Ex-volunteer spreads the word about Peace Corps

The old man in the open-air market in the small city of Chirchik, Uzbekistan, took a long look at Rogelio Quintanar and asked him in Uzbek where he was from.

"The United States," Quintanar replied.

"No," the man said. "Where are you from?"

"Illinois," Quintanar said. Neither that, nor another answer, "Aurora," satisfied the man.

"Well, my family is from Mexico," Quintanar ventured.

The man beamed and shouted "Mexican!" and proceeded to tell Quintanar all about his love for Mexican soap operas - even asking him if he knew any of the characters.

"Here I am, six or seven thousand miles from home, and I find out that this Uzbek loves Mexico because he watched Mexican soap operas with Russian subtitles," Quintanar told his audience at Aurora University Nov. 18.

Now the executive director for AmeriCorps for National Council of La Raza, based in Washington, D.C., Quintanar served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, from August 2000 to October 2001.

Peace Corps volunteers usually serve for two years, plus three months of training. Quintanar had to return home earlier than planned when volunteers were recalled after the Sept. 11 attacks and the U.S. prepared to attack neighboring Afghanistan.

Growing up in Aurora's east side, Quintanar said he always had a vague feeling he wanted to see more and experience more.

The son of immigrants from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, he was the first in the family to attend college, and after he graduated from Carroll University in Wisconsin with a bachelor's in social work, he worked as a bilingual social worker outside of Milwaukee for eight years.

But it wasn't until Quintanar was 30 years old that the long-ago feeling of wanting to do something more finally found an outlet.

Quintanar, now 38, and his wife decided to quit their jobs, sell their cars and move to Uzbekistan to volunteer for the Peace Corps.

"It was the right time, before he got a house, had kids and all that," he said.

Established in 1961, the Peace Corps is an agency of the U.S. federal government that dispatches trained volunteers to 139 countries worldwide to work with local populations in the areas of education, health, business development, environment and others. Volunteers must be at least 18 years old and U.S. citizens.

In Chirchik, the Quintanars lived in two-bedroom flat with a stipend of $30 a month each. That was three times what the average Uzbeck earned, he said. They taught English to students from elementary school to college, and trained Uzbek teachers to teach English themselves.

Other American Peace Corps volunteers ranged from young, single women, to married couples and older adults, including one in his early 70s. But Quintanar was the only Latino, he said.

There are currently nearly 8,000 Americans serving with the Peace Corps worldwide, but only five percent of those are Latino.

"Latinos don't know about it. I found out about it because I had a professor who was a Peace Corps volunteer, and he became a mentor," he said. "That's why I always do what I can to spread the word and talk about the Peace Corps."

The experience taught him that the most rewarding connections with others are made one-on-one, and that commonalities with people from other cultures can be found in the most unexpected ways, he said. Quintanar taught Uzbek kids how to play baseball, and in turn learned that Uzbeks happily give rides to strangers for a little money, and a gas station needn't be more than a large Coke bottle filled with gas.

The only downside to joining the Peace Corps are the initial costs of buying a backpack, hiking boots, a sleeping bag and other supplies if needed, Quintanar said.

The upside? "In the Uzbek culture, you can wear the same thing for six months - no problem," he told his audience. "Of course, I washed my clothes, don't get me wrong."

For more information or to join the Peace Corps, visit peacecorps.gov or call (800) 424-8580.