Insights and Impact

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For 麻豆视频鈥檚 dozens of Peace Corps volunteers, their March evacuation was sudden and聽dizzying, their return to a locked-down US, heartbreaking and discombobulating

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Illustra颅tion by
Jaylene Arnold

麻豆视频's Peace Corps volunteers walk to a plane to evacuate

In a remote village in Zambia, Amber Cohen, CAS/BA 鈥15, assembled a meeting of farmers. Together, they鈥檇 built 27 fishponds during her Peace Corps tenure. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 really hit me that this was the last meeting I鈥檇 be having.鈥

Brianna Hawk, SIS/BA 鈥17, had been teaching English high in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. 鈥淎t school, it was my director鈥檚 birthday. The teachers were celebrating,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 walked in, and they asked me to give a toast. I was so upset I just started sobbing.鈥

In Madagascar, Danielle Montecalvo, CAS-SIS/BA 鈥18, also reeled. 鈥淚 was devastated. Such a wreck. Now I鈥檓 in a better mindset.鈥 A mindset she described from her parents鈥 home in Rochester, New York. Self-quarantined for two weeks in the RV in their driveway.聽

Home from Peace Corps. But not really.

On Monday, March 16, all 7,300 Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs) around the globe received a message from Director Jody Olsen: You鈥檙e being evacuated because of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Right now.

To protect volunteers鈥 safety, Peace Corps has evacuated individual countries during its 59-year history. But never everyone at once. Not until 2020.

Maura Joul, SIS/BA 鈥18, taught at Tianshui Normal University in China鈥檚 Gansu province. China was first to be pulled. Mongolia was next. Willem Opperman, SPA/MPA 鈥17, who taught in Dornogobi, Mongolia, a province on the Chinese border, left so suddenly he couldn鈥檛 collect his things.

鈥淚 had with me five T-shirts, a pair of jeans, shoes,鈥 Opperman says. Road closures prevented his return from the provincial capital, Sainshand. 鈥淚 had to call my counterpart [a project partner from the host community] and say, 鈥楬ey, I can鈥檛 even come say goodbye.鈥欌 Over the phone, he told his colleague what to pack.聽

After Mongolia, PCVs around the world鈥攎ost living in countries not yet infected by the coronavirus鈥攖uned in for instructions.In Mahajanga, Madagascar, Montecalvo rode an emotional rollercoaster as directives flipflopped. 鈥淐rying, trying to figure out what to do, talking to other volunteers. Panic.鈥 Details were fuzzy: each of the 60 countries where Peace Corps operated was a unique puzzle piece. 鈥淲e had to say goodbye and at a moment鈥檚 notice be ready,鈥 she says.

Montecalvo steadied herself. 鈥淚 had to stop crying. I said, 鈥業 need to focus.鈥欌 Antananarivo, the capital, was 600 km away鈥攐n 鈥渁 not great road,鈥 she says. 鈥淭welve hours to get there.鈥 Volunteers in surrounding villages were more like three days away.

That Monday, on her morning run, with dismay she relayed the news to 鈥渕y coffee and bread ladies . . . I ran everywhere.鈥 Her university threw an impromptu goodbye party. She hustled to form a hurried closure. 鈥淲e had some hope that we鈥檇 be back soon,鈥 Montecalvo says. Tuesday evening, she was out with Malagasy friends at the bord de la mer, a seaside promenade with people strolling, sipping drinks, sitting on the seawall listening to music鈥擟OVID-19 social distancing had not yet arrived. Then Madagascar鈥檚 borders closed. Her country director flew into motion. The message? Everybody be in the capital by tomorrow.聽

Montecalvo stayed up all night packing, ruing the incompleteness of her vague Monday farewells. One of the hardest moments of her Peace Corps experience, she says鈥攏ot the new language, a foreign culture, a university job when she was a new graduate herself鈥攚as that night鈥檚 phone call to her host mother. 鈥淪he was keeping it together, but she was freaking out.鈥

For her host sisters, Wednesday was a normal day, Montecalvo says. 鈥淚 had to go see Fifa and Aniah early before school. They were so distraught, holding back tears. It was strange鈥攎ostly silence. We joked and talked like normal, but we were quiet, thinking about our connection. We didn鈥檛 even know what to say.鈥

The final glimpse of her residence made her physically sick. 鈥淚 have a strong stomach usually鈥攎aybe it was the [lack of] sleep鈥攂ut seeing my house as I walked away, basically how it was before I got there . . . I was beside myself.鈥

What she felt, Montecalvo says, 鈥渨as that a piece of me was dying.鈥澛

The close partnership between 麻豆视频 and Peace Corps goes all the way back. The School of International Service served as an early predeparture training site for volunteers bound for postings in places like Pakistan and the Philippines, and President John F. Kennedy delivered 鈥淎 Strategy of Peace鈥澛燿uring 麻豆视频鈥檚 1963 commencement, just two years after he established the corps. Since 1961, more than 1,100 Eagles have served in 100-plus countries.

In 2019, 麻豆视频 produced 51 volunteers, ranking second among medium-sized colleges and universities for the second year in a row. But 麻豆视频 bats at a much higher percentage than the giant universities. First among all schools, University of Wisconsin鈥揗adison launched 75 volunteers out of its many thousands of graduates.聽

Why does 麻豆视频 mint so many PCVs? Stephen Angelsmith, SIS/MIS 鈥14, assistant director of global learning at the Center for Community Engagement and Service, says SIS鈥攖he largest school of its kind in the US, founded at the height of the Cold War鈥攊s particularly connected with Peace Corps. Its culture of public service, environmental stewardship, and human rights and social justice aligns with the Peace Corps ethos.聽

鈥淪IS connects students to creative ways of solving problems,鈥 says Angelsmith, himself a returned PCV, who served in Turkmenistan from 2007 to 2009. 鈥淭he people who are drawn to Peace Corps are interested in the world and in making a difference.鈥 Angelsmith, who helped found 麻豆视频鈥檚 Paul Coverdell Fellows program for returned PCVs to deploy their skills and experience to serve needs in Washington, DC, says the natural match was a shared belief in 鈥減ractice over theory, or theory informed by practice.鈥

鈥淚n terms of the mission, we just always jived.鈥

That mission? On the ground, small-scale sustainable development. Person to person.聽

Lindsey Grutchfield, SOC/BA 鈥19, left for Moldova immediately after graduation. Stepping off the plane, she 鈥渉ad a sudden, overwhelming feeling: 27 months! I told myself, 鈥榙on鈥檛 think about that now.鈥欌 After training, she settled in south of Chis鈥歩n藰au, teaching 19 lessons a week and conducting six after-school English clubs鈥攆our for students, two for adults. She would not get to finish her first year.

For many, recall was abrupt. Madeleine Rapp, SIS/BA 鈥18, taught in Mizhhirya, a village in the Ukrainian Carpathians. She was at a teacher conference a thousand kilometers away when the evacuation order came. Rapp jumped on a train for the 32-hour ride back to site, receiving five updates en route. She had two hours to pack and say her goodbyes. 鈥淚 had no time to even think about it,鈥 she says. 鈥淢y counterpart drove me back to the train station. It didn鈥檛 feel like a goodbye, because I wasn鈥檛 prepared. It seemed like just another trip to Kyiv. It was really disappointing that I didn鈥檛 get to say goodbye to my students.鈥

Rachael Rosenberg, SIS/BA 鈥17, taught English in Ninotsminda, a cold, isolated, Armenian-speaking region in the Republic of Georgia. When the email came, Rosenberg was outside the country, on spring break in Yerevan, Armenia. 鈥淧eace Corps met us at the border and took us straight back to Tbilisi,鈥 she says. Rosenberg phoned another volunteer who accessed her apartment and threw things into a duffel bag: passport, SIM card, a beloved pair of snow boots. 鈥淭he number one worst part of my Peace Corps experience was no goodbye whatsoever,鈥 Rosenberg says. She called friends and students, who at first disbelieved her. After each call, 鈥測our heart just breaks a little more.鈥

Ross Babineau, SIS/BA 鈥17, lived in a village in Georgia鈥檚 subtropical Guria region. Babineau had bonded with his host family鈥擭atia and Mikhail and their two sons, ages 7 and 4. After teaching and tutoring at the village school, he helped out on the hazelnut farm, and with winemaking. 鈥淢y host dad invited me to a lot of supras, which is like a Georgian feast,鈥 Babineau says. 鈥淕eorgian hospitality is famous. They鈥檒l invite you out at every chance.鈥 He felt at home.

So Babineau鈥檚 parting was likewise brutally sudden. 鈥淚 told my host family 鈥業 think I鈥檓 leaving the day after tomorrow,鈥欌 he says. His host brothers were stunned, his grandmother and mother in tears. 鈥淲hile they鈥檙e making all this food for me, getting me ready to go, I get a call: You鈥檙e leaving now.鈥澛

Up until then, they鈥檇 urged him to remain in the village鈥攔ent free!鈥 for a few months. 鈥淭hey said, 鈥榊ou鈥檇 be so much safer here. We grow all our own food, you don鈥檛 leave the village. Wait for it to all end鈥攁nd then go back to America!鈥欌 Babineau sighs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy to me that a rural village in Georgia is so much less susceptible鈥 to a global pandemic.

It was over. Every Peace Corps volunteer in the world headed back to a drastically changed, locked-down United States.

The recall hurt. 鈥淲e were trained to live on our own in this place鈥攂ut now it鈥檚 too dangerous?鈥 Montecalvo asks. Mid-second year, long-term efforts had started bearing fruit. 鈥淚 felt like I was just getting the hang of it,鈥 she says. But three days after evacuation, Madagascar confirmed its first three cases. 鈥淪o we wouldn鈥檛 be teaching or going outside there either.鈥

Opperman doesn鈥檛 blame Peace Corps. 鈥淚f I got really sick? They couldn鈥檛 even get us out,鈥 he says. At the time, it was hard to swallow鈥攂ut 鈥渢hey made the right call. It was just the craziness of evacuating 7,000 people.鈥 Opperman plans to return for a preapproved third year. 鈥淚鈥檓 still hopeful I can get back soon. I would have preferred to stay in Mongolia,鈥 he says.

For now, he was in Nashville, a place he had never been鈥攈is parents moved there after he went overseas. Rosenberg sheltered in Texas, quarantined in her childhood bedroom, feeling disoriented while recalling her interrupted life in the Caucasus. Rapp is home in Buffalo, New York, quelling sadness with American foods she missed. 鈥淲ings, obviously. Goldfish crackers. Twizzlers. Weird snack food I couldn鈥檛 get there. But I didn鈥檛 feel like coming home. I felt safer in Ukraine. Here, it鈥檚 like a different planet.鈥澛

Hawk decamped in Pittsburgh. 鈥淵ou commit to not seeing your family or friends. Making money, anything like that. Living in discomfort for two years. And it鈥檚 all right. But then for that to feel ripped out? To not know when or if we can go back? So many feelings.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to talk about,鈥 she continues.鈥淚 keep going back and forth. Am I having a fever dream that I鈥檓 in the States? Or did I even really go to Kyrgyzstan? Was the last nine months a dream? Sometimes I just don鈥檛 know.鈥

Like most, Babineau communicates regularly with his host family, friends, and counterpart. 鈥淲hat did Keti say the other day? She鈥檚 like, 鈥業s your country OK?鈥欌 He had eased her concern. 鈥淭hey are so caring. I was part of a family鈥攖he same way you wouldn鈥檛 want your own mother to worry about your health and well-being. So I didn鈥檛 feel comfortable saying how anxious I am sometimes now.鈥

Then Babineau pauses. 鈥淚f you鈥檇 told me two years ago I鈥檇 be coming back to America and reassuring my host family鈥攚ho has trouble putting food on the table sometimes鈥攖elling them not to be worried? I don鈥檛 think I鈥檇 know quite how to process that, to be frank.鈥

Cohen says she鈥檚 鈥渘ot the same person I was when I got on the plane to Zambia. Peace Corps makes you reflective.鈥 Now in quarantine, 鈥渨e are all learning how to be alone with our minds. To accept changes and growth.鈥

Grutchfield was reflective too. 鈥淲hen I鈥檓 overwhelmed with sadness about leaving my post,鈥 she says from rural Vermont, 鈥淚 remember it鈥檚 bigger than my personal feelings. The whole world is going through a hard time.鈥澛

Before Grutchfield began her Peace Corps service, people asked her if Moldova was in Africa. 鈥淥r is it an island?鈥 she recalls, laughing. But Moldova, it turned out, 鈥渨as the best place in the world for me,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have wanted anywhere else.鈥

Jane Haines, Amber Cohen, and Andre De Mello

Jane Haines, SIS/BA 鈥17
Tubara, Atlantico, Colombia

After one year in coastal Colombia, Jane Haines motorcycled up to a mountain village called Guaimaral.

鈥淭here was no road, just a little trench that washed out when it rained,鈥 she says. During wet season people got stuck鈥攐r even died. Haines sought isolated areas: More enthusiasm, more opportunity for economic development, she found.聽

The treacherous trench meant no Peace Corps volunteer had connected Guimaral with resources鈥攇rants, government funding, training. But during her tenure, a new road arrived. Local attitude, she says, was: 鈥溾楩inally, a Peace Corps volunteer!鈥 I said, 鈥榃hat do you want to do?鈥 They didn鈥檛 know. So we started practicing English.鈥澛

Soon two artisans, enterprising local leaders, expressed eagerness to collaborate. 鈥淥n the coast, Carnival is really popular,鈥 Haines says. The artisans carved wooden masks of bulls, or tigers, and taught kids their techniques. But they ran out of knives, wood. 鈥淭he kids started carving with machetes. They worried they would cut a finger off.鈥 The artisans shut down the project.聽

Haines doubted success. 鈥淭he grant application starts with this questionnaire. An hour and a half, we didn鈥檛 get anywhere. I kept forcing them to meet, calling them five or six times.鈥 They lacked not motivation, she says, but practice in detailed planning, goal setting, and organizing. 鈥淚n past programs, the government just gives them something.鈥

Meetings from July until December paid off when a Peace Corps small grant helped the team purchase equipment. 鈥淯ntil then they carved masks with kitchen knives.鈥 No saws or power tools. To supply stores in the city, they needed uniform quality.聽

Increased income supported a school and transferred skills to youths. 鈥淲e thought it would give kids hope for some kind of job. So they learned how to do this carving.鈥

When Haines was evacuated, mask making was underway鈥攁n opportunity for Guaimaral to plug in to Colombia鈥檚 larger economy. A pathway that didn鈥檛 exist before.

Amber Cohen, CAS/BA 鈥15
Itinti, Zambia

In 2018, Amber Cohen started a new life as an aquaculture volunteer in Itinti, a 15-hour bus ride from Lusaka. In training, she learned to speak Bemba, one of Zambia鈥檚 72 languages, and gathered resources to teach fishpond construction and management. By the time of her March evacuation, her village had dug 27 new ponds teeming with fish鈥攐ffering her community food security and surplus income.聽

Yet Cohen downplayed her role kickstarting the project: 鈥淢y community should get the shout-out. I was the cheerleader.鈥澛

Cohen lived 10 steps from the village well, so dozens of people visited multiple times a day. She soon knew everyone in Itinti鈥檚 80 dwellings. Her counterpart, Laston Mukuka, was highly motivated, Cohen says. His enthusiasm鈥攁long with support from village leadership鈥攎eant construction began promptly. 鈥淚 arrived in May, and we had ponds built by September,鈥 she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not typical. I was lucky to find interested, motivated farmers.鈥

An adjacent grassy field with a clogged furrow鈥攁 ditch with a little water in it鈥攂ecame the village鈥檚 鈥渞osary system鈥 of ponds, strung together in a chain. 鈥淭he field had been mostly untouched for three years,鈥 Cohen says.聽

The ponds were stocked with fish called 辫补濒茅 in Bemba鈥攇reen-headed tilapia. 鈥淏ut the name in English sounds strange when I say it,鈥 Cohen laughs. 鈥淚鈥檝e been saying 辫补濒茅 for so many months.鈥

Before she left, Cohen and the villagers gathered outside her house. 鈥淚 talked about how proud I was of the work that we did.鈥 And they discussed the coronavirus, which had yet to infiltrate Zambia. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a big greeting culture,鈥 she says. 鈥淵ou shake hands, there鈥檚 a lot of touching.鈥 The opposite of social distancing.

Eventually, Cohen will head back鈥攖his time to Malawi. Her new passion is malaria prevention. Bed nets and behaviors informed by science. She鈥檚 gotten pretty good at motivating people and supporting their efforts. But it鈥檚 a bit beyond cheerleading.

Andre De Mello, SIS/BA 鈥19
Poetete, Timor-Lest茅

Andre De Mello arrived in Timor-Lest茅 in late 2019 in the country鈥檚 tenth group of Peace Corps volunteers. After training, he settled in with a host family and started teaching. But his two-year commitment was not to be.

At first, De Mello practiced his new Tetun language skills with host parents Miguel and Lucia and their three children. He joined in housecleaning and gardening. Miguel described growing up during Timor-Lest茅鈥檚 war for independence from Indonesia. 鈥淗earing stories is a great way to integrate with family,鈥 De Mello says. With host siblings, he played soccer and bantered as they puzzled over 鈥渢his strange American who seemed a little lost,鈥 De Mello laughs. A volunteer鈥檚 first months are the toughest.聽

News of the coronavirus started trickling in. 鈥淎 lot of Timorese go to China,鈥 De Mello says. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 too scared鈥擳imor-Lest茅 is a small island. But when cases appeared in Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, things got more concerning.鈥 After just three months on site, he was recalled to the capital, Dili. Borders were closing. He packed and prepared to go home.聽

Headquarters held a rushed sendoff鈥攍unch, dinner, goodbyes. 鈥淪ome of us were lucky,鈥 he says. 鈥淥ur host families came to the airport. I was mostly in shock. Numb.鈥 That final day, he decided, was a chance 鈥渢o make a forward-looking connection to remain a part of Timorese culture.鈥澛

Today the evacuated volunteers make video lessons. Or, with new friends at Timorese NGOs, they collaborate online, building websites and drafting budgets from afar. De Mello鈥檚 helping with study abroad, writing an overseas guide in Tetun.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 easier to understand the rules about standardized testing and interviewing for college when they鈥檙e in your own language,鈥 he says.聽

Sequestered back home just outside New York City, he misses Timor-Lest茅鈥攁 country that eight years ago still retained a UN peacekeeping force. 鈥淕oing from so much freedom to being stuck inside,鈥 De Mello muses. Not what he signed up for.