Thank You Very Much, You Know Who You Are…

The work done--and the impact made--by Peace Corps Volunteers touches the lives of many around the globe, even though these volunteers often go nameless.

Ezzedine Riahi recently wrote to us asking for information to find his long lost English teacher.  He wrote, “Could you help me find the name of my English teacher… she was a member of the Peace Corps in North Africa in 1963.”

Ezzedine--a Canadian citizen for the past 33 years--was a fourteen year-old high school student in a mountainous city called “Le Kef” or “El Kef” in North West, Tunisia. He attended “Lycee Secondaire Mixte du Kef” which was the only high school in that area back in 1963. He remembers his teacher being “a young woman in her early 20s from Illinois, USA.” Ezzedine raved “She did a lot for me and all [the] students at that school… she did a great job introducing us to the English language as a third language.”

His seemingly most cherished memory of her now anonymous but not forgotten teacher occurred on Friday November 22, 1963. Ezzedine wrote, “I remember that day [President] John F. Kennedy was assassinated; she gave the best she could at that time in American life and she also gave us a good introduction in American political institutions.”

Such is the nature of a Peace Corps service – their deeds and persona live on even when their names fade from memory. Ezzedine [and I am sure many others like him] simply wants to say thank you.