Nigeria – Page 3 – Peace Corps Worldwide

A Writer Writes: My Peace Corps Report Card

Jun 26 2012

My Peace Corps Report Card by Bob Criso (Nigeria & Somalia 1966–68) A FEW MONTHS AFTER RETURNING to the States in 1968 I got a letter from the Peace Corps stating that I had “satisfactorily” completed an intensive nine week training program in the Virgin Islands and then served “satisfactorily” as a Volunteer in Nigeria and Somalia. The letter briefly described my teaching responsibilities and community projects. At the time I wasn’t sure if “satisfactorily” was a judgment on the quality of my performance or if it was just a standard form letter. Later I learned that the Peace Corps doesn’t comment on how the job was done, nevertheless I wondered how I would have graded myself. I was the third PCV teaching at St. John Bosco Secondary School in Ishiagu, Nigeria. The first Volunteer was talked about with such reverence and admiration by the principal, the students and the . . .

Karen Joan Keefer (Nigeria 1966-68)

Feb 25 2010

Monday, November 21 6:45 pm MY SINGULAR, most meaning-ful experience in life occurred in my Peace Corps service. Before the Peace Corps …I was not. During my service……I emerged and became. Ever since…………I have been and am. Today, I thank all who let me be. Thank you John F. Kennedy, for being you and opening doors for others to be. Thank you America, my native land, for having freedoms that let us be. Thank you Peace Corps, for supporting us in a framework in which we can come to be. Thank you Nigeria, my homeland, for teaching me what being is and helping me become. Thank you my family in Offa, for bearing me and for bearing up with me and loving me in my becoming. Thank you my Peace Corps family, in knowing the importance of being through you own experience making explanations unnecessary. Thank you all citizens of . . .