Peace Corps to FAVARH
Sean McCarthy
Steve Morris introduced Sean McCarthy, who is now the Director of Development for FAVARH,replacing Ronelle Cipolla who was with FAVARH for 17 years. Sean was an intern with FAVARH in 2013, before he decided to join the Peace Corps. Sean is from Bristol studied English at Marist College. A friend was considering joining the Peace Corps and asked Sean's opinion. In telling the friend all the good things about the Peace Corps, Sean managed to convince himself to apply, and he was quickly accepted.
Sean was assigned to Uganda, Jolly Lux's home country. Uganda is approzimately the size of Oregon and has a population of 45 million people - many more than Oregon. The median age is 17 years old. There are a number of languages, the most common of which is Luganda.
Sean saw a lot of his time in Uganda as clearing up misconceptions about the United States. The image of our citizens is that we ride horses and eat cheeseburgers. He tried to tell the people he met that there is great diversity in our country, which is a strength even though it may lead to misunderstandings.
The picture on the left is of the Peace Corps volunteers arriving at the same time as Sean in 2015. The picture on the right is of the group of volunteers who completed their two years in Uganda. Only about 1/3 made it to the end. This can be for various reasons, including a mismatch or health issues.
There were about six weeks of general training and six weeks of language immersion before the volunteers began their assignments. Sean could get along in the local language while he was in Uganda, but he has lost most of the language since returning to the U.S.
Sean taught young adults at a Primary Teachers College. These students were not able to go to university. They may not have done well enough in their entrance exams, or they couldn't afford the tuition. The program at the teachers college is two years and trains the students to teach.
Most of the work the college students do is what we call student teaching. They practice teaching with supervision. They are expected to have a number of activities for their students. One of the trainees organized a spelling bee, which was a great success. They also learned about alternate behavior strategies - less paddle and more talk or extra chores.
Sean emphasized that becoming part of the community is an important part of the Peace Corps expectation. He found the people in his town very friendly. They were able to help him with cooking and in different social situations when he was unfamiliar with local customs.
One project was to develop and improve the local library with the help of an NGO in the area. In addition to adding books, it was also important to cull inappropriate books that were probably donated. For instance there were 60 copies of the biography of Lassie.
Sean had a chance to see other areas of the country and appreciated the beauty of the country as well as its amazing wildlife. He saw a Mountain Gorilla which is a species that is native to only three countries.
After his time in the Peace Corps, Sean taught in Japan for awhile. Then he went to graduate school at Duke, studying public policy. However, the emphasis was on high level involvement, and Sean wanted something where he could be directly involved with people. He returned to FAVARH and loves seeing clients every day. He is excited about what FAVARH has accomplished. The independent apartments they have created are getting national attention, and they have spawned eight other programs in CT
Sean ended with a Uganda saying, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
In the question and answer period, there was a question about support from the Peace Corps for volunteers. Sean said that has changed with the advent of the cell phone. For instance telemedicine is now possible with volunteers. He actually felt he received more support from the community. The Peace Corps wants volunteers to have a college degree or extensive experience, so while the majority are 21-30, there are also volunteers as old as 70. They are paid comfortably and receive housing in the field. They receive a re-entry bonus to allow for buying a car, etc. Don Bonner commented that his daughter's Peace Corps experience in the Dominican Republic was quite similar.