As the world knows, a lot has happened since my Peace Corps Nepal group 206 had our swearing-in back in 2019. It seems a long time ago but it has only been 3 years. Even though the volunteers of group N206 have moved on, I still think of them every day. I wanted to use this anniversary to relive those memories of the people I met and called friends.
Pre-Service Training (PST)
It is amazing how much Peace Corps can squeeze into 10 weeks of training. But for those “in it”, it is exhausting, to say the least. It teaches you that serving in the Peace Corps is a 24/7 kind of commitment.
New friends
But through it all, you make friendships that can last a lifetime. My new friendships began long before we met face-to-face because of Facebook. I know FB gets a bad rap a lot of the time. But volunteers all over the world have used it to make connections with other volunteers. Regina and Laura were good friends before we saw each other at staging. And we’ve been able to keep in touch since we left Nepal two years ago. I had so much fun with my Nepali language group of Natalie, Alex, and Nelisha. Even though I was an Education volunteer, I call many Agriculture volunteers friends.
Awesome staff
Before arriving in Kathmandu, I was dreading going through a 3rd PST. But this was my best one yet. I have to thank the staff for that. There was our Sherry (Country Director), Matt (Director of Programming and Training), and Joe (Director of Management and Operations). I have to thank Khila (Program Manager), and Macunda and Alka (Education Program Specialists). And I have to give a big shout-out to the language staff Bhimesh (Language and Culture Coordinator), Arati and Ashish (Language and Culture Facilitators).
My Nepali Language Group
You spend most of your PST time with your language group. The four of us, Natalie, Nelisha, Alex, and I spent 4 hours together. Our teacher, Ashish, tried to squeeze as much Nepali into our brains as he could. I had so much fun. This time, I relaxed and tried to have fun learning. And it helped! My language fluency was so much better than during my PSTs in Thailand and Mongolia. I was even asked to do one of the speeches in Nepali at our host family Thank You party. And I know I could not have learned as much as I did without my language partners.
Education volunteers
And the other half of my training day was spent with the Education volunteers. We had a great group. Where a lot of them didn’t have much teaching experience, they made up for it with enthusiasm. We were the first group of Education volunteers in 15 years. So it was a learning experience for both us and the staff. I learned so much from everyone.
Swearing-In Ceremony
Swearing-in was full of excitement. And it was full of relief too because we were finally finished with training. For me, this was even better because we were doing our swearing-in at the US Ambassador’s residence. So, very swanky. It was an amazing ceremony and celebration. A great way to start our service!
Pandemic Arrives
Even though this is about the start of our PC Nepal journey, I couldn’t “not” say something about the pandemic. One day in late March 2020, we got the call to pack and get to Kathmandu as soon as possible. We were evacuating. The government was going to shut the airport down and PC did everything they could to get us all out safely. Some of us left on the last plane before the country went into lockdown.
Everyone moved on
We thought we would all be back in a couple of months, but that didn’t happen. So, most of my fellow volunteers moved on. Some went to graduate school while others got jobs. But a few of us still have hope of being reinstated so we can finish our service in Nepal.
Where are they now?
Aly works in Honolulu as a Nutrition Aid for the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children’s WIC Office. During Aly’s introduction to Hawai’i, she stumbled upon the medicinally touted, and aesthetically peculiar Noni fruit. Her original excitement for the find slowly faded after the ripened fruit gave off aromatics and flavors likened to “Muenster cheese, fish sauce, unripened pineapple, and stomach bile”. 
Dillon Quitugua – CEO of Tribe Collective LLC Professional ultramarathon runner 
Natalie is living in Chicago with her cat named Maeve. Outside of the 9-5, she has been training for another half marathon that I’ll be running with Cressida, Sophie and Alena. 
Amanda is working as a social work aide right now and she is going to school for a masters in social work.She works in Queens and lives on Long Island. 
Julia is working full-time as an engineering tech in Snohomish, Washington, and will be starting a master’s in architecture next fall at Arizona State University. 
Regina is graduating this spring with an M.Ed. 
Brigid is graduating in May from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where her program is Education Policy and Analysis and her concentration is Global, International, and Comparative Education. She is planning to move to DC in July. 
Sophie is currently in an AmeriCorps volunteer with the I Have A Dream Foundation of Boulder County in Colorado. She is working with low resourced youth and their families. Her main job is running an after school program for a class of 5th graders! 
Zoe is currently a lead teacher at Project Learn School but thinking about going back to school to pursue a degree and career in library sciences. 
Nelisha is volunteering at the Star Adult Literacy program as a tutor. She is planning to attend the Language, Reading, and Culture M.A. program at the University of Arizona. 
After leaving Nepal, he moved to Hsinchu, Taiwan to continue teaching English. Other than his work in the classroom, Zack and his girlfriend have been working on opening a business in the city which will promote local underground musicians and artists. He has been working to help share stories as well as culturally relevant sites around Hsinchu with the world. 
Laura – She graduates soon with a Masters in public administration and plans to farm tomatoes this summer with her sister while hunting for a full time job! 
Leah – After the Peace Corps, she got a Master’s in Global Sustainability with a climate change concentration. Now, Leah works remote for a nonprofit that focuses on renewable energy and wildlife interactions, taking advantage of remote work and trying to travel as much as I can. Looking at moving to DC and continuing a career in sustainable development to build off my passion ignited for these issues in Nepal. 
Anna is now a Project Manager for a researcher at the University of Rochester. And she is a new guinea pig mom of Butter and Bagel. 
Since departing Nepal, Cressida has lived in Hawaii, California, and now settling in Seattle… because apparently she can’t be too far from snow capped Himals! Most of her time is spent with family, becoming certified to teach in WA, and exploring via trail running. Dearly missing her Saathiharu! 
After Nepal, Alex moved to Los Angeles to work as a Program Analyst for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She primarily focuses on supporting place based initiatives, helping local nonprofits connect to federal resources in central LA and reducing the digital divide for residents living in HUD public housing. She still finds a way to pencil in getaways to the himals around… 
Thomas is working for a lithium ion battery research company in Rapid City, SD. When he’s not working he’s hanging out with his son and having adventures in the Black Hills of South Dakota 
Alena is graduating with a Master’s in Global Health from Duke University this May, and is concurrently working as a clinical research coordinator at Duke’s Emergency department, and applying to medical schools right now 
Mika graduated from Cornell University last December with a degree in Global Development. Her research focused on localizing grains in food systems and building resilience into local and regional grain sheds. She is passionate about agroecology, gender equality, and creating value added markets for farmers. Mika is currently in Ithaca working as a sourdough baker and interning at The Women’s Bakery, a social enterprise that supports women’s livelihoods in Rwanda through baking.
And Others!
- Shannon – Since evacuation she was in Oregon working with PC and FEMA doing vaccine support stuff. And now Shannon is in a linguistics masters program.She has been teaching English in the Center for English as a Second Language this semester. And last semester she taught an essay writing class for international students. Shannon also got awarded a research fellowship for next year!
- Ian – He has been working for NBCUniversal doing Environmental health and safety work for almost 2 years now
- Sheri – Upon our return Sheri started my Masters degree in Counceling and psychology at Bastyr University in Washington. She will be graduating in June this year. Sheri said that it is remarkable that 2 years have passed! So many changes.
I have been so lucky to have been able to come back to my village on my own. I am still waiting for Peace Corps Nepal to restart. But in the meantime, I have returned twice to continue working in my village.
Are you serving in the PC? Have you served before? Where? What were your memories of ‘swearing-in’? Let me know here, I’d really like to know.
