They came back with no regrets and not much money, but with intangible riches. Veterans of the Peace Corps say service abroad left them with a wealth of experience and understanding.
Mark Nesse, director of the Everett Public Library, was in Ethiopia from 1965 to 1967.
Jeff Kelley-Clarke, director of Snohomish County’s Solid Waste Division, met his wife, Paula Kelley-Clarke, in Bahrain. They were in the island country in the Persian Gulf from 1976 to 1978.
Cliff Strong, Arlington’s planning director, spent 1982 through 1985 in the west African nation of Niger working in a fisheries program. “You have to be ready to step outside the United States, accept different people and learn a new way of life,” Jeff Kelley-Clarke said. “If you’re ready for that, there’s nothing like it.
“It’s different than a two-week vacation in Europe. It teaches about being a minority, about different languages and religious tolerance. It gave me a lot of perspective on world politics.”
Peace Corps recruiters will explain volunteer opportunities at a meeting at 6:30 tonight at the Everett Public Library.
“We’re in 71 countries, from Africa and the Pacific to Latin America and Eastern Europe,” said Jim Aguirre, public affairs specialist in the federal agency’s regional office in Seattle.
Born in 1961 with the vision of President Kennedy, the Peace Corps today has about 7,500 volunteers. Their average age is 27, but the eldest is 84, Aguirre said. Stints of 27 months include three months of training and two years in a foreign land.
Volunteers get a living allowance, medical and dental care, transportation and $6,075 when their duty is done.
“Employers see Peace Corps on a resume, they take a long look. Here’s someone that’s going to get it done,” Aguirre said.
For Paula Kelley-Clarke, who has been an Everett Community College instructor and a member of the Everett School Board, cultural bonds forged in Bahrain three decades ago still serve her today.
After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, she worked through the college and the Snohomish County Refugee Forum with Iraqis new to this country.
“I have great friendships in the local Iraqi community. Because I had that Middle Eastern experience and speak a very tiny bit of Arabic, I was given a lot of trust,” said Paula Kelley-Clarke, who taught psychology at a university in Bahrain while in the Peace Corps.
Her future husband was in Manama, the capital, with the ministry of housing, doing budget and census work.
Nesse not only met his wife, Sheila, in the Peace Corps, he got to know himself better.
“You learn to be at peace with yourself, and in some cases to really rely on yourself to get through the day,” Nesse said. He taught high school history and geography in Ethiopia.
“I was out in the sticks, she was in the capital city (Addis Ababa),” he said. The couple married before returning home.
After graduation from Pacific Lutheran University, Nesse said joining the Peace Corps “seemed like the thing to do.” He’d been inspired by Kennedy.
There were hardships – no electricity or refrigeration – and Nesse was treated for tapeworms when he returned. But “I never regretted it,” he said. “People can do something real to make this a better world.”
Nesse would recommend the Peace Corps to any young person, although his own son served his country by serving six years in the U.S. Marine Corps. “In this world, we need both,” Nesse said.
Beyond providing professional abilities to developing countries, the Peace Corps “exposes them to us and us to them,” Jeff Kelley-Clark said.
“The Peace Corps’ goal is to bring the face of America overseas,” Aguirre said.
In this world, friendly American faces sure can’t hurt.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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