Laura Hurley, of Cream Ridge, will spend two years in the West African country of Cameroon as a Peace Corps volunteer.
BY Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD — Laura Hurley always wanted a career in helping others, and now she’ll have the chance to give one a shot.
Ms. Hurley, 23, will soon become a small enterprise development volunteer with the Peace Corps. She was expected, at The Messenger-Press’ deadline, to leave June 4 for Philadelphia, where she and other volunteers will undergo three days of preparation before heading to training in Cameroon, a country in Western Africa.
”In college I majored in international relations, and I always knew I wanted to go into political government. Then I realized I was more interested in international than American (politics),” said Ms. Hurley, who graduated in 2003 from Allentown High School and in 2007 from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., where she also studied psychology. “Then I discovered this, which kind of encompassed everything. I’ve always wanted to help people, so international development is the right field for me to go into.”
”The Peace Corps is kind of a crash course in it,” she added.
After a few days in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, there will be three months of training at another site, during which she will live with a host family and study the country’s language and culture. Molly Levine, public affairs specialist for the Peace Corps, said that volunteers in Cameroon are typically taught French, and sometimes another local language, in addition to “what’s expected in that country and other things that might come up, as well as safety and security training,” such as how to purify water.
After graduating from training in September, Ms. Hurley will be sent to the town where she will live for the next two years. The town’s location will be chosen halfway through her training.
While the exact project she undertakes will depend on where she is posted, Ms. Hurley said that she will generally work with entrepreneurs and lending institutions to develop local businesses. “(Cameroon is) not necessarily at the forefront in Africa in terms of economic growth,” she said, and her work will focus on strengthening the economy.
Ms. Levine said that typical small enterprise development projects include working with entrepreneurs and business owners, as well as credit, savings, and microfinance organizations, “helping them gain the business skills and credit skills so they can navigate grants and other things like that.” She said possible projects for Ms. Hurley may include working with a banking system, a nonprofit organization, or teaching business in a school.
Ms. Hurley described her upcoming post as an opportunity to not only help people, but to see if development work is what she really wants to do with her life.
”It’s hard for me to get experience in international development in New Jersey,” she said, “but my interest has always been in Africa, so this is kind of a way to make sure this is truly … what I want to do.”
There will be plenty of challenges for her to face during her stay abroad as she lives the lifestyle of the locals. The most obvious is the language barrier. Ms. Hurley was assigned the country, although she did put down the region of sub-Saharan Africa as her first choice, and did not have any previous knowledge of any of the country’s languages. Twenty four major African language groups are represented in Cameroon, with French and English its official languages.
”They asked me if I would be willing to learn French and kind of self-study a little bit, so I’ve been doing that,” Ms. Hurley said.
She described her French skills as “very minimal at this point,” saying she could ask for directions, “but (the Peace Corps is) supposed to be amazing at language training.”
Ms. Hurley’s diet will also require a major adjustment. “I’m nervous about when there’s going to be cultural or peer pressure to eat things we (in the U.S.) generally don’t see as edible,” she said. She described talking to a former Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, another sub-Saharan African country, who described to her how he had eaten bush rat during his time abroad.
”If there’s a ceremony or a wedding or something, I might have some pressure to eat something (not normally eaten in the U.S.),” she said, “so that’s going to take some getting used to.”
After she returns home, she said she would probably look into graduate school, perhaps in business or international relations, but had not yet decided on anything specific. “I think my experience in Africa is kind of going to shape that,” she said.
Ms. Hurley was frank about her expectations, saying she had not yet spoken with any volunteers who had worked in Cameroon.
”I really, to a large extent, don’t know what to expect, but I am optimistic about it,” she said. “I think it’s going to be an amazing experience. I think it’s going to strengthen me as a person.”
Overall, she said she was somewhat nervous about her departure, but continued, “You’ve just got to take life by the horns and take the risk.”