Emily

I’ve met an extraordinary Peace Corps. Response Volunteer with whom I work at COAF. Her name is Emily, she’s 82 years old, and she has twice ridden a motorcycle through the Arctic. This is not her first time with the Peace Corps., she first joined as a volunteer when she was in her sixties, after she had a family and a career as a French Teacher and in TEFL. She was sent to Kazakhstan for two and a half years right after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

She worked teaching English and developing curriculum for the English classes in a school that was previously under Soviet control. She was there before the Internet and there were virtually no supplies available for the teachers. However, she dived into her work in Kazakhstan and immediately got the English teachers in the school confident in their own English speaking abilities. Soon her school had a leading English program. She branched out and trained not only her teachers, but also those in the town and the oblast (state), and then the country. At the time the only copier in town belonged to the government, and she had to convince them to allow her to use it for her training. From there she got grants and purchased a computer and successfully led more trainings.

For those two and a half years she spent all her free time in her village learning about Kazakh culture, bonding with the people and attending their events. She said that when her time was up she felt confident leaving because her community in Kazakhstan had come so far with their English instruction that they could succeed without her. Next she went on to do similar work in South Korea.

Now Emily is here in Armenia, using her considerable skills to put together an English curriculum that can be integrated into COAF village schools and can be utilized by Peace Corps Volunteers who are teaching English through out Armenia.

Emily practicing her Armenian dance skills. 

Emily and I at Nara's Wedding