Uma Bhatt, Kenya 1983-85
Uma Bhatt served in Kenya from 1983 to 1985 as a teacher.
Why did you want to join the Peace Corps?
I had wanted to join the Peace Corps since I first heard about it in high school. I would visit the recruiting table whenever they visited the University of Pittsburgh and I was told to come back when I was getting ready to graduate. In my junior year I met David Newman (my husband), who also had a long time interest in joining the Peace Corps. We applied in September 1982 and were accepted to the Kenya program in May 1983. We graduated in August 1983, got married a week later and left for our service in September 1983. It was the toughest honeymoon you'll ever love.
What did you do while you were a Peace Corps volunteer?
I studied mechanical engineering as an undergraduate and imagined myself digging wells and or building roads. So I was a bit disappointed (but not for long) when we were assigned to the teaching sector. But I really love to teach so this was the best fit for us.
We were posted to
Sochoi Secondary School in the western highlands
of Kenya, where I primarily taught math but also biology on occasion.
Sochoi was located at about 3000 meters on a hilltop overlooking magnificent
forest and farmland. Most of the students were boarders, so in addition
to teaching math during the day there were other duties after class. There
were approximately 400 students and they were very motivated since their
parents sacrificed a good deal to pay for their secondary education.
Our secondary projects were varied. I was the matron of the home science club and for our final meeting in November 1985 we made a wedding cake (see photo). We procured funds for and constructed a water tank, with the help of our hard working students (see photo). The tank provides clean safe drinking water. We set up a lending library and started a tree nursery. I thought I was going to Kenya to help people but my students and friends there 'helped' me much more.
What are you doing now?
I am presently an assistant research professor at the University of Alaska. I investigate climate variability and change using both models and observations. I would have gone to graduate school in engineering but my experience at Sochoi changed my life. I saw the most beautiful rainbows, wild hailstorms, deep tropical convection, and lived through a severe drought. I realized that subjects of heat transfer and fluid dynamics that I enjoyed in mechanical engineering could be applied to the atmosphere.
I feel that my experience
in Kenya has helped me enormously in my
life in the U.S. I do not view the world the same way and feel that
the Peace Corps is the most worthwhile thing I have ever done.
Uma Bhatt lives in Fairbanks, Alaska.
