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During his pre-service training, Cheng lived with a Mozambican family in Namaacha. In addition to studying Portuguese, he learned to hand-wash his clothes, cook using wood or charcoal, and take a bucket bath, among other skills. Courtesy of Jack Cheng.<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Moma](\"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/147\/2015\/04\/14220540\/Moma-033-300x225.jpg\")
Jack Cheng stands beside a sign welcoming visitors to Moma, the village in northern Mozambique where he completed his Peace Corps service. Courtesy of Jack Cheng.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cOne of the reasons I joined the Peace Corps was to see if working in the field of global health was something I was interested in, and to see if I could handle it,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd one of the ways to see if I could handle it was to be isolated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether volunteers wind up in a remote village or a city, isolation is a common feature of their experiences. The Peace Corps doesn\u2019t send them out in teams. Instead, they arrive alone in an unfamiliar place and must integrate themselves into the local community. Some may have colleagues a bus or car ride away or even in the same town. But in Cheng\u2019s case, there wasn’t another Peace Corps volunteer within 80 miles. <\/i><\/p>\n
When he first went to Mozambique, Cheng lived in a town called Namaacha, where he spent 10 weeks studying Portuguese, the country\u2019s official language. No one in his host family spoke English. Before his arrival, he had been given a list of phrases for making introductions, but he\u2019d only looked at it briefly. \u201cI didn\u2019t remember anything when I met my host mom,\u201d he admits. \u201cI remember walking with her down this dirt road, and being very awkward. She went to carry one of my bags, and I wanted to say, \u2018No, it\u2019s very heavy.\u2019 It was a 15-minute walk to the house\u201415 minutes of awkward smiling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Cheng didn\u2019t panic, or second-guess his decision to travel halfway around the world to a rural village. Instead, he says, \u201cMy thought was, \u2018I really need to learn Portuguese.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Cheng\u2019s projects in Mozambique was to organize workshops for community leaders to reduce the stigma and discrimination experienced by people with HIV\/AIDS. He also assumed a leadership role in an initiative called JUNTOS (Youth United In Working for Opportunities and Success\u2014also Portuguese for \u201ctogether\u201d), organized by Peace Corps volunteers. JUNTOS seeks to reduce HIV transmission among Mozambican youth by promoting healthy behavioral changes. With a local counterpart, Cheng formed a youth group in Moma that engaged members in journalism and theater projects to educate their peers about HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n
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Jack Cheng and his JUNTOS youth group tie-dyed shirts that the members wore when they performed skits about preventing HIV transmission. Courtesy of Jack Cheng.<\/p><\/div>\n
Ultimately, Cheng became JUNTOS\u2019 national financial coordinator. \u201cWe were on a mission to restructure the organization,\u201d he explains. JUNTOS had several regional programs, and Cheng devised a system to allocate money fairly among them. By the time he completed his service in 2013, he had acquired the project management skills to obtain another position overseas. Today, he works for CWRU\u2019s School of Medicine, coordinating three research projects in Papua New Guinea. These involve field studies of new treatment strategies and drug combinations to combat and prevent lymphatic filariasis\u2014most commonly known for its clinical presentation as elephantiasis.<\/p>\n
During his stint in the Peace Corps, Cheng learned that he really could handle a career in global health. Just as important, he acquired the expertise he needed to pursue it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see how a Peace Corps experience couldn\u2019t be transformative for someone,\u201d he says. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t, they weren\u2019t paying attention. At all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taking Initiative<\/h3>\n
A cool-headed, can-do spirit is crucial for success in the Peace Corps. In addition, volunteers must have \u201cthe best skills\u201d and a passion for service, says Northeast Ohio field recruiter Annabel Khouri. In recent years, rising numbers of CWRU graduates have demonstrated these qualities and made their way into the Peace Corps, prevailing in what Khouri calls an \u201cextremely competitive\u201d selection process. In 2011, CWRU debuted on the program\u2019s list of the top 25 volunteer-producing small colleges and universities. In 2012, the university placed 10th in the rankings.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Ciciretti<\/strong> (CWR \u201910) was about to graduate with majors in sociology and environmental studies when she applied to the Peace Corps. The summer before her junior year, she had traveled to Nicaragua on a service trip organized by American Jewish World Services. There, a chance encounter with a Peace Corps member had opened her eyes to the opportunity. In July 2010, she landed in El Salvador as an environmental education volunteer, leading a program to build stoves for families accustomed to cooking over open fires.<\/p>\n During her time as an environmental educator in El Salvador, Rebecca Ciciretti (right) stayed with a host family in Pueblo Santa Maria Ostuma. Courtesy of Rebecca Ciciretti.<\/p><\/div>\n The program addressed health concerns as well as environmental ones. When Ciciretti visited houses with cooking fires, she saw that the walls were black with soot. Mothers and children, who spent the most time in the kitchen, often suffered from respiratory illnesses. It was hoped that stoves, which let off less smoke and use less firewood, would reduce the incidence of these illnesses while also conserving trees, Ciciretti explains. During her 18 months in a pueblo called Santa Maria Ostuma, her program provided stoves to more than 50 community members.<\/p>\n Like Cheng, Ciciretti carved her own path through the Peace Corps, pursuing initiatives beyond her initial assignment. When she would walk by the local school, she noticed that students were often late and seemed to spend as much time at recess as they did in lessons. She volunteered to teach English, and then instituted English classes on Saturdays for children of all ages. Ciciretti knew that her students would benefit from learning the language, but that wasn\u2019t her only motivation. She also wanted them to develop habits that would help them get more out of school.<\/p>\n In March 2012, toward the end of her Peace Corps service in El Salvador, Rebecca Ciciretti organized an Ultimate Frisbee camp for 65 children. She solicited donations of T-shirts and discs for the all-day event.<\/p><\/div>\n Her first strategy? Awards for arriving on time.<\/p>\n \u201cI raffled off something they could use in school: a pen, a pencil, a notebook,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt got to the point where kids were coming half an hour early\u2014and those were the kids who then started showing up to school on time. That was very rewarding for me, to instill that mentality.\u201d Ciciretti later organized a scholarship fund so that one of her students could go on to college. She and the student are still in touch.<\/p>\n Ciciretti also established her village\u2019s first coed sports program: an Ultimate Frisbee camp. She had been an avid player throughout her college years, and now she amassed donations of jerseys and Frisbees so that Salvadoran children could learn the game.<\/p>\n Like Cheng and other former Peace Corps members, Ciciretti says that her experience shaped her goals. In December, she will graduate from Indiana University with a master\u2019s degree in environmental science and public affairs. Then she will head to Chile on a Fulbright scholarship to study the effects of air pollution on children\u2019s health.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Peace Corps inspired me to apply for the Fulbright,\u201d Ciciretti says. \u201cIt opened my eyes to what people in the developing world deal with on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n After returning to the U.S. from Cambodia this summer, Saeed Rahman stopped by Kelvin Smith Library, where he once worked as an undergraduate. This fall, he entered a master’s program in public health at Columbia University. Picture by Mike Sands.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cFind what you love, and do it\u201d is the unspoken motto of the Peace Corps. Even before Saeed Rahman<\/strong> (CWR \u201910) became a volunteer in Cambodia, he had figured out what he loved: practical work to benefit a community.<\/p>\n He made the discovery during his junior year, when he helped plan a water-supply project for a village in Cameroon with the CWRU chapter of Engineers Without Borders. After completing a degree in chemistry, he entered the Peace Corps and was assigned to the Cambodian province of Kampong Chhnang. His job was to help with health education at the community level.<\/p>\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t much structure in place,\u201d Rahman recalls. \u201cThe job description had not really been processed yet.\u201d It was a challenge\u2014but one that Rahman relished. \u201cYou have a lot of freedom to do what you want, to figure out how you want to do things,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n One focus area for Rahman\u2019s program was maternal and child health. He and local volunteers in several villages worked with pregnant women, young mothers and children. They made sure the women had regular checkups and gave them advice on how to wean their babies. They also held cooking demonstrations so that mothers would know how to prevent malnutrition\u2014a major problem in Cambodia for children under five.<\/p>\n Healthy living practices were a second focus area. \u201cObesity and diabetes are a major problem in the developing world,\u201d Rahman explains. The program worked with young people to promote habits that mitigate the risk of these conditions.<\/p>\n Once he became adept enough in the Khmer language, Rahman was able to conduct workshops and collaborate effectively with the local volunteers. When his term of service ended, he was unwilling to leave.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter two years, I knew how I should be doing stuff,\u201d he explains. \u201cI figured, \u2018I need one more year to use what I\u2019ve learned.\u2019\u201d Also, he had come to appreciate Cambodia\u2019s family-oriented, conversational culture. \u201cAs difficult as it can be for a foreigner to adapt to a new culture, I loved being in the community and pushing myself to understand people,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n As a Peace Corps volunteer in Cambodia, Rahman learned to speak, read and write Khmer. \u201cI never thought I would be adept at languages before I came,\u201d he says. He applied his skills when he gave presentations and led workshops to promote community health. Courtesy of Saeed Rahman.<\/p><\/div>\n His two-year stint turned into three years, then four. Rahman traveled to other Peace Corps sites to help train local volunteers and eventually became a program assistant. When he finally left Cambodia in summer 2014, he headed to Columbia University, where he is now working toward a master\u2019s degree in public health.<\/p>\n Reflecting on the impact of his extended stay, he says, \u201cI feel like I understand myself better. I have more confidence. The experience pushes you. I never thought I would be adept at languages before I came, and now I can speak, read and write Khmer.\u201d<\/p>\n The Peace Corps, he continues, \u201cis very effective in changing your perspective. They say in their ads that it\u2019s a life-altering experience, and it sounds like something they would say just to get you to join. But it\u2019s one of the few ways people can get to know a place inside and out, and actually understand it. I wish more people would want to see the world that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Amber Matheson is a freelance writer in Akron.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On a Google map, one road leads to Moma, a tiny village in northern Mozambique. And then \u2026 nothing. Regional Road 260 dead-ends into a blank swath of gray, with a simple red dotted line encircling the emptiness. …Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":98,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/147\/2015\/04\/14220546\/saeed4_cropped.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1181,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/1181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"During](\"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/147\/2015\/04\/14220536\/rebecca1-300x225.jpg\")
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A Change of Perspective<\/h3>\n
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