Whitefish alumnus shares insight about work in South America
<p>Emily Joy, a volunteer with the Peace Corps who has returned to Montana for a week for the wedding of her sister, makes time to speak to students in Amanda Matdies family and consumer science (home ec) class on Friday, September 25, at Whitefish High School. Joy has been in living in Paraguay as part of a 27 month commitment to the Peace Corps. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Whitefish juniors Ashlyn Peacock and Madison Vick make Chipa Guazu a recipe shared by Emily Joy, a Peace Corps volunteer who has temporarily returned to Montana from her assignment in Paraguay. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Amanda Matdies, the family and consumer science (home ec) teacher at Whitefish High School, left, goes over ingredients with Emily Joy, a Peace Corps volunteer who has returned for a week to Montana from her assignment in Paraguay. Joy shared slides from her assignment as well as recipe for Chipa Guazu, a staple of daily life in Paraguay with the students. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Whitefish High School Spanish and world literature students this week did something they hadn’t done before — sip terere from a communal, cup-shaped cow horn called a “guampa” through a filtered metal straw called a “bombilla.”
Terere is an iced tea made from yerba mate, whose origins lie in Paraguay where Emily Joy, 30, has spent the past year and four months living and working as a Peace Corps volunteer.
Joy, a 2003 Whitefish High School graduate, presented to students Thursday and Friday. She is only in Montana for a short visit to celebrate her sister’s wedding and will leave for Paraguay on Wednesday to complete 27 months of volunteer service.
Becoming a Peace Corps volunteer was something Joy had been interested in for a while.
“I learned about Peace Corps from a friend’s dad who was a Peace Corps volunteer in the ’70s. It had always been on my mind since I was an exchange student at 16,” Joy said. “I lived in Slovakia for seven months and then studied abroad again as an undergraduate at the University of Montana. I ended up going to Chile for a year.”
After completing her undergraduate degree she wanted to earn a master’s degree, but she also wanted more experience abroad.
“I found out I could do both through Master’s International,” she said.
This Peace Corps program allows a student to complete graduate requirements and service work abroad.
Joy is a completing a master’s degree in international development with a concentration on nonprofit management at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver in Colorado.
Paraguay is a South American country roughly the size of California, bordered by Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina. While she anticipated being placed in a rural area and “roughing it,” the Peace Corps decided that with her work experience and education she would make a bigger impact in an urban community in the city of Encarnacion.
“At first it was hard to overcome my expectations that I had at first, but what is most interesting is the changing face of Peace Corps. As urban populations grow there is a lot more development work taking place in these urban centers,” she said.
Joy’s work involves community economic development. Joy helps people under 30 gain skills and funding to start businesses in her role as coordinator for a national entrepreneurship initiative called Paraguay Emprende.
It is important to reach out to this age group because people under 30 make up more than two-thirds of the population of Paraguay, Joy said.
Youth and young adults take business planning classes through Paraguay Emprende. Recently, 30 people were awarded seed funding in a business plan competition. Winners had plans for sustainable businesses that would have a positive impact on the community.
“I feel it is the culmination of the work I’ve been doing with the young people,” she said.
The idea of a business that works to positively impact a community is called social enterprise, according to Joy.
“I think social enterprise is where the world needs to go. There are more problems I think we can solve through social enterprise,” Joy said.
Joy also works with an employment office to bring job-coaching services to underprivileged high school students. Additionally she provides management consulting for an urban planning nonprofit.
Her volunteer service with Peace Corps has allowed her to carve a career niche.
“I got to focus in the areas I was interested in and seek out my own project. It offered me the flexibility to define my own work because Peace Corps really is what you make of it,” Joy said.
“The hardest part about Peace Corps is not knowing whether or not your projects are going to last beyond the years you are there,” she said, but noted she is confident.
Living in a foreign country is not without its own set of challenges. Joy said rampant corruption and a collectivist culture “makes trusting outsiders a bit complicated.” Big and small accomplishments mean progress.
“I think that a big accomplishment can just be having a good conversation. On some days you count that as a win — and building the true relationships with Paraguayans if it means drinking terere all day long,” Joy said, adding that the social tea ceremony is one of her favorite Paraguayan traditions.
She also appreciates the family-oriented and giving culture.
“If you’re thirsty, you can stop anywhere and get a big glass of water and they will probably feed you. They are very generous even though they don’t have a lot,” she said.
Joy returns to the United States in July 2016. Her ultimate career goal is to serve as an executive director of a foundation or nonprofit.
“I have shared in a cultural exchange more fascinating and surprising than I could have ever imagined,” Joy said.