Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • July 24, 2013 Waldwick Resident begins Peace Corps service in Cambodia Mary Walsh, 24, of Waldwick, recently departed for Cambodia, where she is train- ing as a community health volunteer for the Peace Corps. Walsh will be living and working in a community to assist residents in the most beneficial manner, and further the Peace Corps’ mission. “I’ve been volunteering since I was 10, and the thought of going to another country to volunteer was even better,” said Walsh. “So throughout college I strengthened my volunteer background, and it just made me want to do it more. I went to Tanza- nia in 2009 with Support for International Change, and that just solidified it. I knew I was going to do it after that.” Walsh is the daughter of Brian and Lynn Walsh and a graduate of Paramus Catholic High School in Paramus. She then attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 2011. During the first three months of her ser- vice, Walsh will live with a host family in Cambodia to become fully immersed in the country’s language and culture. After acquiring the language and cultural skills necessary to assist her community, Walsh will be sworn into service and be assigned to a community in Cambodia, where she will live and work for two years. “It’s very cliché, but I’m looking forward Mary Walsh to helping people. Also, I’ve never learned a language where it didn’t have English let- ters. Even with Swahili, you can write in our letters. But Khmer? It’s a completely different experience!” Walsh joins the 185 New Jersey resi- dents currently serving in the Peace Corps and more than 4,773 New Jersey residents who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. More than 255 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Cambodia since the pro- gram was established in 2007. Currently, 114 volunteers serve in Cambodia. Volun- teers work in the areas of education and health. Volunteers are trained and work in the Khmer language. Since President John F. Kennedy estab- lished the Peace Corps by executive order on March 1, 1961, more than 210,000 Americans have served in 139 host coun- tries. Today, 8,073 volunteers are working with local communities in 76 host coun- tries in agriculture, community economic development, education, environment, health, and youth in development. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a 27-month commitment and the agency’s mission is to promote world peace and friendship and a better understanding between Americans and people of other countries. Visit www.peacecorps.gov for more information.