West Edmeston man joins Peace Corps
Sep. 30—West Edmeston resident Ethan Smith will soon leave for a 27-month assignment in Cambodia with the Peace Corps.
Smith will be among the first Peace Corps volunteers to return to overseas service since the agency's unprecedented global evacuation in March 2020. The Peace Corps suspended global operations and evacuated nearly 7,000 volunteers from more than 60 countries at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Smith said will will arrive in Cambodia in late October and spend two months in training. After training, he will be sent to his assignment and host family, he said. "I will return home in January 2025," he said.
Smith said his assignment will either be teaching English to school children or training teachers. "During training they assess you and give you an assignment," he said.
He said teaching English language skills is "big in the Cambodian school system."
Smith said he received a bachelors degree in history with a minor in education studies from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. "When I was an undergrad, I studied international studies and participated in Model UN," he said. Through Model United Nations, he said he was able to go to conferences throughout the U.S. and Toronto, Canada. "You encounter people from all over the world," he said. "We worked together and could talk about stuff and get things done."
He said a fellow classmate, who was on his Model UN team, had participated in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia so he could earn his Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate to teach overseas. Smith said he wasn't interested in getting that certificate, but said his classmate's stories encouraged him to apply.
Smith said he applied a few years ago, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and he was unable to go. He said he reapplied and picked Southeast Asia as the area he wanted to volunteer.
"I am looking forward to immersing myself in a new culture and way of life," he said. He added that he looks forward to becoming part of the community wherever he is assigned.
He said the next two years will also allow him to decide whether he wants to "stick with education," or with archival studies. Smith received a masters degree in applied history from Shippensburg University and has lived in the Washington, D.C. area the past two years working for History Associates Inc. "My last project was working in Niagara Falls working on a historical collection," he said.
"The world is at a critical juncture. The largest global vaccination effort in history is underway while other widespread health, social, political, and environmental issues continue to erode the foundation of our global society. Actions taken in the next few years have the potential to fundamentally impact development trajectories for decades to come," Peace Corps CEO Carol Spahn said in a media release. "Peace Corps volunteers returning to Cambodia will work alongside community members to support urgent development efforts and build critical connections."
The volunteer cohorts are made up of both first-time volunteers and volunteers who were evacuated in early 2020, the release said. Upon finishing a three-month training, volunteers will collaborate with their host communities on locally prioritized projects in one of Peace Corps' six sectors — agriculture, community economic development, education, environment, health or youth in development — and all will engage in COVID-19 response and recovery work.
Currently, the agency is recruiting volunteers to serve in 53 countries around the world at the request of host country governments, to connect through the Peace Corps' grassroots approach across communities and cultures, the release said. Volunteers have already returned to a total of 29 countries around the world. The Peace Corps continues to monitor COVID-19 trends in all of its host countries and will send volunteers to serve as conditions permit. Americans interested in applying can visit www.peacecorps.gov/apply.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.
