Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hi, welcome to
today's episode of the
Optimistic Voices podcast.
I'm your host, yasmin Vaughn.
Today on the podcast, we willbe talking about the Peace Corps
and Peace Corps affiliateorganizations.
For those of you who areunfamiliar with the Peace Corps,
it is a program of the UnitedStates government that trains
(00:31):
and deploys volunteers toprovide international
development assistance.
Returned Peace Corps volunteers, or RPCBs, often join affiliate
organizations associated withthe country in which they serve.
Friends of Sierra Leone is aPeace Corps affiliate
organization for Sierra Leoneand they open their membership
to anyone who is interested inwork in Sierra Leone.
So Helping Children Worldwidejoined as a member about two
(00:53):
years ago and we found thisgroup to really be welcoming and
useful for us.
They are certainly ametaphorical cotton tree a
gathering place for people toshare thoughts, ideas and
memories of Sierra Leone.
Friends of Sierra Leoneactually just had their annual
conference this year inWashington DC, which was
graciously hosted at the SierraLeone Embassy.
(01:14):
This meeting was well attended,both in person and virtually,
and included presentations fromcurrent Peace Corps volunteers,
one of whom we're going to talkto today the National Peace
Corps Association, and both theSierra Leone Ambassador to the
United States as well as the USAmbassador to Sierra Leone, so
it was a really greatopportunity to hear from all
these different organizations.
(01:35):
Our guests today will betalking about the Peace Corps in
Sierra Leone, their experiencesas Peace Corps volunteers and
as RPCVs now, and the work thatNGOs can do to collaborate with
the Peace Corps.
Our first guest is Nat Kofi AbuBansara, a Peace Corps volunteer
currently serving in SierraLeone.
(01:55):
Nat is a dedicated humanitarianand international development
professional with over six yearsof experience in program
coordination, emergency responseand educational initiatives.
He has a Master of Arts inGlobal Affairs and Human
Security from the University ofBaltimore and he teaches English
and business English tosecondary school students in
(02:16):
Sierra Leone, while alsoactively engaging in community
development and culturalexchange.
His work in Sierra Leone as aPeace Corps volunteer focuses on
building capacity within localeducation systems and promoting
sustainable development throughcollaborative efforts.
His background includes rolesas serving in international
(02:37):
non-government organizations,where he coordinated program
activities and provided supportduring emergency.
He also has a lot of experiencein field work and strategic
planning that has equipped himwith a deep understanding of
global challenges and theimportance of empowering
communities through educationand innovation.
He's really passionate aboutfostering cross-cultural
(02:57):
understanding and leveraging hisskills to drive positive change
in underserved communities.
So welcome, nat.
Our second guest is returned,peace Corps volunteer and
current president of Friends ofSierra Leone, michael Lee.
Michael is currently amathematics teacher at Monmouth
Regional High School in TentonFalls, new Jersey.
He has been a volunteerfirefighter at the Northside
(03:19):
Engine Company in Tenton Fallssince 2008.
He has a bachelor's of arts inMathematics from the College of
New Jersey and right after hiscollege experience he joined the
Peace Corps.
During his two-year service inSierra Leone, he taught
mathematics and English tomiddle school students in
Bamotoke, a small village ofabout 200 people in the Moyamba
(03:41):
district of Sierra Leone.
After returning, michaelcompleted his Master's of
Education Administration fromLamar University, but he
continues to be in love with thepeople of Sierra Leone and is
excited to continue his servicethrough leading Friends of
Sierra Leone into the future.
So welcome our guests, nat.
(04:01):
I love it if you would start usoff by sharing a little bit of
the history of the Peace Corpsin Sierra Leone.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Thank you, Yasmin.
So Sierra Leone was among thesecond wave of countries to
receive Peace Corps volunteersin January of 1962.
A mere nine months after SierraLeone had declared its
independence from Great Britain.
Its first cohort was about 37volunteers, who were primary
(04:33):
school teachers, and later wasfollowed by an additional 70
volunteers in August.
Throughout the 1960s, the PeaceCorps in Sierra Leone
concentrated its efforts oneducation.
However, the scope in SierraLeone expanded in the late 1960s
and early 1990s to encompassagriculture, community
(04:56):
development and health care.
In all, over 3,500 volunteershave served in Sierra Leone
during this period of thecountry's growth.
In 1992, though, the SierraLeone Civil War forced the
evacuation of around 82 PeaceCorps volunteers, and Sierra
Leone was not re-established asa Peace Corps destination until
(05:19):
2010, when 39 volunteers wereposted.
2010, when 39 volunteers wereposted.
In total, almost 4,000 PeaceCorps volunteers have served in
Sierra Leone since 1962.
I am a part of Sierra Leone 11,a cohort of about 19 people.
The second wave of volunteersto be posted after the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
The second wave of
volunteers to be posted after
the pandemic Thank you, greatyeah, that was a really great
overview, michael could youshare with us a little bit about
Friends of Sierra Leone,talking a little bit?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
in 1991 by a group of
Returned Peace Corps volunteers
and has grown to include SierraLeoneans living in country as
well as throughout the UnitedStates.
Our mission is to fostersustainable development and
positive change by empoweringcommunities throughout Sierra
Leone through advocacy efforts,collaboration, as well as
(06:29):
locally targeted projects andmutual understanding.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Thank you.
Now, Michael, you're a returnedPeace Corps volunteer, Nat.
You are currently serving as aPeace Corps volunteer in Sierra
Leone.
Can you give us a little bit ofbackground on how you got
involved with the Peace Corpsand why you chose to serve in
Sierra Leone?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I first expressed
interest in joining the Peace
Corps when I was in high school.
I always thought of it as a wayto serve.
I thought that it was anopportunity for me to learn new
cultures, see the world a littlebit.
And when I was at my communitycollege I had spoke with a Peace
Corps recruiter and he told methat it's quite competitive to
(07:13):
get into the Peace Corps.
So he recommended that I go andfinish my four-year degree and
then reapply my senior year ofcollege, and that's what I did.
I ended up applying my senioryear of college and that's what
I did.
I ended up applying my senioryear of college and I remember
when I was applying you don'tapply to a specific country in a
(07:35):
specific position as you do nowin the Peace Corps.
They find the placement for youthat matches your skills and
your needs.
So I remember I first got anotice saying that would you be
interested in serving insub-Saharan Africa?
I said yes.
(07:56):
And then I got a letter in themail saying would you want to
serve in Sierra Leone?
And I googled Sierra Leone tofigure out where that was, but
immediately said yes because theopportunity to serve sounded
great and it was about 20 daysafter graduation I was on a
(08:18):
plane to West Africa and it wasthe best decision of my life.
And it was the best decision ofmy life.
There are plenty of people that, and I included.
I joined Peace Corps not onlyas a service thing, but it's
like a chance to see anotherculture, a chance to see the
world.
I know a lot of maybe youngergenerations are definitely like
(08:43):
focused on that resume buildingand like I think that is like a
big part, because everyone'strying to get the job that they
want and Peace Corps, again, isone of those.
That is a great resume builder.
When it's on your resume, itdefinitely helps as well.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Thank you.
So my interest in the PeaceCorps peaked during my time at
the University of Baltimore.
I was pursuing my master'sdegree in global affairs and
human security.
Was pursuing my master's degreein global affairs and human
security, um, you know, Iquickly find out that you had to
be a citizen to be to join thepeace corps, and at that time I
was not a citizen.
So after graduate school Iworked with a couple of ingos in
(09:18):
the washington dc area, um,just backstopping a lot of stuff
for country offices, and youknow I was not enjoying it.
I fell, stuck behind the screenand I wanted to be, you know,
on the ground and be part of thesolution.
And so when I got mycitizenship, I quit my job and I
(09:42):
signed up for the Peace Corps.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Excellent, yeah, yeah
.
Can you now walk us through alittle bit of your Peace Corps
experience?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
So I served in the
Peace Corps in Sierra Leone from
2012 to 2014, getting evacuatedout because of Ebola During my
last week of service.
It was the greatest experienceof my life.
We had many successes,including hosting summer school,
(10:20):
as well as building a libraryat the local school and much
more.
I highly recommend Peace Corpsto anyone who has any interest
in serving others.
It is not the easiestexperience, but definitely worth
(10:45):
it.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
There are highs and
lows, as you have throughout any
two years of your life, butit's worth it.
You know, right now the PeaceCorps is giving me that
opportunity to you know, be in acommunity, integrate with the
people, understand the culture,understand the context,
understand the problems andchallenges and work together to
(11:15):
come up with a solution, youknow, solutions that best fit
the context.
I'm really enjoying it.
I mean it has some difficultdays but in all I'm enjoying it
and I'm getting that hands-onexperience with project design,
(11:36):
project implementation,monitoring and evaluation,
budgeting and all that fun stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Thank you.
So at the annual conference inJuly we talked a lot about
misconceptions that people haveabout the Peace Corps.
But what are some other thingsthat you think people should
know about doing the Peace Corps?
Speaker 3 (11:55):
There are lots of
misconceptions about Peace Corps
.
One of them, I know for sure,is that we are all asked
frequently does Peace Corpsstill exist?
And it sure does.
There are Peace Corpsvolunteers throughout the world
and have been since the 60s.
Sierra Leone, specifically, hashad its difficulties keeping
(12:18):
Peace Corps just because of acivil war, ebola outbreak as
well as the COVID pandemic butyes, peace Corps is alive and
well.
Pandemic.
But yes, peace Corps is aliveand well, and new Peace Corps
just arrived in Sierra Leone andmore coming back in 2025 as
(12:40):
well.
Other misconceptions are yourage.
Is there an age limit?
And no, there isn't.
If you're able to serve, youcan serve.
I remember when I was in myservice, I went to Morocco to
see a doctor and while I wasthere, I met a married couple
who were in their 80s serving inMorocco.
(13:03):
So there's no limit to who canserve and when you can serve.
During my service, there was alot of us that were in our 20s,
which is very common right aftercollege.
There was many that were intheir 30s or 40s, finally had
the opportunity to serve orchanges in their life gave them
the opportunity to serve, andthen there was a lot that were
(13:25):
in their 40s, 50s, up to 60s,that have either retired, 40s,
50s, up to 60s, that have eitherretired or ready for a change,
and Peace Corps can provide that.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
For me like the
conversation of Peace Corps is
not happening in my community,and so I literally heard about
it and learned about it in gradschool.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I guess some people
think it's a vacation not work,
but then you know it'sdefinitely work.
It's not, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I can tell you that.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It's hard.
I think with the youngergeneration, I think there's it's
a different feel.
I think there's this fear ofthat you're you need to get
started on your career, likethere's no time to just give
away two years.
It's, you know, like maybe theywant to serve, but will, will
the American lifestyle allow youto to serve, the American
(14:35):
lifestyle allow you to to serve?
You know, like right now Icouldn't serve again because you
know you made yourself thesecommitments with.
You know, having pets or havingrelationships, or um, got to
make sure, yeah, right, exactly,exactly.
So I, uh, like I it's I seethat, like I just know, I always
know that if I didn't't do itthen I would have never been
able to do it yeah, that's trueuntil I retired or, you know,
(15:00):
until the cats dieunderstandable
also it being competitive.
I don't know, so like PeaceCorps, peace Corps always said
it was competitive get yourhigher degree, and if it is
lacking the number of applicants, I wonder if there would be a
(15:22):
shift of like.
You don't really need to haveyour bachelor's yet.
You know, maybe you only haveyour associates, or maybe you
could do it as your gap yearafter high school or something.
You could do it as your gapyear after high school or
something.
But maybe having that 21 yearsor older, probably smart, and a
little bit of, uh, lifeexperience maybe might be smart
too.
But, um, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So things about
misconceptions about the pd
score, um.
So we send mission teams tosierra leone every year, which
is a very different experiencebecause we send them for two
weeks, not two years.
They don't have to get rabiesvaccinations like they.
It's a very differentexperience, um.
But we always say, like we arenot trying to change your life,
like this is not life changing,but in fact it's probably an
(16:07):
experience that will change you.
Right, like it's.
It's not.
Oh, I'm going to, you know,sell all my possessions and move
to Sierra Leone, sort of thing,but you'll come away with a
change in the person that youare, and so we were hoping that
you guys could share how PeaceCorps impacted who you are
becoming as a person and who youhave become and who you have
(16:34):
become.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I remember I was
really into politics and then I
went to Africa, served.
My two years, came back and Ijust thought how petty that
politics was.
I think the biggest thing forme was just a mindset shift.
Just like the things thataren't that important don't need
(16:59):
to be important, you know, orlike where I was, which was very
remote in wayamba district, um,there was um a lot of people
that just spoke the locallanguage, and the woman next to
me in my house spoke only Mende.
But this granny, she we had agreat relationship.
We always said hello to eachother, but there'd be times when
I had extra mayonnaise jars orextra ketchup jars containers
(17:24):
and I would just give it to her.
I didn't need them, but howfundamental and how wonderful
she felt when she received themwas outstanding.
She was so grateful for thelittle things in life, and
that's what I was talking about.
(17:45):
Peace Corps is how you realizethat.
You realize that it's notnecessarily all about money.
It's not necessarily all aboutsocial media and fame and value
(18:06):
of like monetary value.
You learn that Peace Corps ismore about connecting with
individuals, understanding eachother's struggles and coming
together for the betterment ofeach other and that's what Peace
Corps will offer anyone that'sinterested.
I just remember in Peace Corpsthe best part of it was that
(18:30):
every day you could havesomething planned but you never
knew what was going to happen.
It was exciting, it wasthrilling, and wherever you go,
peace Corps is warmly welcomed.
So it's a positive experiencefrom day one.
From day one After Peace Corpsservice, you understand people
(18:57):
more, like you give people achance, more patience with
people, because you don't knowtheir background or you don't
know why something is some wayright, like maybe somebody
reacts a certain way and youkind of start to or at least for
me, you start to try to figureout why they, why they act that
(19:18):
way or what, what, what makesthem tick that way, and
understanding that everyone istotally different, even within
one society.
And I think there's just thisopenness that I gained from.
It was hugely beneficial andjust my interactions with people
now and, you know, takingleadership roles, you got to be
(19:41):
able to work with a lot ofdifferent individuals and
different cultures and differentthings like that.
So it's just that ability tosee it and understand it and
take time.
I think take time is a huge onethat I took from sierra leone
is like and I have to remindmyself, because a lot of times
I'm like oh my gosh, we gottaget going, we gotta schedule,
we're in america, we gottaschedule.
Um, but you have to, you know,and that was a good thing, is
(20:05):
that you know things will happen.
You don't really, you know,just take time Like things will
work out and believe in yourcause and things will go
smoothly, and things like thatand Sierra Leone is helping me
(20:35):
build more confidence,especially when it comes to
designing projects and thenimplementing them, monitoring
and evaluating them.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
I'm beginning to
learn more about those technical
aspects of writing proposalsand I can see how that is
becoming a part of me, becauseit's definitely different when
you're sitting in headquartersin DC designing a project and
when you're actually with thepeople and you're working with
(21:05):
the people to design theprojects.
So I think that's like one ofthe life-changing experiences
that I don't think I would havegotten if I had stayed with, you
know, very big, fancy INGO inDC.
I'm learning to roll up mysleeve, join the people and
community work.
You know it's just crazy andI'm now starting to see that you
(21:30):
know there's more to life thanyou know money and other stuff
like that.
Like every evening around sevenI could hear my colleague
teachers that are on thecompound with me with their kids
sitting in the dark, crackingjokes and laughing, and you know
(21:50):
the fact that there's no lightis not an issue for them and I
just always watch that in awebecause I'm big, but they seem
genuinely happy with the littlethat they got and they enjoy
being with family.
I think being family is veryimportant in Sierra Leone and I
(22:11):
hope in the future I would alsotake family very seriously, like
how they take family in SierraLeone.
But yeah, that would be it forme.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
That's great, that's
100% true.
You know, just realizing toenjoy the little things in life
because they can bring so muchgood joy and you don't, you
don't need all that othersuperficial stuff.
Really, really love.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
But it is funny,
working for a nonprofit
organization in Sierra Leone,People often are like, oh, have
you ever been there?
And I'm like what do you mean?
Have I ever been there?
Of course I ever been there.
And I'm like what do you mean,have I ever been there?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Of course I've been
there.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I've been working
here for three years and you
think I've never been there.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
But that's going to
be such a great skill to bring
back Like, if you do go back toyou know, nonprofit work of any
regard.
You're going to have such adifferent perspective now doing
that work, which is going to begreat for wherever you do.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
That's very, very
exciting.
You know, I remember weliterally would sit here, design
a project, send it to countryoffices and ask them to make
inputs, but then even the inputsthat they make, it could be
overridden by people at HQ whofeel like no, it's not going to
(23:37):
work that way.
But then they're miles away andreally do not understand fully
the challenge.
So the people that are goingthrough it might be trying to
suggest a different solution,but they will be here designing
(23:57):
something else that they thinkwill work.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Yeah, peace Corps
helps stress that and that's
what Friends of Sierra Leone, wetry to make sure that any
grants that we approve we'refocused, it comes from the
community, like what thecommunity actually needs.
Make sure that any grants thatwe approve were focused, it's
comes from the community, likewhat the community actually
needs, what they think isimportant Cause all of us could
say every, every town needs avillage, every village needs a
(24:23):
school or whatever yeah, butit's what they think is a
priority is what we want to helpsupport, right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, there's this
really great book called Freeing
Congregational Mission and inthe introduction chapter, or
first chapter, he talks abouthow he asked this community what
they wanted.
And they asked for a soccerfield.
And so he was like, are youkidding?
Like you don't have runningwater, you don't have a clinic,
you don't have a school, youasked me for a soccer field.
Are you out of your mind?
(24:55):
And they built a soccer fieldand they had this big opening
ceremony for it and all the kidsare playing and having a good
time.
And he was like, after that,that community trusted us
because when they what they toldus, we did.
And then afterwards they werelike, okay, and now we want to
talk about building the well andwe want to talk about building
this thing, because we builtthat relationship first.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Right, that's awesome
, that's great yeah that's great
.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
It was a sign of
trust.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yes.
Yes, that football field isvery important.
And then if you stay,sarah-leon, long enough, you
understand, long enough, you,you understand, I don't know um
your experiences with um sports,sports, um sports activities,
(25:49):
um, during the school year,there's like a day or a couple
of days where we just havesports and man.
I've never seen anything likethat before everyone everyone,
everyone, like everyone shows upyes it's a big deal, like I was
like wow, this is crazy withthe matching t-shirts and yes
yesoh yeah, oh yeah different stuff
(26:10):
listen to music, dance.
It's like the whole communitycomes converge at the park for
one school to watch them play.
They don't even play soccerduring those games, they just do
other things like track andfield stuff yeah.
Like you know.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
I was the yimbo house
, yellow house.
We won, I think, back-to-backyears.
Yeah, we were unstoppable.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I was part of the
blue house and they had never
won the sports for about 10years.
But when I joined this yearthey won.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Oh, Kofi in the house
.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Oh man, they said you
brought the luck.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I'm like, yeah, I
told you.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
So that was exciting,
like the rivalry.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
It's all fun and
games, man.
So fun, yeah for sure, and andneeded and needed, like I think
it's a it's a community thingbecause it's it's something to
look forward to, it's it'sfundamental, yeah yeah I'm
non-athletic so I can't help you, yeah.
I don't know if I wasparticipating in any of it.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
I was there dressed
to the nines Yellowed out.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
I had no yellow so I
had to go, like, find yellow.
So I went to all these peopleand this one woman had I think
it was like a Snoopy shirt thatwas yellow but like three sizes
way too small.
So I'm wearing this.
I mean, thank god, I was like,uh, a little more fit back in
the day and I was decked out andit was great, great.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Good times, good
times I love it um, so I guess
this one's more for michael.
So how fossil kind of helpspeople continue that service,
but how people continue thoserelationships period.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Two annual meetings
since and Fossil in general.
I think a lot of people comeback and then they start their
lives here in America and Ithink that there it's.
It's an opportunity for them tocontinue to give back, maybe
financially, or stay abreast ofwhat's going on in the country,
in the country, um, and I I likethe whole offering our members
(28:43):
um, uh opportunities to getinvolved, if it is just like
participating in differentonline uh talks or like building
that conversation, social mediaon social media.
But, going forward, would loveto do more of a hands-on aspect,
even if it's like Pen Pal orsome kind of something where
(29:08):
they can feel like they'recontinuing their service to
Sierra Leone.
Um, but fossil, I feel likethere's there's a lot of avenues
that we can go and there's alot of uh direction that I want
to take fossil and we've donereally good, I think.
Um, we're we're building ouradvocacy so that people can like
(29:30):
um participate more in likewhat needs to be uh, um helped
and how they can help it, evenif it's signing a petition or
participating in something orgetting the word out on
something.
It would just be.
It's nice if we could continueto give our members, who most of
(29:51):
them are just former PeaceCorps volunteers from Sierra
Leone opportunities to tocontinue that path, because a
lot of them that joined Fossil,they just have this love for
Sierra Leone and just can't getenough of it or can't get away
from it.
And there's plenty of PeaceCorps volunteers that go do
their service and then they goand do their life in America and
(30:14):
almost don't look back.
But I don't think it's thatthey didn't want to.
I think it's just life takesyou, you know, especially
American life is a quick one, soit could take you all different
roads.
So providing that opportunitywould be always nice, on
whatever level of commitment youcan give.
(30:35):
So that's the hope of the futureof Fossil is to just connect
Sierra Leoneans with Americans.
I think another one that wewant to continue to get better
at is, yeah, we're mostly PeaceCorps volunteers but we are
friends of Sierra Leone.
So, like building thatrelationship with Sierra
(30:55):
Leoneans within the UnitedStates, bridging those
communities Most of our friendsdon't need to be Peace Corps,
just Peace Corps volunteers Likewe have Aya, who is our vice
president of Sierra Leone, and Ithink we can tap into a lot
more Sierra Leonean communitiesthat you know want to see Sierra
(31:19):
Leone be successful.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
So I feel like, yeah,
in the diaspora.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Yeah, exactly.
So I think we're going to tryto do more of that of connecting
those communities as we goforward.
So we offer grants forcommunities that communities
have to in Sierra Leone have todecide what they need and apply
(31:44):
for the grant themselves, and weprovide that funding through
donations from our membership.
We also try to connectAmericans and Sierra Leoneans
through virtual lectures, talks.
We're hosting annual meetingseach year so that people stay
(32:07):
abreast of what's going on inthe country.
So I think awareness is a hugeeffort for us.
Our advocacy committee isgetting stronger.
Our advocacy committee isgetting stronger and we are
going to be advocating for moreissues and more funding from the
state side, but alsohighlighting some Sierra Leonean
(32:28):
projects that are beingconducted by organizations,
individuals, and we want tohighlight their efforts.
I think our organization isgoing to continue to strengthen
over the years and we want toprovide opportunities for
Americans and our members tohave a hands-on experience of
(32:51):
getting back to Sierra Leone,had a hands-on experience of
giving back to Sierra Leone.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
All right.
Our last question is somethingthat we ask each of our speakers
, which is what keeps youoptimistic.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
The work that these
current Peace Corps volunteers
are doing is phenomenal.
I was amazed.
At our last annual meeting inDC last month, we had the
opportunity to talk to threecurrent Peace Corps volunteers
in Sierra Leone and the workthat they have done in one year
(33:30):
is amazing.
They've all done so manydifferent projects, participated
together with other Peace Corpsvolunteers working with other
NGOs or just working withthemselves in the village, with
the community.
So it's really remarkable aboutwhat they can do.
And now, with the access to theinternet and communications and
(33:54):
social media during theirservice, the opportunities for
success and development andcollaboration have just
strengthened.
Versus from when I've served,there was no internet in the
country unless you went to theCapitol at the Peace Corps
(34:14):
hostel.
That's changed and it's onlychanged for the better, because
the way people can communicate,the way they can work together,
identify resources and identifyneeds for those resources can
only just build up Sierra Leonepositively.
(34:38):
So it's exciting to see.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah.
So for me, what keeps meoptimistic about, you know, the
Peace Corps and my service hereis truly Peace Corps' approach
to grassroots development.
You know it is an approach thatfocuses on cultural exchange,
focuses on buildingrelationships and also, you know
, building capacity of thepeople that I interact with.
(35:06):
You know it has given me asense of purpose and a sense of
hope for the future.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
All right, thank you
guys both so much for joining us
today.
All right, thank you guys bothso much for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Thank you so much for
this opportunity to speak on
your podcast.
We would love to participatemore in the future and we
appreciate the support.
Thank you.