Going Global

By John O'Neil

It was the baby boomers--fresh from college and full of idealism--that John F. Kennedy called to service when he launched the Peace Corps in 1961. Four decades later, boomers looking to reinvent retirement are once again trekking across the globe to make a difference in the lives of the less-privileged. This Active Life talked to NEA-Retired members serving children and their fellow educators in far-flung spots around the world: India, Thailand, Tanzania, and St. Lucia. A snapshot of what they're doing--and what they've learned.

Kolkata, India

When New Jersey member Rosalie Giffoniello arrived in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in 1999 to work with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity for eight weeks, the conditions facing orphaned children with disabilities shocked the former speech therapist.

"The kids were lying on the floor on mats or in cribs all day long," she says. "No stimulation. The kids had potential, but no one recognized it." During her service, Giffoniello taught some of the children to feed themselves or walk for the first time. And she decided to make a personal, life-altering commitment to the children of Kolkata's slums. "When I went home, I took early retirement from my job, gave away my possessions, and returned to Kolkata for good," she recalls.

Since then, Giffoniello, with friend Janet Grosshandler-Smith, has launched the nonprofit Empower the Children (ETC) that sponsors six small but vital programs to aid the destitute and disabled in Kolkata.

The "pavement school," for example, serves about 30 homeless children ages 4-16 who live on the streets, begging to survive. Until recently, the lessons took place right on the streets, but Giffoniello found space on the roof of a building. The children get lessons, lunch, and regular access to a mobile clinic. "We try to slowly reorient the children from the street to the classroom," Giffoniello explains. "You have to be patient, because the kids need a lot of attention. But, slowly, they begin to change their perception of themselves from beggars to students."

Giffoniello herself teaches children ages 3-5 in an innovative preschool class designed to stimulate children's creativity. The program uses curriculum materials developed by friends of ETC in New Jersey. Another ETC program provides two hours of tutoring in a coaching center for 15 girls from some of the poorest slums of Kolkata. Giffoniello teaches each Saturday at yet another program, a home for 50 young adults with mental and physical disabilities. On the drawing board: a new orphanage that will serve 30 boys. In the midst of some of the most impoverished conditions in the world, "We're trying to give them their childhoods back," Giffoniello sums up.

Rosalie now lives in Kolkata nearly year-round, returning to the United States primarily to see her family and friends; to speak about ETC's work to schools, colleges, and community groups; and to raise money to support ETC's work. Her message: "If you're more caring for others, you're bringing the world one step closer to peace."

And she says she welcomes volunteers to India to help out. Last year, she worked with16 volunteers from the United States, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. Several of them were making their second or third visit to serve the children of Kolkata. "This is a perfect opportunity for a retired teacher," she says. "Our volunteers say this is a life-changing experience. They go to sleep each night feeling very gratified that they're making a difference."

For more information, contact Empower the Children, 7 Ryans Way, Jackson, NJ 08527 or e-mail Rosalie at giffoniello@hotmail.com.

Arusha, Tanzania

In this desperately poor African nation, where teachers often lack books and 100 primary-grade children may cram into a single classroom, Nebraska member Mary Jo Huelle works to keep alight a small beacon of hope.

The Mwangaza Teachers' Center (mwangaza is Swahili for "enlightenment"), which Huelle and her colleagues helped to build in 1997, represents a step forward for Tanzanian teachers, who must cope with shortages of materials and few avenues to improve their skills. Huelle first went to Tanzania in 1996 as part of a teacher exchange project run by the Lutheran church. She returned in 1997 and again for six weeks this past summer to help construct two new additions to the center: a seminar room and a hostel wing that will provide lodging for teachers who travel from other parts of the country for training.

It's the latest accomplishment of the Mwangaza Education for Partnership project, which operates teacher exchanges and training programs aimed at helping teachers enhance their skills. Although some Tanzanian teachers hold college degrees, many do not, and training opportunities are few.

Huelle points to Tanzanian teachers like John Kavishe, who "considered himself a mediocre teacher" before participating in the program's training. After going through the training, he announced to his fellow students and staff, "You don't know me any more, because I have been transformed." He now serves as a facilitator supporting other teachers receiving training, says Huelle.

Huelle, who retired earlier this year after 32 years as a teacher in Gering, Nebraska, now serves as president of Friends of Mwangaza, a nonprofit that supports programs at the Mwangaza center. Since her first trip to Tanzania, she's been back three more times to help out--spending about $2,500 of her own money for each six-week visit.

"I return because the needs are so huge; you do so little, yet it means so much because it can help change children's lives," she says. "Education is the only thing that's going to make things better for them."

For more information about the work of Friends of Mwangaza, contact Huelle at mhuelle@actcom.net.

Soufriere, St. Lucia

While Western tourists bask in the sun and gorgeous scenery of this jewel of the Caribbean, Peace Corps volunteer Tom Mechtenberg is on a more serious mission: improving the odds for St. Lucian students with special needs.

"Their education system has never had a special program of any sort for children with mild or moderate mental or learning disabilities," says Mechtenberg, a former school social worker from Port Huron, Michigan. "Those kids have been left on their own in the regular classroom. Most teachers have at least 30 students in their classes, so they weren't getting any kind of special attention."

Mechtenberg's main priority is helping St. Lucians create more support services for these children. He works with school principals, provides training for interested teachers in monthly workshops, and models lessons in the classroom. Halfway through his two-year Peace Corps assignment, Tom's also introduced an assessment tool to diagnose students' strengths and weaknesses and is currently working with teachers on using a new skill-building program in reading.

In one school last year where they were able to set up a resource room staffed by a teacher full-time, "We saw big improvements," says Mechtenberg. "The kids got more attention, and they wanted to be there for more than an hour a day." Unfortunately, not all the schools he works with could devote a full-time teacher to work with special-needs students, so the gains there have been harder to come by.

Tom's wife Mary, a former nurse, also volunteers for the Peace Corps, working in AIDS/HIV prevention. The couple lives in the lower level of a rented house in Soufriere that has a spectacular view of the Pitons (the twin peaks highlighted in all the tourist brochures) and get their exercise from the one-mile hike uphill to their home. Tom is also copy editor of a quarterly news magazine, Serious Ting, circulated among Peace Corps volunteers in the Caribbean.

"Overall, the experience has been gratifying," says Mechtenberg. "I'm happy that I've been able to use my experience in special education to start a new program here. I've also gained a new appreciation for the quality of life we enjoy in the United States. You have to take the long view, and the long view is that progress takes time."

You can reach Tom at mechtenbergs@hotmail.com.

SobPrap, Thailand

For 33 years, Barb Gosh taught at every level in Mundelein, Illinois, volunteering whenever a new class or course needed a teacher. Within six months of retiring, she was volunteering again, putting her Peace Corps application in the mail on the first day of the new millennium.

"As a teacher, you get a chance to see people--both students and parents--improve in some way and feel good about themselves," she says, explaining her decision. "I wasn't ready to retire from helping people make their lives better."

Within a year, this Midwesterner, who had never lived outside a cold climate or traveled to any other country besides Canada, was on her way to SobPrap, Thailand, where she recently completed her Peace Corps assignment.

"I was the only Westerner assigned to a town of 7,000 that was National Geographic beautiful," says Gosh. "You looked through the village, and over the rice paddies to rows of mountains." Gosh lived in a small house "about the size of a two-car garage--and it was one of the bigger ones in the village. I was delighted to have snakes in the house, because they took care of the mice."

Gosh's role in SobPrap was to identify several schools interested in modernizing their instruction, and then work with two or three teachers at each school. She coached the teachers on strategies to enhance students' problem-solving and introduced hands-on activities, which are rare in Thai schools. One of her favorite projects addressed the absence of globes and atlases in SobPrap schools. Gosh assisted teachers and students on a project that had students creating a mural of a world map on a school building wall.

While in Thailand, Gosh got help from her friends with the North Lakes Illinois Education Association-Retired chapter, who donated money to support the publication of an activity book and audiotape as well as scholarships to send students to high school. High school attendance in Thailand is not free, and, tragically, some poor children who cannot pay are sent by their parents to Bangkok to work as prostitutes. Gosh looks at the money in human terms, saying it was "something that will keep four kids in school and out of prostitution for two years."

Since returning, Gosh has lectured on her experience to groups of retired teachers, schools, and to her chapter of the American Association of University Women. "It was amazing--mentally, physically, culturally, and professionally challenging and satisfying," she says. "Yes, I'd volunteer again."

E-mail Barb at bgosh9876@aol.com.

Is Service Overseas for You?

Thousands of seniors have broadened their horizons teaching English overseas, but that's hardly your only option. Play your cards right, and you might find a group that will send you out to excavate archaeological sites, restore Buddhist temples, or help to catalog insect species in the rain forests of the Amazon basin.

If the idea of service overseas appeals to you, a great place to start is How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas (Penguin Publishing, 468 pp., $17) by Joseph Collins, Stefano DeZerega, and Zahara Heckscher. Among the book's tips:

• Check your motivation. Volunteering takes commitment, so if your primary motivation is to have an adventure, you might be better off with traditional travel options. Don't volunteer to escape a bad situation, or expect that your short-term assignment will change the world.

• Talk with program grads. If you're getting serious about volunteering overseas, interview several people who have been through the program that's piqued your interest. Their observations are likely to be more realistic than glossy brochures. The volunteer organization should be able to supply names.

• Hone your fund-raising skills. Many organizations that offer service opportunities require you to pay fees, which can add up to several thousand dollars depending upon the locale and length of assignment. You needn't shoulder the financial load yourself, though. Work with your business and social contacts, as well as community and religious groups, to offset the cost of service.

How to Live Your Dream profiles 80 different organizations that support volunteering overseas. On the short list of groups that may be especially appropriate for seniors are:

• Amizade. Offers two-week programs in countries in the Amazon basin and elsewhere; volunteers assist with the building of schools and health clinics. Call 888-973-4443 or go to www.amizade.org.

• Elderhostel. Elderhostel volunteers work on a range of projects, from construction to historical preservation and archaeology. Projects range from one to three weeks. For more, call 877-426-8056 or go to www.elderhostel.org.

• Global Volunteers. Organizes short-term volunteer experiences (up to three weeks in length) in 19 countries. Call 800-487-1074 or go to www.globalvolunteers.org.

• Peace Corps. Those 50 and over currently constitute about 6 percent of Peace Corps' 6,700 volunteers. Selected individuals serve a two-year assignment. For more, call 800-424-8580 or go to www.peacecorps.gov.