Volunteer Heroes

During our most happy time, our triumphal return home after two years serving in the Peace Corps, we received sad news. On our very first day back we got an e-mail informing us of the death of two of the teachers in the new Peace Corps group in Mozambique. We had just meet them briefly during the training session we gave and at their swearing-in ceremony at the ambassador’s residence the week before in Maputo, so we did not know them well personally, but as brothers and sisters in the Peace Corps family we naturally felt a strong bond; the news of their deaths just a couple days before Christmas affected us deeply.  We only got a few details about the circumstances of the tragedy, we know a group of five volunteers were involved in a bad car accident while hitch hiking near the beach in Gaza, Southern Mozambique, and that two died as a result of injuries and the other three were taken to the hospital, at least one with injuries severe enough to end his Peace Corps service. Usually heroes is a word we associate with soldiers, firefighters, or police, men and women willing to put their lives on the line to serve their communities and countries. Peace Corps volunteers may not be in armed combat or have to rush into burning buildings, but they are also asked to make sacrifices. We give up the comforts associated with our lives in the USA, running water, delicious foods, often times electricity, toilets, reliable telecommunications, access to entertainment, but also we give up many of the safety features built into our American lives: seat belts, airbags, well designed and  maintained roads and vehicles, general education campaigns against drunk driving, emergency responders, nearby hospitals, in essence putting our lives at risk to serve the poorer communities of this planet we all live on.  Its not often that a Peace Corps Volunteer dies in the course of their service, these were the first deaths in the history of Peace Corps Mozambique, but this was the case for the two young teachers from Wisconsin and Washington state, aged 22 and 23, recent graduates from college, having just started their service in Mozambique. We thought of them and their families, as well as our friends recovering in the hospital, all throughout Christmas, as we read articles and internet tributes.  We were so happy to have finished our service and with our joyful reunion with our family and friends, and the thought of these two who would never be coming home and the families who sent away their daughters with so many hopes and expectations, only to hear this news; it made us extra grateful for our own circumstances and reminded us of the ephemeral nature and inherent mortality in life. We only have a finite time here on Earth, we are glad we spent two of those years together serving the people of Mozambique.

The newest PC Mozambique group at their Swearing-In Ceremony in Maputo