still remember my days in Peace Corps. When you speak of Peace Corps and the experience we had, remember to say how many eyes were opened and how many paths were changed. Good luck." |
