Kim Perez, Peace Corps Volunteer in South Africa, 1999-2001

In her personal journal, Kim wrote a quote from William Jennings Bryan,

"Destiny is not a matter a chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for. It is a thing to be achieved."

Pursuing her own destiny after finishing her B.A. at University of California-Santa Cruz, Kim enrolled in the Peace Corps, which posted her to Phokoane in South Africa's Northern Province where she lived among the African peoples in this very poor rural area. There she worked to:

Kim in South Africa with Friends from the Peace Corps.
  • develop an HIV-AIDS Awareness program in one of the world's worst cauldrons of this disease.
  • edit a Gender and Development magazine following her passion for the needs of women and girls.
  • organize a new Girls Leadership Camp.
  • work on community mobilization for development in a poor rural community only four years after the end of apartheid.
  • help to develop a post-apartheid curriculum for empowerment of local communities.
  • assist in developing computer literacy among local peoples in order to link them to the resources of the wider South Africa and the world.
  • Read the words of Nelson Mandela that Kim copied into her journal.
    • A quote written in Kim's journal from Nelson Mandela: 'I have walked that long road to freedom, I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one finds that there are only many more hills to climb. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, & I dare not linger, for my walk is not ended.
  • Read Donald Maclean's tribute "For the Peace Corps Fallen"

      • For the Peace Corps' Fallen

      We who left you
      Before our time
      May return if you reach back

          And carry a world
          With us
          Within you.

      Let our monument
      Be the mark you make
      In the life you lead of peace and purpose.

      Do, so that we may do
      Act, so that we may act
      Live, so that we may live

      Again, through you.

      ---by Donald Maclean

      Salani kahle, Bonkhosi.
      (In isiZulu: May all of you stay well, people of the king.)

This tribute was written in honor of the 254 Peace Corps volunteers who did not return from their service alive. Many were victims of vehicle accidents on the crowded roads of the poorer nations. The original may be found at http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/2629/1008437.html.

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