UAF student heads to Gambia for Peace Corps service
February 28, 2012
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When School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences graduate student Samantha Straus leaves the Sub-Arctic for the Sub-Sahara she’ll miss Fairbanks’ snow, the Aurora Borealis and cross-country skiing. Straus, a Master’s International Program student who is combining graduate work with Peace Corps service, departs Feb. 29 for two years of Peace Corps service in the African country, Gambia.
“Fairbanks is the first place I ever felt at home in my adult life,” Straus said. “I will miss my Fairbanks family, but I won’t miss 40 below.”
Before traveling to Africa, Straus will be in Washington, D.C., for one day for staging in preparation for the Peace Corps, then she will go to Senegal for three months to train and eventually to Gambia for her assignment. “I am looking forward to the challenges I’ll be facing and the opportunities to work internationally and multi-culturally,” Straus said.
The natural resources student is looking forward to seeing environmental issues in a different part of the world and to see how people there tackle the issues. At this point, she isn’t sure where she will be placed. “I’m keeping an open mind,” she said. “If I’m in a city that will be OK but I would be excited to live as rural as possible.”
Her role will be environmental education, but she isn’t sure exactly how it will be manifested. “I hope to work with children, planting trees and doing science experiments,” she said. “It is the kids we will be putting our future in the hands of. They can go home and teach their parents. It really starts with young kids, instilling responsible stewardship.”
Preparing for the trip has been a lesson in itself. Straus is intent on packing only what she needs but also in not purchasing things she already owns once she gets to Africa. Her emphasis at UAF has been on waste management so she wants to carry that philosophy with her. She’ll definitely be packing tropical clothes, vitamins and protein powder. Her concessions to technology include her iPod and a laptop. “I am a graduate student after all,” she said. The laptop has a solar battery charger.
From what she’s read she’ll be eating a lot of rice once she gets to Gambia. That might be a bit worrisome but she also is nervous about political strife and whether a young American woman will be readily accepted.
“To be an effective Peace Corps volunteer you have to be willing to go with the flow and deal with whatever comes and do the best you can,” she said. “I see this as a great experience to start getting into the game of natural resources management. What better place to start? It’s a difficult place, a vibrant place with so much history and culture. It’s a great opportunity.”
While at UAF, Straus worked with the Office of Sustainability to obtain a grant for software that shuts off computers at night. The university is testing the program and tracking the energy savings, which appear to be significant. She also put together a series of sustainable movie nights, every Monday this semester at 8 p.m. at The Pub.
In two years, Straus will return to UAF to complete her graduate work. “This is going to be a life teaching experience. I think Alaska will be my home because Alaska has my heart,” Straus said.
Meanwhile she is contemplating the challenges she will face in the field. “The Peace Corps is about exchanging culture,” she said. “You just do what you can with what you have and try to build capacity.”