Life in South Africa: Strongsville Grad is Peace Corps Volunteer

When John Dougherty gets up in the morning, there's no hot shower waiting.

In fact, there's no bathroom.

He leaves his tin-roofed hut and heads for an outhouse. After a breakfast of oatmeal, he makes his way along dirt roads to the primary school in Engungwini, the small South African village where he teaches math to fifth- and seventh-graders.

"There are no lights in the school," Dougherty said. "We use solar calculators, and I remember one time it got cloudy during a test, and all the calculators stopped working."

Dougherty, a 2005 Strongsville High School graduate, has just finished the first year of a two-year stint in the Peace Corps. He's home for a break before returning to his village, where he lives with a host family about about 20 adults and kids.

The rural village is an odd mix of poverty and technology. There are a few computers in the school and in homes -- in fact, he Skyped with his host mother while he was in Strongsville -- and the electricity in town works most of the time.

But there's no running water or indoor plumbing. The roof leaks in the school. The roads are too muddy and rocky for bike riding. 

It's winter now, and with no heat in any buildings, he often sleeps under a stack of blankets and wakes to a frosty 40-degree morning.

The people tend toward formality, though. Dougherty wears a dress shirt and pants to school. 

"If you don't shine your shoes, you get made fun of," he said.

Dougherty got a degree in math and economics from George Washington University, and a master's in economics from Ohio State University, before signing on with the Peace Corps.

"I always wanted to do it, so once I finished my education, I thought now was the time," he said.

Dougherty spoke this week at the Strongsville Library to about a dozen young adults interested in volunteering with the Peace Corps.

It's a challenge, for sure -- Dougherty had to quickly learn the language spoken in his village, and he got sick twice in the early months from drinking unfiltered water and from a tick bite. 

But he's been embraced by his village, and he meets up regularly with other Peace Corps volunteers in nearby villages to relax.

"The people have been very warm and welcoming," he said. "It's been a great experience."