Extension's Peace Corps Connection
On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order that established the Peace Corps. Since then, more than 240,000 Americans have served worldwide, including over 6,400 Wisconsinites, nearly 3,300 of which attended UW–Madison.
While any opportunity to live, work, or study outside the U.S. can contribute a wealth of experiences, few are likely to compare with the transformative benefits that many Peace Corps volunteers receive during their service abroad. Given its focus on relationship-building and working with communities to collaboratively address complex issues, it seemed like more than a coincidence to hear about Extension colleagues who were also in the Peace Corps. Working on a hunch that there were more than just a few former Peace Corps volunteers in our ranks, we did a little exploring. To our surprise and delight we found a significant number of our past and present colleagues are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Here’s what some of them had to say about how their Peace Corps experience has shaped their Extension work.
Laura Apfelbeck
Bulgaria | 1991-1993 | English Teacher
As a Peace Corps volunteer, I was recruited to serve as an English teacher for university students at a time when the country was gearing up to re-enter a global marketplace and international language skills were considered vital. Six weeks into our training, we watched on wavy TV screens as a group of communist hardliners in Moscow staged a coup complete with tanks and guns against Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms. Our Bulgarian staff paled and started speaking Russian.
My Peace Corps experience has colored every aspect of my life."
I lived in Silistra, Bulgaria, a region along the Danube known as the breadbasket of Eastern Europe. Yet, our grocery stores shelves stood empty. Why? The centralized government shipped the produce to the capital city. Rural people were left to fend for themselves. If we saw a queue, we ran to join it, assuming there must be something good at the end of the line. Bulgarians faced an inflation of over 333% that year, and the worst was still to come. Food justice and healthy food access are foundational to FoodWIse. And as a FoodWIse coordinator, my role helps address such issues, and the impact they have on some of Wisconsin’s most vulnerable and marginalized populations.
Joe Bonnell
Costa Rica | 1990-1992 | Environmental Education
How has my Peace Corps experience shaped my Extension work? First, I would say it was my Peace Corps experience that led me to Extension. My assignment was with the Environmental Education program in Costa Rica in the early ‘90’s. I was working with a small group of teachers who were trying to educate local youth on the importance of protecting local forests and water resources. I found the work very challenging and when I decided to return to the university to begin a doctoral program in natural resources, the primary motivation behind my studies was the question, “How could I have been more effective during those two years as a Peace Corps volunteer?” I wanted to know how to motivate people to protect the natural resources on which their lives depended, especially when doing so might require them to sacrifice short-term benefits. I also wanted to know how to build and sustain community organizations that often begin with noble intentions but then lose momentum when change doesn’t happen quickly enough and members get caught up in family and work obligations.
Much of my Extension career has been focused on developing the leadership skills of environmental professionals and volunteers to build and sustain effective organizations and to develop effective education and outreach programs to improve water quality.
Another way in which my Peace Corps experience has influenced my Extension work is in my resourcefulness and resilience. Working in a small rural town in Costa Rica, there weren’t very many resources, financial or otherwise, to support educational programming. I learned quickly to utilize what materials were available and how to improvise when promised resources weren’t delivered. I also learned that my plans and expectations weren’t always in line with my collaborators and that patience was my best asset. Things didn’t always happen in the timeframe I imagined, but if I persisted, things would often get done – not always as I had envisioned, but in a way that was most appropriate for the people involved.
Finally, I would also say that I gained a much greater appreciation for other cultures and I learned that different is not the same as bad or wrong. When I began my Peace Corps service, I had not spent much time outside the US and initially, I was very judgmental about many of the differences I observed in the local culture. Over time I became more tolerant of those differences and, eventually, came to appreciate many of those differences that, at one time, frustrated or angered me. That taught me that we are all products of our families, our communities, our societies, our cultures and rather than seeing cultural differences as a problem to be fixed or tolerated, if we maintain an open mind and heart, we may actually come to embrace some of those differences and view them as a source of enrichment.
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Erin Conway
Guatemala | 2005-2007 | Environmental Education
My name is Erin Conway and I have worked for Extension for less than two years. I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the program of Environmental Education in Guatemala from January 2005-December 2007. It was the first of my three Guatemalan lives consisting of educational projects. I worked in the country 10 years overall. My Peace Corps experience was my first opportunity to coach teachers and it changed my path from focusing on classroom teaching to supporting teachers, though the definition of the word 'teacher' has expanded significantly since then. The other word that has shifted, and ultimately disappeared from my vocabulary, is expert. Experiences are important but expertise carries with it a finality that I do not find helpful in my work. Building onto this, the most key pieces from Peace Corps that I carry with me into Extension are 1) the voices that invite me or my program into a space are not necessarily the voices that need to be heard, and 2) the value of any book, program or knowledge in an educational initiative is not inherent, but based on how and why it is being applied. Everyone has the right to say 'no' without judgment.
Photo at left: Erin Conway and sisters, Micaela, Sheny, and Petrona. "Those girls...were quite the group of buddies. Sometimes they wanted to play so we would wake up early and meet on the basketball court down by the lakeshore. Micaela is in the pink sweatshirt. Sheny is in blue behind. Petrona is in the red jacket in front. Lidia, the most mischievous and outgoing of all, is taking the picture. Usually, their dog Oso also came, but he's not in that picture."
Margie Cook
Thailand | 1988-1990 | Thai 4-H Program
I remember the day I finished my Peace Corps in-country training (a 3-month experience in which I learned a brand-new-to-me culture and language, especially important survival phrases like “Can I have a plate of rice?”, “Where is the bathroom?”, and “I speak Thai a little bit.”). On that day, I was scared (terrified), completely intimidated by what I was about to do. I remember clearly the encouragement of a Thai civil servant who had come into his government role after earlier in his life being part of a student uprising against the government. Speaking to my group at our swearing-in ceremony, he said, “I believe that with good heart and good intentions, you will succeed.” I clung to that thought like it was a life raft. Living in an unfamiliar culture and figuring out how to work with people whose understanding of life was completely different from my own was HARD. It was amazing in many ways and I am forever grateful for it. And it was HARD. But that statement from him helped me broaden my definition of success, to allow for the fact that success was not just how many projects I implemented. Success was also the relationships I built, the ways that my coworkers and I all learned to allow for different ways of thinking about our work. Success was also about patience, and learning, and planting seeds, not knowing if or when or how those seeds would come to fruition. Success included working with good heart and good intentions.
I was a volunteer for the Thai 4-H Program, which is modeled directly on the U.S. 4-H Program. I worked in the Prachinburi Provincial Agriculture Extension Office, in the East-Central part of Thailand. The projects I did with 4-H clubs included raising chickens, growing vegetables, establishing a co-op fund, and leadership development. After working in Thailand for a year and a half, I collaborated with one of my coworkers to create a one-week intensive training that brought together Thai agriculture and food systems extension agents with village leaders to learn about participatory development approaches.
My Peace Corps experience shaped my work in so many ways. It inspired my commitment to understanding the diversity of people’s lived experiences and facilitating engaged learning about equity, inclusion, and social justice. I have worked for many years in the field of equity and inclusion. Additionally, living in Thailand, I saw the effects of living in a country with little to no regulation to protect the environment, farmers, or food systems. I grew up on a farm in Illinois, and I was raised to be proud of farming and its important role in the world. In my world, appreciation of farming and nature were one and the same. I did not have a framework for evaluating the environmental impact of farming. I returned to the U.S. much more aware of environmental issues and work to protect natural resources.
I returned to Thailand 15 years after my service there, and visited many of the people I worked with. I went to the village where I worked with a group of mostly young women on a project raising chickens that also established a revolving co-op fund for the village. One of my former 4-Hers said, “I have something to show you” and led me to a huge building. She opened the door, and I was greeted by the site of 10,000 chickens. She said to me, “I took the experience you gave me and I did something with it.” It is hard to say how overwhelming that experience was, to know I played a small part in giving her an experience that she built a future on. She is amazing. I helped her plant a seed, and she grew it.
Although I am relatively new to working with Extension, and my role is more behind the scenes, in many ways, there is a direct connection from my long-ago Peace Corps service to the fact that I am now a part of Extension. In fact, I am in the finishing stages of designing a new online recertification course for the Wisconsin 4-H Shooting Sports program. I am glad and proud to be in Extension. And I can still recite the 4-H pledge by heart.
Josset Gauley
Latvia | 1997-1999 | English Teacher, Teacher Training, Youth Development
My Peace Corps experience has shaped who I am and how I work in more ways than I know – certainly more than I can outline in a few sentences. As a 22 year old teacher living and working in a small town (~2000 people), in a country that had just emerged from 50 years of Soviet occupation, I quickly learned many things.
It taught me to be humble, to listen, to constantly learn, to value others."
It taught me to be humble, to listen, to constantly learn, to value others. It taught me the importance of relationship building and that strong personal and working relationships are rooted in mutual respect of each other’s language and culture. It taught me there are many ways of knowing and doing, and that my approach to doing things is a product of my culture and my experiences and is not the only way.
All of those things are useful in my Extension work, but above all, my Peace Corps experience taught me that understanding context and the intertwining systems that shape context (culture, history, language, institutions, relationships, geography) are critical to accomplishing anything. Before I could be successful in my role as English teacher, I had to understand that what I was teaching, who I was, and what I was tasked with accomplishing fit in the context of the place I was living and working. I suppose that’s why today, in my Extension role, I ground my Program Development and Evaluation work in frameworks, logic models, and other tools that help to clarify context and chart a path to successfully accomplishing work that will really make a difference.
Rachel Hart-Brinson
Honduras | 2000-2002 | Family Hillside Farming
I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Honduras in the Agriculture sector—Family Hillside Farming, specifically. I lived in the small town of Chicaltepe in the department of Olancho in the eastern section of the country. I did some work on crop diversification, small animal care, women as farmers too, and soil conservation, but I also spent a lot of time on "secondary projects." I learned how to build stoves that had a chimney and burned less wood. (This saved labor and slowed deforestation plus reduced respiratory infections for those in the household.) I built them with homeowners so that they would learn-by-doing and then they could re-build or help neighbors make one. I taught English in neighboring village schools in order to give those students who might go on to junior high a small boost in their academics since the rural schools I taught in were severely under-staffed compared to the more urban schools. I supported the organization of and played on a women's soccer team. I kept a collection of Spanish children's books, games, and coloring books in my house and welcomed young people into my home to read and play games together. Plus, I visited and shared food and coffee and stories and talked about my childhood and my family with numerous families in my village and neighboring towns.
So, how has my Peace Corps Experience shaped my Extension work? It's been foundational. First, it's all about relationships. Our Peace Corps trainers spoke to us about how we wouldn't really be able to do much "work" our first year in our community. I figured that wouldn't be the case with me because my Spanish was excellent and I'm super friendly, etc. They were so right. For safety reasons, I moved communities part way through my first year. While I was meeting people and socializing often, around that year mark, I started finding out all sorts of things about people in my community. I remember thinking, "that explains why some of the work I'd tried to do didn't go as well as I thought it would." Building trust and relationships take time. And, you can't rush that, even if you're super friendly and speak the language. But, I learned that I absolutely love the act of building relationships with people—both youth and adults—and I bring those skills with me to Extension.
Second, confidence, life experience, and living your values matter. I was so very young when I lived in Honduras. While there, I gained confidence in myself and started to solidify some of the values that I hold most strongly—we're stronger together, diversity is a strength, we only have one earth so we must think about sustainability, etc. And, I stopped trying to make sure everyone "likes me." Integrity, boundaries, and living into values are way more important than being liked. While I'm still learning how to live my values and not care too much about what other people think, the roots of that work started in Peace Corps. I am so very glad that I have years of life experience to lean on for my work in Eau Claire County
Lastly, my Peace Corps experience highlighted the importance of education and opportunity in growing successful and productive citizens. I so enjoyed spending time with the young people in my English classes or playing games at my house. I was so proud of them when their reading skills improved or when they started using communication strategies that I taught them. I was shocked that the children's books I had in my house were the first books many of the children had ever seen. These children's potential was so great and they lacked opportunity and resources. I tried my best to provide enrichment activities and positive role modeling. The relationships I built with those children were the highlight of my Peace Corps experience.
I am so pleased to be working in the organization of 4-H that provides positive opportunities and enrichment education for so many young people. And, I see the opportunity (and need) to expand the 4-H program beyond its historic participants in Wisconsin. There are so many more young people and their families to include in our program! I have joined the Juntos Wisconsin team that is focused on bringing Extension programming (including 4-H) to the Latino community. But, relationships need to come first! So, I'm working on building key relationships in those communities here in Eau Claire County. Speaking Spanish (thank you Peace Corps) certainly helps, but it also takes time, another Peace Corps lesson.
Bill KIase
Nepal | 1994-1996 | Community Forestry
I was a community forestry volunteer in Nepal where one of my tasks was to train users of local forests on how to sustainably manage their resource. To that end, I trained some influential women how to build cooking stoves that used the firewood they had to collect more efficiently and moved the smoke out of the building. During my initial training before going to my post, I was taught how to build these stoves and actually built all of one of them. Needless to say I wasn’t an expert by any means. So, without much experience and a tenuous grasp of the language, I set out to do my best. I managed to train some of the right women who helped other women to build similar stoves in their homes. I took from that modest success the courage to share information with my audience even though I am not an expert and the understanding that I will most likely make some mistakes along the way. I have found that people are just as forgiving of my shortcomings here as in Nepal. They see the practical value of what I am offering and are willing to work with me to get that.
Photo at right: Two Nepali women next to the smokeless stove they built.
Kristin Krokowski
Kenya | 1992-1993 | Agroforestry Extension Agent
My time in the Peace Corps led me to a career in Extension. I learned how sharing knowledge could improve people's lives—both theirs and mine—in practical tangible ways. That's true no matter where you live."
Paul Ohlrogge
Philippines | 1981-1984 | Youth Development and Fisheries
Peace Corps changed my life. I cannot imagine a better place to serve/work after Peace Corps than with Extension. The ability to reach so many people and how we can be so grassroots means so much to me. Peace Corps instilled in me the thoughts that there are people who we miss. I think Peace Corps helped me be aware and kept me thinking of the underserved."
Erin Peot
Kyrgyzstan | 2006-2008 | English Teacher
I’m so grateful for the opportunity I had to live and learn abroad as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jalalabat, Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. I lived with my host family for a little over 2 years and taught at the local school. In 2006, Peace Corps was set up as an expert model – I was supposed to be the “expert” but we all know how this story ends… I learned WAY more than I could ever teach. My understanding that I have so much to learn is what continues to shape my Extension work. I try to bring an open heart, open mind and curiosity to my work.
My understanding that I have so much to learn is what continues to shape my Extension work."
Samuel Pratsch
Paraguay | 2000-2002 | Environmental Education
My name is Samuel and my Peace Corps experience profoundly shaped my career with Extension. I served as an Environmental Education volunteer in Paraguay in the early 2000s and had the amazing opportunity to live and work in the Mbaracayú Biosphere Reserve. It was here where I first started to understand the importance of considering and meeting the needs of farmers and their families while striving to conserve biodiversity. The stakeholders I learned about in my academic training who were responsible for tropical rainforest deforestation were now my neighbors and friends. My eyes were opened to their daily challenges and their perseverance overcoming them. I was deeply moved one day when I found my neighbor harvesting an endangered Boar species from the reserve. I knew he and his family had very little resources and were living off of only what they could grow. His need to provide sustenance to his family far outweighed my aspiration to try and persuade him not to engage in that type of illegal hunting. At that moment, my worldview expanded tremendously, and I realized I needed to use my power and privilege to help those in need.
At that moment, my worldview expanded tremendously, and I realized I needed to use my power and privilege to help those in need."
My career in Extension has been the perfect vehicle for me to actualize my intentions and I continue to find ways to center the voice of those in need in my evaluation work by ensuring that their concerns and desires are reflected and incorporated in our programs and interventions.
Photo at left: Samuel Pratsch sharing lunch with friends in Yunambu, Paraguay.
Chris Stark
Czech Republic | 1993-1996 | Environmental Education and Economic Development
I served in the Peace Corps Czech Republic for three years – 1993 to 1996 – not long after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Czech Republic had been under the sphere of the Soviet Union, the former Iron Curtain, from 1948-1989. At that time the country was combined with Slovakia, called Czechoslovakia. In 1993, Czech and Slovak split apart to form two countries. So, there were two things going on in the years that I lived there: (1) the Czechs had just transitioned out of Communism with it’s dictatorial style of government; and (2) they had just split their country from Slovakia, which many of the Czechs regretted, although certainly not all.
How has my experience in the Czech Republic shaped my Extension work? The importance of that first part was that this was a country suddenly thrust into democracy and capitalism after 1989. They had been a major power in Europe prior to World War II, taken over by the Nazis in 1938 and then the Russians for a generation and a half, and then achieved their freedom from Communism in a non-violent overthrow of the government with the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Being new to democracy and capitalism, many Czech people thought that they would be able to go out and get rich quickly. In many ways, they learned their harsh lessons better than we did. The irony is that we Americans were sent here to help them with their fledgling democracy in the 1990’s. Now, we could use their help for the same purpose.
I remember discussions and studying up on what is civil society? And what are the best examples of civil society in America? There were in the early 1990s no Rotary clubs, no Kiwanis clubs and no, for example, economic development organizations in the country at that time. These started to spring up in Prague quickly, but the rest of the country did not comprehend the need for groups like this at that time. I remember having those difficult conversations with local leaders as I was learning the language. Thirty years later, they are a model in democracy, civil society and I am going to slip in that they have quality health care for all.
...what I learned from the Czechs can best be summed up in one word: Modesty (Skromnost)."
In reality, I learned far more than I ever helped or taught in the Czech Republic. I suspect this is true of all Peace Crops Volunteers wherever they go, but what I learned from the Czechs can best be summed up in one word: Modesty (Skromnost). They certainly have people with egos, and those can be challenging, but most people there live with a bit less materialism than we have (by choice or not) and most are perfectly content with that.
Kris Tiles
Haiti | 1999-2001 | Agroforestry
Yon sel dwet pa ka mange kalalou." (Haitian proverb)
I joined Peace Corps fresh out of college, and thought I was going to go change the world. I also thought that two years felt like FOREVER. When I left after 2 years, I was just starting to dig into the meat of what I was hoping to do. The opening of every conversation in Haiti started with “How are you? How is your family?”. The worst thing you could do was jump right into the “business”; it was the first time that I realized how important people are to all the natural resources work we do. To this day, it brings joy to my heart as I think about all the time I got to spend drinking coffee with my neighbors and learning about what was important to them. Then you can move on to what we can do together to bring change. “You can't eat okra with only one finger.”
Piti Piti zwazo fè niche li." (Haitian proverb)
One of the biggest lessons I learned was that rarely did I alone have the answer. I had an international forestry degree that focused on agroforestry and community forestry, I mean didn’t I know everything I needed to be an agroforestry volunteer? It took a ton of trust building and listening to help my community come up with ways that we could work together to bring change. And that change didn’t start where I expected it to. The youth in the community wanted help with their English classes… so I helped tutor some students. There weren’t any toilets in my community (and few outhouses), but there were health issues… so I taught about the importance of washing hands and making a handwashing station from a water bottle. Only then, and more than a year in, did I get to start talking to them about the importance of planting trees, and how the trees we were growing could provide them with an additional income source and healthy food for their family. Even then, I had to work with them to address their barriers to planting and keeping trees alive before we got any in the ground. “Little by little a bird makes its nest.”
Trisha Wagner
Gualel, Loja, Ecuador | 2005-2007 | Agribusiness
Entering a community where the language is not understood doesn’t make Extension work impossible, but could it make it better? Without being able to effectively communicate, the vast depth and breadth of resources of an organization such as Extension are not easily actionable. Hence, one either gets frustrated and quickly quits, or develops extreme patience while spending time learning the language. When you must learn the language of a community, you also learn the meaning of the culture; why things are done as they are. Through this process I developed a really good understanding of the needs, challenges and strengths of the community. It took time, reading their papers and magazines, listening for months to their music and radio programs, and to as many people and groups as possible. There are no shortcuts when you must learn a language, through the process you become aware of your biases, assumptions, and patience.
Photo at right: Learning how to provide “reasons” for Guinea pig (cuy) assessment; getting ready to prepare dinner.
Dave Williams
How American Peace Corps experience shaped my Extension career
Dave Williams worked as the Waukesha County Extension agriculture agent from 1992 until 2003, then served as associate program director for Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension until his retirement in November 2017.
I served as an American Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Nepal from May 1988 until May 1990. Peace Corps was one of the best experiences of my life—personally and professionally. My work as a PCV was in many ways similar to that of an Extension Agriculture Educator. My experience proved to be extremely valuable for my eventual work as a county-based Agriculture/Farm Business Management Educator and later as an Extension Associate Program Director for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
PCVs immerse themselves in another culture – learning the language and customs and people’s perspectives and values. Understanding culture helps an Extension educator gain an appreciation that people can come from an entirely different place. That people can have different perspectives and values and approach most everything differently. Working with people from another culture gives PCVs valuable experience communicating and engaging with others. PCVs learn how to listen carefully and to communicate in ways that are understandable. They often have to work with limited resources.
As Associate Program Director I was involved in the hiring of many county Extension educators. In considering applications I valued PCV experience because I knew that the candidate understands cultural differences and can engage and communicate with diverse audiences.
UW-Madison to celebrate 60 years of Peace Corps in 2021
In celebration of the 60th anniversary of Peace Corps, UW-Madison will be hosting a number of events in the coming year. To kick-off the celebration, a live panel discussion including 10 former Peace Corps directors will be held on March 1, 2021, from 6-7:30 p.m. "Celebrating 60 Years of Service and Friendship – A Conversation with Peace Corps Directors" will be moderated by former UW-Madison Chancellor Donna Shalala and will discuss the role of Peace Corps over the decades, stories of volunteering, changes in the organization, and the legacy of Peace Corps. This virtual event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Prior to this event, UW–Madison’s International Division will host a virtual showing of “A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps.” From February 26–March 1, the documentary will be available to stream for free through Vimeo. Access to the documentary is available to the campus community and the public, but registration is required.
For other events being planned in the coming year, visit the UW-Madison Peace Corps 60th Anniversary Celebration website.
Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, language(s), background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.
For inquiries related to this publication or if you would like to make a financial gift to support the OAIC’s work, please contact oaic@extension.wisc.edu.