On December 1, 2020 Brynn McGowan spoke to our club about her Peace Corps service in Mongolia. The remoteness of many Mongolian villages severely constricts the educational and career opportunities of the students. Those who live in the isolated areas of Mongolia often do not have the resources needed to travel far from their villages. This is often exacerbated by deteriorating or non-existent infrastructure and extreme, hazardous winters, making travel to the capital city logistically challenging, if not impossible. It was from these disparities that the Village-to-City Project was born in 2013. Brynn began her Peace Corps service in Mongolia the summer of 2017 and completed her pre-service training in a small, northern village where most inhabitants earn their living through herding or farming with little-to-no knowledge of what their capital city has to offer. Later, she was placed in a provincial capital city that was a 12-hour bus ride from the capital Ulaanbaatar. She co-taught with 13 English teachers improving the comprehension of over 1,000 students. Growing up in York and visiting cities like Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C. opened up a world of possibility outside of her hometown and motivated her to join the Peace Corps. This is what inspired her to join the Project – with the hope that Mongolian students could have a similar enlightening experience. |
