Any Age Can Do This!!!

What are some of the things you think of when you think of me here in Mozambique as a volunteer for Peace Corps?

1. Jealous? 
2. I would like to think you might be proud?
3. Inspired
4. “She’s crazy…”
5. “It’s great that she is doing this when she is still young.”

Let’s break up that last answer…

Yes, it is great to do this while I’m young. There are a lot of benefits to being a young volunteer and traveling to developing nations. But here is what I’m more inspired by:

A 69 year old lady coming here to Mozambique as a volunteer. Yes, a lot more young people, typically straight out of college, join the Peace Corps, but you can’t forget it’s not only for the young! Any age can do this, you just have to pass the medical. If you have always wanted to do the Peace Corps and you feel you are too old, scratch that thought! Or if you are young, and you want to do PC, but you aren’t ready right now, do it later. Okay, that’s the end of my selling and campaigning for Peace Corps…

Let’s talk about this 69 year old lady. She’s great! They do say wisdom comes with age and I don’t believe that is a myth. Yes, she walks around slower and she would love to have a car many times, but she is strong and able. I think she has been a necessity for our group of 71. One, because we can see that you don’t have to be physically young to do this; and 2, because she cracks everyone up, has a great attitude, and is pretty down to earth, and everyone loves her. She was part of the cow from Halloween, and is therefore part of our “Sisterhood of the Traveling Bottlecap.” I can’t wait to hear her story with the bottlecap when she sends it on to the next person!

The other day we went to the bar, a small group of us, and we had a couple of beers. Naturally, when you get a group of girls together, a conversation comes up eventually about the guys we all know… maybe not always, but it has with us. We make a top 3 list. No, I’m not sharing my top 3 publicly on the internet. It’s just a funny conversation to have sometimes!  (Due to privacy, I don’t want to use the lady’s real name, so we’ll call her Bugs Bunny). Bugs Bunny is our matchmaker. She has been observing all of us and trying to see who is flirting with who. She’s actually quite disappointed for the lack of it, and it’s already been 6 weeks! Bugs Bunny went through each one of us there and was jokingly trying to decide who would be good with who. Needless to say, it was a very funny conversation.

She is doing a great job here, somebody we can all learn from. I know I had said it before, that any age can do Peace Corps. When people told me it was great I was doing it at a young age (I’m actually one of the oldest here, relatively speaking), I told them they could still do it. But, I guess it has come to a better realization that I can do this again down the line, when I’m 69. Thank-you Bugs Bunny for being here and being an example for many things, for us fellow Americans, and for the Mozambicans who seem to have difficulty believing her age and what she is doing here.