Teacher Hopes to Learn From Stay in Africa

Lorena A. Alvarez has begun collecting books for her journey to South Africa next month. She’s not going there to read, though. She will be making history as part of the first Peace Corps volunteer group to go to that nation.

As part of her mission, Alvarez will help teachers in a small urban village north of Pretoria on instructing their students in mathematics and science.

She said she also hopes to help residents open a library if none exists or expand whatever facility is already in place. That is why the 28-year-old teacher has been asking friends and community organizations to help her collect books.

Alvarez will leave a job teaching English as a second language at Rancho Santiago College and a second job as an elementary teacher in the Anaheim City School District when she leaves for South Africa Feb. 13 to begin her two-year volunteer service.

“I’ve been wanting to go for a long time,” said Alvarez, the only Orange County member of the trail-blazing 33-person group. “I’ve always said that one day I would teach for free. I think it’s a worthwhile investment.”

Alvarez is already a pioneer in her family. She was the first to get a high school diploma and, after studying at Chapman University in Orange and Columbia University Teachers College in New York, the first to receive a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s degree.

The Peace Corps, a federally funded organization created by President Kennedy in 1961, is sending Alvarez and her 32 companions into a region that has been torn for decades by apartheid.

Peace Corps spokeswoman Robin Soto said President Nelson Mandela asked for help after he was inaugurated in 1994, marking the beginning of a new era. Alvarez’s group will be the first to set foot in South Africa, she said.

Alvarez said expects not only to help South Africans but to gain a better understanding of the land and its culture.

“By going to another country, you can gain a different perspective,” she said. “Whatever I give to the people in the village is minimal compared to what I will be able to bring back--a life experience that will serve as a powerful tool when I come back here to teach.”