Sarah Byce, a student of the environmental studies: Peace Corps master’s international program at the University of Charleston, South Carolina, is one of eight winners of the Peace Corps’ annual “Blog It Home” contest. The four-year program allows her to take coursework in Charleston the first and fourth years of the program, and to serve for two years with the Peace Corps during the middle two years. She currently has 13 months left in her Peace Corps service.
Sarah was recognized by the Peace Corps, her peers and people around the world as being an exceptional steward of the Third Goal. From August 3-10, the competition reached more than 670,000 people on Facebook and more than 20,000 votes were cast! Byce’s blog, Journey to the Philippines, details her experiences and adventures serving with the volunteer organization in Odiongan, Philippines.
Check out the blog: http://journeytothephilippines.wordpress.com
Byce will join two other fellow winners to Washington D.C. from October 4-10 for a special Peace Corps Top Bloggers Tour coordinated in her honor. Over the course of the week, she will promote the Third Goal in a series of intercultural presentations to diverse audiences, have professional development opportunities and participate in general celebrations.
Byce was recognized for stewarding the Peace Corps’ three-pronged mission: “To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women, to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served and to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.”
“Here in Odiongan, I live with a host family (at least initially, although I am so fond of the Famero family, that I may stay with them for my entire 2 years!),” she wrote on her blog. “Each day is a new adventure: I have learned to harvest rice, sing karaoke in Tagalog, kill and cook a chicken, gut fish, rescue a stranded dolphin, and eat balut. While poverty is a daily encounter in my life here, the Philippines is also rich: rich in culture, in community, in marine biodiversity, and I am so happy to call this place home.”
Congratulations Sarah!
