December 18, 2024

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteer Vows to Continue Global Service

by

At their swearing-in ceremony last summer, Sebrine Abdulkadir, left, and fellow Peace Corps volunteers wear clothing handmade from traditional Botswanan fabrics. Abdulkadir’s service was cut short when the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers due to coronavirus.

At their swearing-in ceremony last summer, Sebrine Abdulkadir, left, and fellow Peace Corps volunteers wear clothing handmade from traditional Botswanan fabrics. Abdulkadir’s service was cut short when the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers due to coronavirus.

For Peace Corps volunteer Sebrine Abdulkadir ’19, posted in the southern African country of Botswana, the upheaval happened fast.

On a Monday morning in mid-March, she received an email saying she and other Peace Corps volunteers worldwide would be evacuated from their posts because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In three hours Abdulkadir packed what possessions she could from her house in the village of Good Hope, near the South African border. She left other belongings in the care of colleagues who had worked with her on projects to educate young people about HIV/AIDS.

By Monday evening, she was on her way to Botswana’s capital, Gaborone. And Wednesday morning she began her journey home, flying through South Africa and the United Arab Emirates before arriving in Washington, D.C.

“I didn’t really believe it till I was walking onto the plane,” Abdulkadir said. “It was stressful. I didn’t really have the chance to say goodbye.”

After a two-week quarantine upon returning to the United States, Abdulkadir has joined her mother and 7-year-old brother at home in Alexandria, Virginia. From her independent adult life and her own house in Botswana, the 22-year-old finds herself once again under a parent’s roof and contemplating her next steps. Read more.

UMW Goes Global as Peace Corps Top Producer

by

Teenage boys can be a handful, no matter which country or culture they come from.

Amal Hajjami (front row, far right), who graduated from UMW in 2019, is among the dozen Mary Washington alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps. The University was just named a Peace Corps Top Producer.

Amal Hajjami (front row, far right), who graduated from UMW in 2019, is among the dozen Mary Washington alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps. The University was just named a Peace Corps Top Producer.

Amal Hajjami learned that fact within her first few weeks of Peace Corps training in Morocco, when the 2019 alumna encountered a young man who refused to participate or follow the rules – when he even bothered to show up – but she wouldn’t give up on him.

“During training, we’re taught that we shouldn’t push these individuals away,” she said, “but instead, give them leadership responsibilities.” Soon the teen was stepping up and helping out. “He showed me that once you start encouraging people, the outcome will change.”

Hajjami is among a dozen Mary Washington graduates serving worldwide in the Peace Corps, to which the University of Mary Washington has once again been named a top contributor. UMW jumped to number seven – up from 15th last year – among small schools on the 2020 Top Volunteer-Producing Schools list, released this morning.

Securing this prestigious ranking is a longstanding tradition for the University, which has earned a spot on the list since 2005. For 12 consecutive years, UMW has been included among the top 25 colleges and universities with fewer than 5,000 students. A total of 270 alumni have joined the Peace Corps since its 1961 inception.

“Mary Washington’s culture of service keeps fueling students’ interest in continuing their commitment to populations served by the Peace Corps,” said José A. Sainz, director of UMW’s Center for International Education (CIE). “It pushes their boundaries and offers many opportunities for them to become better global citizens.” Read more.

Peace Corps Top Producer: UMW Alums Serve Globally

by

2019 Peace Corps Top College

Once again the University of Mary Washington’s alumni commitment to global service has earned UMW recognition as a Peace Corps top producer.

Mary Washington took the 15th spot among U.S. schools with fewer than 5,000 students. The distinction marks the 11th consecutive year UMW has made the top 25. More than 260 Mary Washington alums have served the Peace Corps since its 1961 inception. Read more.

 

Peace Corps Ranks UMW as Top-Producing Small College

by

For the 11th year, the Peace Corps has ranked the University of Mary Washington among the nation’s top-producing colleges for alumni now serving as Peace Corps volunteers. Taylor Parker ’11 (left) served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana. UMW ranks 20th on the Peace Corps’ list of small schools or institutions with less than 5,000 undergraduates, making it the seventh-highest volunteer-producing institution in Virginia this year and the sixth-highest all-time producer in the Commonwealth. According to the Peace Corp, UMW currently has nine alumni serving around the world. UMW has been included in the top 10 of the Peace Corps’ list of top-producing small schools since 2005. In all, more than 230 UMW alumni have served the 27-month commitment around the world since the Peace Corps’ inception in 1961. Leah Kieff graduated from the University of Mary Washington in 2011 with a degree in political science and currently works as a community economic development volunteer. She credits UMW with helping to prepare her for service in Moldova, where she works with a non-governmental organization that provides medical and social services to the elderly. “I wanted a job where I knew I was making a difference and where my work was helping to make the world a better place,” said Kieff, 26, a native of Fairfax, Va. “One of the many things I love about Peace Corps is that no two days are the same. There’s always a new adventure or funny moment to be had.” The Peace Corps ranks its top volunteer-producing colleges and universities annually according to the size of the student body. For the full list of top-producing colleges and universities, visit peacecorps.gov.

Salut, Balti: How One Peace Corps Volunteer is Helping Her Community Rethink Volunteering

by

peace-corps-leah-kieff-alum

Leah Kieff ’11 is participating in an initiative in Balti, Moldova as a Peace Corps volunteer. Photo courtesy of Peace Corps.

Peace Corps volunteer Leah Kieff, 25, of Fairfax, Va., has been serving as a Community Development volunteer in Moldova since June 2013. Kieff is working with her community to encourage youth volunteerism through the Salut, Balti! initiative. She graduated from the University of Mary Washington in 2011 with her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Philosophy. We did a Q&A with her to learn all about Salut, Balti! and its impact on the community. Bottom line: Peace Corps volunteers do really awesome things!

Q: Where is your Peace Corps site?

A: I live in Balti, Moldova. There are about 150,000 people who live in Balti. For the U.S., it would be a pretty small city. In Moldova however, Balti is the second largest city and it’s sometimes referred to as the northern capital.

Q: Can you describe it?

A: I love my site! When I was first placed here, it wasn’t what I expected for Peace Corps because I was in a city. Now I think of Balti as the absolute BEST city in Moldova. Balti offers me all the advantages of being in the capital – restaurants, grocery stores, gyms, English speakers – without the over-crowded hustle. I also love being in a city with so many active NGOs. I feel like I have an unmatched ability to make a difference on a large scale!

Q: What sorts of volunteer activities are you doing?

A: I love all of my work in Moldova from planting trees, to writing business plans for social enterprise applications with my NGO, to working at a food booth fundraiser, but my particular favorites are giving trainings in Romanian and marketing for fundraisers.

Q: What is Salut, Balti?

peace-corps-leah-kieff-alum-2

Leah Kieff ’11 presents her initiative in the city of Balti. Photo courtesy of Peace Corps.

A: The project is called Salut, Balti!, which translates to Hello, Balti. In June 2013, Moldova’s national government passed an extensive piece of legislation on volunteering. Among other things, the law stipulates that each of the major cities in Moldova implement a municipal wide volunteer initiative. In August, two other Peace Corps Volunteers in Balti and I began working with the mayor’s office on implementing their volunteer program.

Q: What is the goal?

A: The goal of Salut, Balti! is to promote volunteering in Balti. While this may sound like a simple or perhaps unnecessary task to someone from Northern Virginia, it’s far from simple here. Salut, Balti! offers anyone in Balti a chance to gain skills and to make their community a better place.

Salut, Balti! works as a medium to bridge civil society and local government and assist them in meeting their common goals. The program also offers a chance for youth to gain skills, empowerment, and engagement in their community.

Q: What progress is Salut, Balti! making?

A: The first concrete work of this project was youth trainings implemented over three weekends in November. These youth trainings invited two students from every high school in Balti to be trained on leadership, volunteering, and project management. Over the course of three weekends, we trained over 50 youth. After the trainings, the youth formed project teams, got assigned a mentor, and completed a community project of their choice and design.

These youth work diligently with their mentors and we saw all except one team complete a project within three months. At the end of the three months, we held an event to celebrate the work of the youth and to offer them a chance to continue to stay involved in Salut, Balti’s work.

Q: How is the community involved in the project?

A: To ensure that there would be organizations that were equipped to handle and effectively use the volunteers, we also held a training for NGOs. During the workshop, we offered sessions on how to recruit, train, retain, and reward volunteers. The training was attended by more than 20 representatives from local NGOs and was also covered in the local media.

Salut, Balti now has an office at the municipal government building with resources for local volunteers. The project has successfully placed many youth with organizations in need and currently we are working on a website that will offer a volunteer matching service.

Q: Why should people consider Peace Corps?

A: I would recommend the Peace Corps to anyone who wants the chance to help change the world in a small way. It’s for anyone who wants a job where every day, every week brings new challenges, new funny stories, and more lost in translation moments than most people accrue in a lifetime.

To learn more about the project, check out Salut, Balti! on Facebook: facebook.com/SalutBalti

Article and photos courtesy of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office of  the Peace Corps.