Meet Laura and Brian, UT Alumni & Peace Corps Volunteers in Vanuatu

• Mar 1, 2018

Personal growth is often cited as the most significant outcome of serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer, but you don’t have to do it alone. Married couples and unmarried couples in committed domestic partnerships can serve together. UT alumni Brian and Laura Stahnke are currently serving together as water and sanitation-health volunteers in Galilee, a new small bush village in Vanuatu, an island nation in the South Pacific.  

"Everyone is family and shares kitchen houses, laundry lines, et cetera," describes Laura.   

Most of the village members are subsistence farmers, but everyone works together to sell food and nuts at local markets. The local customs are strong including gender roles, black magic, and a complicated chief structure. 

Working in this environment has been life changing for the Salt Lake City native. "I have gained a better understanding of the world and myself along with a reprioritization of my priorities and values in life," she explains.   

Laura graduated from the University of Texas with a Master's in Water Resource Engineering in May 2013.  Before joining Peace Corps, she served with Engineers without Borders for 10 years and worked on a number of projects, mostly in Central and South America. Although her work involved frequent travel, she felt there was never enough time to get to know the community and understand their needs.  

"I believed that Peace Corps would be a chance to see what community driven projects really look like," she says.  

While there is no typical day in Peace Corps, volunteering has given Laura the chance to live differently while getting a deeper understanding of the community's needs.  

"My job is to integrate and live life with the community, discuss their needs and work with them to design   workshops or projects that will improve health and sanitation of the population while building the capacity of community leaders," she describes. 

Spotty phone and internet service plus the lack of communication with family have been challenging for the volunteers, but the community's welcoming nature has made it easier.  

"I am constantly told that people here love Peace Corps because we are the only ones who live with them for two years, everyone else is seen more as a tourist than a volunteer," she says. 

Living in a location where constant change and natural events are part of the community's environment has taught Laura to embrace shifts and relocations. She explains, “I have found through a series of cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes, site changes etc. that sometimes things happen that are beyond your control and there is a great peace that comes with accepting this and learning to move on." 

Brian, who graduated with Bachelor's in civil engineering in 2010, also describes his service as “full of adjustments.”  

Originally from Grand Prairie, Texas, Brian previously worked on short-term humanitarian and development trips around the world but wanted a real connection with the communities he was working with. That was why he joined Peace Corps.  

"I knew that I wanted something more immersive into a different culture and way of life where my skills could be put to use, and Peace Corps met those desires along with providing strong benefits upon service completion," he says. 

As a health volunteer, Brian is responsible for providing health awareness, financial workshops, improving existing water and health committee organization, and connecting the community with funding sources and resources for medium-scale projects.  His work also allows him to connect with the community.  

"Currently, I spend most work days with men from the village in the clinic, school house, or other construction projects," he describes. "I have enjoyed getting to really know a community and live inside a completely different culture than the one I grew up in.” 

While remoteness has also been difficult for him, he has found great support in Laura. Additionally, he has been able to share his experiences with his peers.  

"The thing that has surprised me the most since becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer is how quickly you bond with fellow volunteers and how much you rely on them throughout service," he explains. "I have gained a better understanding of my physical mental and emotional limits.  I have stretched each of those since joining Peace Corps, have hit the limit, and grown from it."  

Laura and Brian are still early into their service, but they’re already thinking about what they’ll do after their service ends. Laura wants pursue a career that will allow her to apply her water engineering experience in an international setting and Brian is considering MBA programs, and starting a family is also part of the plan.  

In the meantime, Brian has some advice for Longhorns applying to Peace Corps.  

"If you want to apply to be a Peace Corps Volunteer, make sure you want to do it,” he says. “Joining the Peace Corps is the most worthwhile thing that I have done to date and I know this experience will lead to more challenges and opportunities. And if you come to Vanuatu, can you bring me some beef jerky?"  

 

Learn more about becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer