Seventy-one-year-old Marie Hammond’s right-hand trembles slightly as she gently raises it above her shoulders.
Her face exudes a calm assurance. Someone who has lived through decades of change, challenge and cheer.
Her voice is steady, though perhaps a little quieter than she would have liked, as she pledges her commitment to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya.
“I, Marie, do solemnly swear...,” she says during oath. To Marie, this is more of a declaration to herself than a promise to the Peace Corps.
Above all, the realisation that she is stepping into the dream she had six decades ago, has her grinning.
The retired American teacher’s mission is simple: to inspire students to find joy in learning.
“I want them to see math, not as something they’re forced to memorise, but as something beautiful—logical, yes, but also part of the world, part of life,” she says.
“I want to show them that they can solve problems step by step, like a crochet pattern, until they’ve created something meaningful.”
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and programme of the US government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance.
Upon arrival, Peace Corp Volunteers are paired with willing host communities where they live for three months as they undertake language, culture and ethics lessons before being sent to the local families that host them where they are stationed.
“I grew up in a time when the Peace Corps was just beginning to make its mark on the world. As an 11-year-old girl, I heard about the mission, I was immediately drawn to the idea and wanted to serve,” she says.
Yet, life had its own plans. “I always harboured a quiet longing to travel, to immerse myself in the world beyond my borders and spread my love for mathematics to students everywhere, especially girls.
“These desires were outshone by the responsibilities of raising my two children and building a career as a math teacher,” she adds.
Her other goal is to encourage a reading culture. The local library, she says, is filled mostly with textbooks—useful, but not enough to inspire a love for reading.
She hopes to bring in more books, to spark imagination among students and give them the opportunity to experience the world beyond the classroom.
Hammond has since been posted to Kakamega.