Before we even start, Meg Tremblay and I have reason to laugh at the irony of where she is today compared to where she lived just months ago. When I set out my iPhone to record our conversation she’s as surprised to learn it has that capability as I was when a 17 year-old pointed it out to me. “I missed out on that whole smart phone explosion,” confesses Meg, the only person I know under the age of 30 who could admit to that. “I could have used it for net distribution.”
I’m thinking she’s referring to yet another aspect of online marketing until she explains that no, she’s talking about handing out real nets, like the ones used to prevent the spread of malaria. Two worlds, juxtaposing yet coinciding, in the young woman I’m about to interview….
When Meg Tremblay’s fellow graduates were tuning up their resumes for Monster.com, searching the want ads for an apartment to rent or packing their bags for law school, Meg was waiting to learn what far corner of the world would be her home for the next two years. An interest in working abroad that budded in her first year at Lewis and Clark College, a school that attracted Meg mostly for the rowing program but then captured her with its strong international relations program, had her turning to the Peace Corps for her first post-college experience.
“I took a middle east policy class from a really great professor who had worked for the Shah of Iran. He became my advisor. He encouraged us to not just make this a classroom thing but a lifetime commitment. It made me want to work abroad and learn more about the things he was talking about, and the Peace Corps was the only option that I wouldn’t have to pay for and where I would really live in local communities.”
Though Africa had been a siren call through her undergraduate years, friends had convinced her that a posting in the Middle East or Southeast Asia would be more comfortable. She was getting a lot of advice back then, most of it suggesting she forego the Peace Corps for a more lucrative and shorter job experience in the States. “My mom was the only one who encouraged me to do it,” says Meg looking back. A young woman with a sense of purpose on display throughout our conversation, Meg needed just one voice added to the one that spoke so strongly within her.
As it turned out, neither the Middle East nor Southeast Asia had opportunities for her. Instead it was the tiny country of Zambia in southern Africa that was written on the letter that finally arrived from the Peace Corps in December. Meg scurried to a map to see just where it was.
“Fate has a funny way of working out. I ended up where I was supposed to be.”
Also in the letter was a brief description of her posting. She’d be living in a mud hut. She’d have miles to walk to get from one place to another.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, but it was quite a leap when I did it.”
Soon, she was flying off to Zambia’s capital city Lusaka. “Once in country, you have three months of training -- six hours a day of instruction in the Nyanja language and three additional hours each day of technical training” learning to become a community health worker.
When the training was over, Meg set off for her new home in Katete about 400 km from Lusaka, at the meeting of the Mozambique Road and the Great East Road that leads to Malawi.
(Meg’s hut, bathing and cooking shelters)
Home for Meg was a mud hut. No electricity to read by, no running water to bathe with, no stove for cooking. She was to work with Neighborhood Health Committees (NHC) from seven different villages which she traveled to on her bicycle, training them “in health issues, like maternal and child health, malaria, tuberculosis, malnutrition, HIV, and in other things, like business skills.” Each month she would meet with the Health Center Committee, which included two representatives from each village. Together they would share issues and concerns of their respective villages and talk about possible solutions.
(inside seating area of Meg’s hut)
“By the time I finished my training I could communicate in Nyanja, although the local Chichewe dialect was a little difficult.” It was important to Meg that she learn the local language, and knowing it became a badge of honor. “I wanted to spend my time with Zambians – that’s why I was there. All the health presentations I did in local language. Some volunteers get a translator, but you never know exactly how you’re being translated.”
The Peace Corps places three ‘generations’ of volunteers, each serving a two year-term and building on the efforts of his or her predecessors. “One of the things I absolutely love about the Peace Corps is that they really promote incremental and sustainable change. My NHC had already been trained -- I feel really lucky because it allowed me to work with them on bigger issues.”
For Meg, one of those “bigger issues” became her signature accomplishment. In their NHC meetings, the villagers complained of the lack of schools for local children. “In Zambia, kids don’t start going to school until age 8 or 9 and by the time they reach that age, often the schools are full and kids postpone for another year or more until they can finally get in. There is nothing like Kindergarten that can prepare the younger children.” The NHC wanted to build a pre-school, but the cost was overwhelming.
Meg helped the villagers write a proposal to build a community school and a chicken house that could generate income necessary to pay a teacher’s salary. Taking advantage of the Peace Corps Partnership program, she posted a proposal online to solicit donations for the money required -- $2,000 – to build the new school.
“While we were waiting for the money we started making the bricks. It was very physical labor, going down to the river to gather sand to mix with the cement. Working alongside people, they learn that you care about them. This was one of the most important lessons I learned. You can make things happen if you put in the work.”
Meg’s friends and family here in the States sent in contributions, and before long, the NHC had the funds to see their idea take shape.
(right: mixing sand to make bricks for school; below: building the school)
Eight months later, the school was finished. “It’s a one room building made of brick; windows made of glass; a chalkboard and a tin roof. The books and bookshelves were donated. We started out without desks – we just had mats for the kid to sit on. The first teacher taught before the chicken house was built, working for free as an investment in the community.”
(Kids learning in the new school)
Meg barely had time to celebrate the opening of the school when the accident happened.
“I was riding my bike back from work when I got t-boned by a drunk motorcyclist. I was thrown in the air and landed on the cement road on my back.”
Her medical training tuned to the danger of moving someone with a possible back injury had her objecting, unsuccessfully, when some villagers picked her up and threw her in the back of a truck insisting she go to the hospital. The fact she could have become a paraplegic doesn’t seem to phase her now.
“They took me to the local hospital that didn’t have x-rays at the time. Then the Peace Corps brought me to the capital city to do another x-ray, but I had to wait until they found someone who could read it.” Finally, someone told Meg he didn’t see anything specific but acknowledged the technology there was antiquated.
“So they sent me to the big hospital in South Africa and they told me, ‘you’ve broken your back in two different places. We’re going to be sending you home’. Being stubborn I said there’s no way I’m going home. I don’t do well with people telling me I can’t do things – it just makes me want to do it more.”
The way Meg saw it, it wasn’t time for her to go. The school had just opened and they still had the chicken house to build. “It was my home. I wanted to figure out what we could do to allow me to stay.”
Fortunately for Meg, her South African doctor was willing to help her recover without surgery. “He fit me with a back brace and told me I needed to stay there for two weeks to regain my strength. He said if it’s still this bad after two weeks, there’s no way I’m allowing the Peace Corps to let you stay.” She was given exercises to strengthen her back and to cope with the pain. After the two weeks, her doctor gave her clearance to return. But the physical therapist in South Africa told Meg she would never be able to run again.
“When I got back to Katete I was in a lot of pain. I realized how much of my work depended on being physically able. I was the volunteer who did everything, hauled water, made bricks, rode my bike. And running everyday was my time. I’d go to bed at about 8:30. Every morning I would get up at 5:00 when the day started and go for a long run.”
(below: Meg in her back brace with kids outside her hut)
Fortunately, Meg’s mother Bev was planning a visit just at the time Meg returned to her village. “She spent 12 days in the village, and she was a real trooper. I had planned things to do for her, but the accident meant I couldn’t and there were things she couldn’t do it either, liking making the fire. But it was really great having her there.”
On her road to recovery, Meg had to learn how to put running back in her life. “I started going for long walks in the bush after doing my morning physical therapy. I had to figure out how to have new expectations while still pushing myself. I had to start all over again, jogging just a half mile and building back up.”
And though the school building was complete, there was still lot of work to do. “I was still working three days a week with this HIV organization in town, made up entirely of volunteers who are HIV positive. We would go out to different communities to do training, education, and bring meds. Area 1 where I was working had one of the highest rates of HIV. Being at the intersection of two major roads, we got a lot of truckers and a lot of prostitution.”
After her official two-year Peace Corps term came to a close, Meg chose to extend her stay another year, working for a non-governmental organization in Lusaka. “Zambia has the highest retention of volunteers of any Peace Corps country and the highest extension rate. I think it’s because of the people of Zambia -- people are just -- they make you their family. They are so friendly it’s easy to feel like you’re at home.
“I wasn’t ready to go, I still loved Zambia. I wanted to learn a different side of things, from a national level. I worked for an organization called Reaching HIV AIDS Affected People with Integrated Development and Support (RAPIDS). They had an integrated approach, which included income generating activities.” She helped the group provide training in gender based violence, nutrition and malaria. “People who are HIV positive have a much higher susceptibility to malaria because their immune systems are already lowered. It’s a lot harder for them to fight it.”
In this new position she suddenly had weekends, which she spent going back to her village. In her third year, she got more funding for the school, allowing them to build desks. The chicken house was finished, and they were now able to pay the teacher. She was thrilled to see the impact the school had on the children. “All the kids from the village school that went to basic school passed grade one.”
(kids testing out their new desks at school)
And two years after her accident, Meg ran the Victoria Falls half marathon in Zimbabwe.
Now that Meg is back in the States, talking to me in a coffee shop at the intersection of several busy arterials, she seems oblivious to the incongruity of the two places she considers home – Seattle and Katete.
She has plans to return someday to her village to build a new block to her school to teach another grade. “I would like to be able to start an organization eventually in Zambia. I understand now how interconnected everything is. I’d like to train recent high school graduates to teach, to give them something more to do with their education. Another thing I’d be interested in -- creating more places for people to sell their amazing crafts. The income really does make a big difference.”
To fill the piece that potential employers find missing in her impressive young resume, Meg is busy submitting applications to schools to earn a Master’s in Public Health. She’s also applying, unsuccessfully so far, for work, preferably in her field so she can learn more skills to carry back with her to Africa. “It’s really difficult -- everybody’s having a tough time now. I did something that I was passionate about for the last three years and it’s hard to come back to see a lot of people competing for jobs.
(right: Meg on left with friends after completing half-marathon)
“I couldn’t foresee not going back -- that’s harder to grasp than how I’m going to put all the pieces together to get there. I really do feel as if it is home.”
And when she is living that life, what does she miss about this one? Not the lattes, like the one she just finished. “I really wish I had been here when Obama got elected. When my brother got engaged I wished I was here. It was really hard when my grandma was sick, and not being here to help.
“That’s what you realize when you live abroad. You have a life in two places and there are big life things you’re not there for -- sickness and happiness. I feel the same thing with Zambia --- when I get updates on how things are changing, how the kids are doing or that a shop has changed. I miss it.”
Her advice for someone considering the Peace Corps? “I 110% recommend doing it. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. It’s an adventure – go into with an open heart and open mind and it’ll be great. Trust yourself. You’ll learn so much more than you’ll ever be able to give -- it’s a really big gift.”
- Janet Pelz
Meg’s not-so Secrets for How She Does It:
- I think my stubbornness gives me the ability to not give up. When the going gets tough I tend to just put my head down to power through it.
- There's not a lot that can't be solved by hard work and a dedication to what you're doing.
- Play with kids, they keep everything in perspective.
- Listen to other people and pay attention. Sometimes I feel there are very few people these days that truly listen to what other people are saying. You can learn a lot just by listening.
- Learn to laugh at yourself and don't take yourself too seriously. I'm a big dork at heart and I embrace that.
- Surround yourself with people that make you happy and challenge you, life is too short to deal with drama or bad friends. I am very blessed to have a family and some close friends that encourage me and believe in me.
- Take care of yourself and try not to feel guilty for doing so. I'm still working on this, but when I make time for myself whether it's working out or for art I am better able to serve others.
- Music gives me such a release, as does dancing.
What books has Meg read recently?
- Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder
- An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century by James Orbinski;
- What is the What by Dave Eggers
Whom does Meg want me to interview next?
- Sara Young: amazing artist and entrepreneur that uses her art to conduct social experiments that make us question ourselves and the world around us. Recently she has created her own business using art to try to provide chiropractors with realistic examples to better serve patients.
- Jennifer Dyson: She served with me in Peace Corps Zambia but was medically separated when she learned she had cancer. She is not only a survivor of lymphoma but is now an activist and devotes herself to raising money for others with the disease
(Look for a description of Meg’s typical day in Zambia as the next post)
Meg is an amazing woman with a life time of service to the world in front of her. I know, I am her aunt and I could not be more proud of who Meg is and the difference her life will make in the lives of others.
Janet and Meg, thank you for such a wonderful mirror on Meg's life and aspirations. I can't help but think about how she draws on the strengths of her mother and grandmaother -- in her stubborness, her perseverance, her generosity, her energy, and her undying commitment to make the world she lives in a better one.
You Go Girl Go! and never doubt you will get there!
Shelly -- the Aunt.
Posted by: Shelly Yapp | 10/10/2010 at 04:09 PM
Shelly:
Thanks for putting me in touch with Meg. I loved including hers in this tapestry of women's stories from different times of their lives, pursuing different goals. Developing a world perspective and learning how to work with local populations to solve local problems are critical skills for the next generation to possess, and Meg is well on her way to doing great things on both fronts.
Posted by: Janet Pelz | 10/11/2010 at 09:33 AM
Janet - I love your blog and the spectrum of women that you highlight - missed it over the summer...great story and I look forward to reading more.
Posted by: Beth Dennis | 10/18/2010 at 09:54 AM
Great story, Janet. Good to know the Peace Corps is still so relevant after all these years.
Posted by: Jennifer Bucher | 10/28/2010 at 08:41 PM