WriteOn is an international creative writing competition run by Peace Corps Volunteers. Students from 6th grade up to university level can participate. They choose from a list of prompts and have 1 hour to write a response in English without assistance from dictionaries/teachers/the Internet, etc. Essays are judged on creativity, not grammar/spelling.
In preparation for the competition, PCVs focused their lesson plans on improving the English writing skills of their students. After a lot of hard work and fun, several schools had the chance to submit their stories in the last week of February. Congratulations to all students that participated in this year’s competition!
This is Dalinn. She is 18 years old and is in her first year of studying to be a primary school teacher. She saw a need for some of her classmates to improve their English, so she began teaching them on her own in the evenings. She teaches anywhere from 6-12 of her classmates, 5 days a week! When I asked her why, Dalinn told me, “I want to help them with my ability. I am not very good at English, but I can help them with what I can, and I am very happy to help.” I was so excited to see her take initiative to do this and to guide the students who may have had less experience with English than their classmates.”
A tenured professor of 18 years and an Associate Dean at the highest level of The University of Texas at Austin, I quietly started my application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer late one evening in 2008 after attending a friend’s memorial service, the sixth such service in a two year timespan. A switch was flipped for me during the after service routine of raising a glass in honor of our deceased friend with comments of our needing to live life better, taking more time with family, time to have adventures and to move outside of our comfort zones. Little did I know, my response to this loss-based inflection point would subsequently change my life and my social work career trajectory for the next 10 years.
Many months later, after completing a mountain of paper work, paying off my last student loan (only because I could afford to), medical appointments poking and prodding, a criminal background check, packing up and selling my house, shopping for tropical clothes and patiently answering questions from family, colleagues and friends of why I would leave such a privileged life, I boarded a plane to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cambodia on leave of absence from the university.
An African American woman born and raised in a poor inner-city Cleveland, Ohio neighborhood in the 1960s, I boarded that plane holding on to my faith, and with gratitude for a clear sense of self, identity and purpose. I had taught courses focused on navigating intercultural diversity and inclusion power and privilege for almost two decades, and earned more leadership accolades than the average bear, so I was sure I had the basic tools for success. I didn’t have the language, cringed at the idea of being an English teacher, I hate extreme heat, was a germophobe, and I was horribly afraid of everything in nature that crawled and slithered. In sum, I was very different from all but 5 or 6 of my peers on the plane, mostly white, wide-eyed new college graduates ready to take on the world.
I am writing to you as a third year volunteer, with about 9 months left until my service is complete. As I write this, I am sitting in my room, my sanctuary, which is surrounded by wooden walls, the smell of dust and flickering light.
I remember the feeling before I departed, contemplating a million about packing – did I pack too much? What do I really need to pack? I made a few last minute trips to REI buying those ‘essential’ items that I assumed I couldn’t live without. However, my Peace Corps issued trunk is full of items I ended up not needing or using. As I sit here looking at my bedroom that feels like home, I reflect on the non-material items that I found were truly essential throughout my service.
The first thing I packed was an open mind and a lot of patience. Having an open mind helped me try to see situations and challenges from a different perspective. Patience helped me when I struggled with language and trying to communicate my needs and accepting that there really is a thing known as ‘Khmer time’.
To celebrate Black History Month, Peace Corps Cambodia would like to highlight a few returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVS). We have chosen several black RPCVS that have gone on to do incredible things in their life after Peace Corps.
After earning her doctorate degree in medicine from Cornell and working as an active practitioner for two years, Mae Jemison joined the Peace Corps and served in both Sierra Leone and Libera as a doctor from 1983-1985. After service, Dr. Jemison wanted to fulfill her childhood dream of being an astronaut. In 1987 she was selected into NASA’s astronaut training program and in 1992 she became the first black woman in space with the space shuttle Endeavor. After her career with NASA, Dr. Jemison began teaching at Dartmouth College. She now runs and operates the Jemison Group, whose mission is to foster and encourage the study of science for students.
Mae Jemison in July 1992, just two months before she left with Endeavor
Journalist Leon Dash started his career as an intern at Washington Post while he was attending Howard University. After graduating, Mr. Dash joined the Peace Corps where he served in Kenya from 1969-1970. After his service, he joined the Washington Post full time where he published The Shame of the Prisons, which highlights the systemic issues with America’s correctional system. In 1995, Mr. Dash received a Pulitzer Prize for his exceptional journalism profiling the “… a District of Columbia family’s struggle with destructive cycles of poverty, illiteracy, crime and drug abuse.”
Leon Dash
Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley is an American Diplomat who started her international career as a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Oman. She joined the Foreign Service in 1985 and quickly left for her first tour in Baghdad. After her time in Iraq, she served at US Embassies in Jakarta and Cairo. After some years spent on the United States National Security Council, Mrs. Abercrombie- Winstanley was appointed as the first female Consul General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 2002-2005. She received an award for her “acts of courage” during the 2004 attack on the U.S. Consulate General by al-Qaeda terrorists. In 2012 she was nominated by President Obama to serve as the US Ambassador to Malta.
Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley
Aaron S. Williams is an international development expert, beginning his career as Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic from 1967-1970. Mr. Williams extended his service for a third year where we worked directly with the Ministry of Education developing the educational curriculum. Following his service, in 1987, he became a foreign service officer working with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where he served for 22 years. In 2009, he was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as the eighteenth Director of the Peace Corps. In this role, Mr. Williams made landmark reforms to aid volunteers who were victims of sexual assault.
Cambodia: More Than Just Angkor 