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National Peace Corps Association > News > Polyglot > To Make a Long Peace Corps Reunion Story Short
To Make a Long Peace Corps Reunion Story Short
By Jonathan Pearson on Wednesday, June 13th, 2012
This remarkable Sierra Leone reunion was 47 years in the making!
Webster’s dictionary defines the word reunite as “to bring together again.” But it’s not that simple when it comes to the Peace Corps community. Just as the languages we learned during our service often carried a precision which unfolded the deeper complexities of an object or experience, the same can be said when we start sharing our stories of reunion.
A key element of Find the 250K, our effort to find all Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) and former staff, is to bring our community together. You can’t be reunited if you aren’t connected. One of the most enjoyable parts of our work at the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) is helping to facilitate and sharing our stories of reunion.
In its most basic form, there’s the coming together of fellow volunteers from the same country and era of service. Last year’s 50th anniversary and upcoming fifty year celebrations in individual countries continue to spark these reunions, among them an historic gathering of Iran RPCVs and the return of Colombia I volunteers to their training site. Last summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival provided opportunities for RPCVs to gather by country, as did the many celebrations during NPCA’s 50th anniversary celebration last September.
Of equal note are the poignant, lifetime connections between the U.S. volunteer and those they worked with. One of the most memorable in the recent past was the 2010 reunion of RPCV Roberta Rabinoff and Sierra Leone Deputy Chief of Mission Ibrahim Conteh. Our ongoing commitment to service continues to provide countless opportunities for inspiring encounters, such as one that occurred at the 2010 annual meeting of the Friends of Cote D’Ivoire.
A local friendship was enhanced during a 2006 NPCA stop in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. As a small group gathered in a local restaurant, an RPCV looked up with surprise as one of his local friends entered the room. “What are you doing here?” he exclaimed. She asked him the same question. While friends for a number of years, this was the first time the two realized they both served in the Peace Corps! In more urban areas, regular opportunities to connect present themselves, like a recent gathering in Orlando, or in dozens of other cities that are home to NPCA member groups. Our coming together can also serve as a catalyst for host country national connections, such as one that occurred two years back in Peoria, Illinois.
We increasingly come together through the workplace. It can be the type of work, such as smallpox eradication, or a place of work, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is noteworthy that the dozens of EPA RPCVs – moved by their shared experience – have recently been approved as the newest NPCA member group!
All reunions carry a degree of reflection, remembrance, and emotion. In the recent past, perhaps none so unforgettable as the 50th anniversary celebrations at the University of Michigan. Perhaps none more moving than the spiritual connection achieved by RPCV Gordon Radley.
Please Share Your Story!
In the comments section below, share your story of reunion past, present, or future. Share a few sentences or more if you wish. Why are these connections we have so lasting, meaningful and rewarding. Imagine the power of these connections, if we all come together!
When I completed my Peace Corps service in Zaire in 1987, I left behind many friends, including the family of my school’s Principal. His wife, Marie,and I were very close. I wrote letters every year after leaving, knowing that there was very little opportunity for them to be returned. Last March, I got an e-mail from the editor of WorldView magazine saying, “Is this you?” Attached was an e-mail that took my breath away. This is a long, beautiful story, but the short version is that Marie’s youngest daughter grew up hearing stories about Miss Patricia and how much her mother missed me. They had moved and weren’t getting my letters anymore. As a little girl, this daughter said, “Mommy, when I grow up, I will find her for you.” Edith, who is now married and living in Washington State, searched for 7 years, knowing only my maiden name, and it was through WorldView magazine that we finally connected. I was then able to speak to Marie on the phone, a true joy after 24 years! Thank you, NPCA and WorldView!
I served in Sierra Leone, as an education volunteer, 1973-76. Due to the war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, several of my former language instructers have ended up in Houston. One day, I went to a new church, and there two of the ladies were. We have remained very close here as the years have passed. I am invited to all “family” events. What touches me is how I am always introduced to new Sierra Leonian faces by first my name, but secondly as a Peace “Corpse” teacher. Inevitably, I am thanked for all of our services and treated to stories & memories of volunteers at their own schools or in their own villages. Just as they stay in our minds forever, we too are never forgotten.
I am a RPCV from Guatemala 1988. I lost all communication with friends I made, including my supervisor. When a volunteer was going to Guatemala 3 years ago,I gave her all information I had about the supervisor. She found them and today I am in communicati0on with the supervisor’s son who was a lad when I left and gave him my talking teddy. He is a grown man in University and we communicate often. His dad died but his mother remembers me. It was wonderful after all these years to pass photos.
A Short History of Brazil (Amazon) Pará Ag Coops, 1969-72
In July 1969 a group of 35 young Peace Corps Trainees came together in El Centro, California. After 12 weeks “training” in Portuguese, accounting, principles of cooperativism, cultural awareness and irrigated rice production, a reduced (“self-selected”) number of the group moved on to Belém, Pará to continue with 5 additional weeks of in-country training. At the end of this period, 12 of the origninal 35 trainees, were sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers and sent out to their sites throughout the State of Pará. The majority worked in Agricultural Coops and a few taught irrigated rice production. Volunteers lived in places like Santarem, Ourem, Santa Isabel, Guama, Garrafaõ, Saõ Pedro and Bragança. The training experience and the subsequent two years living and working in Brazil’s Amazon changed the lives of all the volunteers forever. They formed a special bond that has lasted through the years. Many married Brazilians. Some still live and work in Brazil. Each is successful in his own way.
Our small group has held 9 reunions since finishing our tour in Brazil. We will hold reunion number 10 in Albuquerque, N.M. in June 2013. You can find anecdotes and stories of our experience at the link above.