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Alumni Review

Your Stories of Service


Realistic idealism: Actions matter more than motives

I went to Sierra Leone, West Africa, in April 1986 after graduating from Hamilton in 1985. I cannot say that my motivations were primarily charitable, although certainly I wanted to help others. In essence, I wanted to do something "productive" and see a part of the world that did not exist in my neck of the woods, Fairfield County, Conn. I figured New York City, which is where it seemed most of my compatriots were headed, could wait.

I was employed by two projects in Sierra Leone, both related to water well construction and health education for villagers in rural areas. I lived in a very remote area near the Guinea border, and then a middle-sized town with sporadic electricity and the occasional shipment of beer from the capital, Freetown.

Peace Corps for me is one of those few experiences that continues on in my mind and will likely do so for the rest of my life. Most experiences fade into memory and have little impact on our present lives. Not so with Peace Corps. Of course, you could chalk it up to the fact that I met my wife of now over 15 years there (a British national working for a nonprofit U.K. agency), but in fact it goes much deeper. Twenty years after returning home, I have no idea if my work there made a difference. I did not "find myself," and I doubt I solved many global problems. I don't waste time mulling these questions over anymore. I do know that my experiences in Sierra Leone gave me a strong sense of giving back.

Whatever the ultimate reasons behind the plight of peoples here and across the globe in less fortunate circumstances, we can make their lives better, period, by the mere fact that we can make an affirmative choice to do so. I also know that the people on the receiving end of any such largess don't much care why we do it, just as long as we step up and act. Call it realistic idealism.
-- Jim Kreitler '85

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Supporting Peace Corps volunteers everywhere

I served in Estonia from 1997 to 1999 as a non-governmental organization development volunteer, working in Tallinn with an Estonian organization dedicated to that purpose. I was responsible for writing grants and overseeing projects, and also facilitated training sessions in areas such as marketing, attracting and using volunteers, partnering with businesses and the government, etc.

Following the completion of my assignment, I went to the Dominican Republic with the Crisis Corps, where I worked for the United Nations World Food Program on a Work for Food project. I was stationed in Santo Domingo and responsible for working with local NGOs to explain the requirements of the project; they needed to rebuild the infrastructure in their communities that had been damaged by Hurricane Georges, and in return they received food donated by USAID.

I am now an active board member of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in South Florida, where we continue to support Peace Corps volunteers around the world. We also sponsor activities here in South Florida for underserved groups and educate Floridians about the work that we did in the Peace Corps.
-- Lisa Frankel '86

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A lifetime of service

A lifetime member of VFW, American Legion and Auxiliary Coast Guard, I have been involved in numerous volunteer service situations, both internationally and domestically.
-- Jeff Hewitt '74

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One gains as much as one gives

From fall 1984 through spring 1985, I worked as a volunteer physician with the World Catholic Medical Mission Board in Madras, India. I suspect that I was the only Jewish Catholic missionary in India at the time.

Most of the medical conditions I encountered resulted from public health issues such as mosquito-borne disease and the lack of clean water supplies. As such, my impact there could only be short term. However, the impact upon me has been lifelong. My sense of perspective and awareness of my many blessings have been forever etched in my heart and mind. It is really true that one gains as much as one gives with any voluntary service.
-- Mark Hellreich '76

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My Peace Corps experience defines me

I am very excited that the Alumni Review is featuring the experiences of Hamilton Peace Corps volunteers. My service as a PCV in the Kingdom of Morocco from 1986-88 was not only a vital opportunity for me to establish a career pattern focused on both personal and community goals, but also a tribute to my alma mater.

Over the years, so much of Hamilton, Morocco and the Peace Corps have converged in my life, and so I did not find it too unusual to find myself enchanted by Stephen O'Dowd's story of his service in the Kingdom, or eager to participate in the March alumni trip to Morocco. (I can't go, but anyone who wants to discuss Morocco prior to undertaking this glorious vacation opportunity, please feel free to contact me!)

It's important that I take a moment to thank Professor Doug Raybeck [emeritus] for indoctrinating me into the study of culture. His passion and knowledge fed my curiosity, and I encountered many of the concepts he taught in the field and in the classrooms of my further study. I am very grateful for Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, and every year when I attend Reunion (yes, I go each June), I smile and greet him, but I really should be extending my gratitude. He helped me to see that I wanted to experience distant cultures and faraway lands.

Like many PCVs, I went overseas to change the world, but I really only changed myself. For six weeks, I trained in Frogmore, S.C., to lead small agricultural projects. In Morocco's capital, Rabat, I spent three months learning to be culturally appropriate, to speak Derija, and to navigate the complexities of an entirely different world. In Marrakech, I led a rabbit-raising project for a women's detention center, served as a home-health educator for families with handicapped children and wrote the PCV monthly newsletter. I learned to knit from Moroccan friends, and hiked the Atlas Mountains in search of a rare feral sheep population with a wildlife biologist. I translated at a maternal/infant health clinic. Olives and pomegranates and quince graced my table, and I learned to drink coffee so dark and rich that even today no one but my Morocco PCV husband can stand my brew technique.

Morocco is not quite African, not quite Middle Eastern and not quite European, so I could learn from all of these traditions. I sunbathed topless in Agadir and spoke Spanish in Ceuta, a city that looks just like the rest of Morocco but belongs to Spain. I met ex-pats from around the globe, and a U.S. general who sold arms and ammunition to the Moroccan army. He adored me because I went to Hamilton, and confided to me that he had applied years ago but had not been selected. I studied karate with Moroccan children and jogged throughout my neighborhood on the edge of the city despite the stares of those around me. Everything was thrilling, and Moroccans were kind and generous hosts, inviting me into their homes and teaching me much about myself.

One evening, while I was staying in Rabat to work on a publication, there was pounding on my hotel door in the middle of the night. Alarmed, I opened it to reveal Al Kaiser and John Seed, both Class of '88, taking their junior year abroad in England. They had come to find me on their holiday break. I brought them back to Marrakech, and we had an excellent week touring around.

Bragging that I knew all of the special inner spaces of the souk, I took them deep into the cavernous market, only to have Al run into one of his classmates with a Hamilton sweatshirt. I can't recall her name, but she was in Morocco on break from junior year in Spain, I believe. It really was the smallest world ever. Once, at a PCV party, a young man approached me – Ethan Howland '86. It was great to have another Hamilton connection for my second year in the Kingdom, and Ethan and I spend a lot of time together. He was teaching at a Moroccan university and we volunteers saw each other frequently. Ethan, if you read this, drop me a line!

I was heartbroken when it was time for me to close my service as a volunteer in Morocco. PCVs receive a great deal of re-entry training, and I decided to fly into New York City to spend time with my some of my 1985 classmates while I decompressed. My friends were very kind to me, and I appreciate them for the acceptance and patience they extended while I culture-shocked back stateside.

A few years ago at reunion, my classmates and I were on an impromptu self-directed tour of the newly renovated Alpha Delta house. Fascinated by the updates, we found ourselves marveling over the transformation, even in the basement. Wanting to scrutinize the bathroom, I found myself and my comrades in the ladies room as a young woman, bathrobe-clad, emerged from the shower. She wore a shy smile and a familiar demeanor, and I greeted her. She replied that she didn't speak English well. My friend heard her say she spoke French, and started a conversation. The young woman said she was from Maroc, and my heart beat so fast I could barely stammer out a greeting in Derija. She explained that her husband was attending the reunion.

Here I was, full circle, speaking a remote North African dialect to a shower-fresh Moroccan woman from Mohammedia, in the transmogrified frat-house basement scene of some of my youthful excesses. The diverse reunions of Hamilton and Morocco together in one place were overpowering.

Overall, my Peace Corps experience defines me. I think about it every day. I have dreams in which I speak only Moroccan Arabic. Being a volunteer was the perfect way for me to use what I learned over four years at Hamilton College to explore the world and discover how I fit into it.
-- Kris Hoffman '85

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VISTAs build College and community

Who knew I would stay at Hamilton for two more years – and those years would take me deep into the pulse of inner-city Utica? I served for two years as an AmeriCorps*VISTA out of the Levitt Center, focusing on strengthening ties between the College and the community, especially in ways that benefit at-risk kids.

It was an eye-opening time and one that set me on the path to – I think, at least – a career in social policy. I got together a board of neighborhood residents and we hatched all sorts of plans for how we could work together with and for the youth in the Cornhill neighborhood, and brought the ideas back to the College to integrate into volunteer activities and service-learning classes. We also just had a great time putting together a large, diverse group of people to enjoy one another's company and build community with wonderful pot luck dinners!

Among other projects, we worked on a mural project to paint over graffiti, brought Hamilton performing groups down for a Cultural Series, sponsored a series of family "Movies in the Park," and worked with Haley Reimbold '06 and many other committed volunteers to launch the Underground Cafe, a teen-run cofee shop and arts/cultural center that continues to this day as a unique program in Utica.

On the more academic side, I also helped start a program where economics students prepare taxes for low-income Utica residents, and a project where computer science students develop Web sites for local nonprofits. I think there is a growing movement among Hamilton students to give back to our area. There is a whole group of us socially active recent grads (including many ex-VISTAs) who stuck around in the Utica area and are making it our own. It's not Boston or New York, but it is a great place to make our mark.
-- Charley Francis '04