[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 9643-9644]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      CONGRATULATING KERRY AMBROSE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. CURT WELDON

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 12, 2005

  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, Ms. Kerry Ambrose has been 
in Bolivia for the past year as a volunteer with the Peace Corps. Ms. 
Ambrose is following the footsteps of over 178,000 Americans who have 
served as Peace Corps volunteers in 138 countries over the past 44 
years. Kerry is doing extraordinary work in her village and I commend 
her dedication and service to improve the lives of others. I would like 
to share with you her editorial submitted to my local newspaper, The 
Delaware County Times.

          [From the Delaware County (PA) Times, Apr. 3, 2005]

         Opinion: Serving Peace Corps Means Making a Difference

                         (By PCV Kerry Ambrose)

       I live in a small pueblo in Bolivia. My house has running 
     water but no shower so we bathe via buckets. I consider 
     myself lucky, though, as some of my friends only have water 
     for a few hours a day, if that.
       The family I live with sells chickens. I see the chickens 
     before they are killed. I also watch the grandmother of my 
     house wash piles of chicken claws in a bucket in order to 
     make her delicacy--chicken foot soup.

[[Page 9644]]

       My family hand-washes its clothes every other day. I still 
     have not mastered the art completely and often the children 
     laugh good-naturedly. My family happens to have a TV in one 
     of its rooms. Most families do not. Most families have a 
     small room that serves as the living room, bedroom, and 
     kitchen. Oftentimes the floor is packed dirt and the roof is 
     thatched.
       My favorite part of my day is after waking up. I heat water 
     on our stove and make mate, a type of tea served here. My 
     favorites are manzanilla, which is chamomile, as well as 
     cocoa leaf mate, which is supposedly good for the stomach.
       I sit on the steps of our house in the chill morning light 
     with the steaming hot cup of mate in my hands as I look out 
     on into the distance. I live in the altiplano, which is a 
     flat plain above the tree line. It stretches for miles in all 
     directions and looks like a vast sea of earth striving to 
     meet the unreachable horizon.
       The wind is harsh as there is no protection from it and for 
     the most part the soil is rocky and hard. Many of the people 
     here depend on the mines, but there are also farmers and 
     herders. All are difficult livelihoods in such an unforgiving 
     place. The altiplano, though, has a stark and desolate beauty 
     to it that creeps in to haunt the soul. It's untouched in 
     many places and is wild and untamed in a way that I imagine 
     the prairie lands of the U.S. were before the settlers.
       I am a volunteer in the Peace Corps, which is why I am 
     living here. I mainly work in the schools teaching 
     environmental education and health classes. This year though 
     I am also helping teach physical education from kindergarten 
     through sixth and am hoping to start a basketball intramural 
     league and maybe an art mural club.
       The children are so motivated. Everyday I look into their 
     bright eager eyes and smiling faces and cannot help but 
     become inundated with love. I have so much hope for all these 
     children, these brilliant minds waiting to blossom, but I 
     know that the people of this town, this country, are poor. 
     Many of the girls see no future beyond having seven or eight 
     children to help with the farm work, the mortality rate here 
     is as high as almost 50 percent in some areas so the birth of 
     many children guarantees the survival of a few.
       The streets of the cities are not lined with gold, but 
     rather with funeral parlors displaying miniature coffins. My 
     heart breaks knowing some of these children I see will go on 
     to sniff glue, become alcoholics, and abuse their wives 
     because these are the examples they know and see. I am 
     determined to help in what little way I can to instill a 
     sense of self-esteem. They may be poor in material objects, 
     but they are not poor in spirit.
       I have been here already for a year. Peace Corps volunteers 
     make the commitment to serve for 27 months. When the tragedy 
     of Sept. 11 happened, I personally made the decision to join 
     after I finished college. Many people of the world view 
     America with contempt. I wanted to do what I could to make 
     the most out of the privileges my citizenship automatically 
     bestowed upon me.
       I came to Bolivia with idealistic notions that I could 
     somehow change the world. I still hope to make a difference 
     each day I walk hand in hand with a small child looking up at 
     me with eyes so wide. However, I have been humbled in that I 
     realize by simply living here I have learned more this past 
     year about myself, people, and the world then I could have 
     possibly envisioned or ever repay, although I intend to try.
       Kerry Ambrose is the daughter of Pamela Ambrose and Gary 
     Pattinson, and a graduate of Gamet Valley High School. She 
     was sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer on April 7, 2004. 
     Learn more about this organization by visiting 
     www.peacecorps.gov or if interested in donating supplies for 
     a future project or school, contact Kerry at 
     [email protected]

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