BRICK – Brick Township resident Charles Bauer has always loved volunteering, feeling the most fulfilled when he’s helping others.
Bauer recently took on one of his biggest opportunities yet, as he’ll be among the first Peace Corps volunteers to return to overseas service since the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“I wanted to help others while experiencing another culture and way of life. I hope to make a positive impact on every life I touch,” said Bauer.
Bauer is a graduate of The College of New Jersey with a bachelor’s degree in history. He first started doing volunteer work in high school.
“I volunteered in high school and in Key Club as well as in college. I heard about the Peace Corps in college and I was always interested,” Bauer said. “I just feel most fulfilled when I’m helping others. I feel like that’s the most rewarding thing I can do with my time.”
Bauer said he’s been preparing for the 27-month long journey in Sri Lanka, where he will serve as an education volunteer.
“I’ve been doing a lot of reading; I’ve been exercising, trying to prepare myself physically and mentally for the service,” Bauer said.
As an education volunteer, Baurer as his fellow co-workers will be teaching kids in grades 6th through 10th.
“We’ll be with middle schoolers helping with the students and the teachers that are already there. We’ll be doing speaking skills mainly. It should be pretty fun,” Bauer said.
“We do training at a site for the first three months. I’m not certain where I’ll be located because there’s the northern section of Sri Lanka, who use the Tamil Language which is more Hindu, versus the south who use the Sinhala language which is Buddhist. I’m not sure if I’ll have to learn both fluently, or one more than the other. It will depend where I’m located,” Bauer added.
Bauer explained how he’s excited to learn about the culture, and to see the differences in the education systems.
“My mom was a teacher and I’ve done some student teaching and tutoring, but I’m not the biggest fan of the public education system. So, I’d like to see the differences and maybe bring this new knowledge back home,” Bauer said. “I’m also really interested in Buddhism; I think it will be cool to experience firsthand. Maybe visit a temple in my free time.”
Growing up in Brick Township Public Schools, Bauer showed his appreciation to a former teacher who helped lead him to the path he’s on today.
“I want to thank Ms. Maria Whelan. I believe she’s retired now. She was my AP teacher and she was my teacher for a college course in psychology. She was just so open, and really opened my mind to all the possibilities of what my life could hold career wise and beyond,” Bauer said.
Before the pandemic, the Peace Corps had about 7,000 across the world. Now, they are slowly building about to pre-pandemic levels with about 2,500 volunteers.
“We’re really happy to have upcoming volunteers like Charles coming in. Peace Corps Sri Lanka has no one. So, we’re filling in. He’s kind of like a pioneer, he and his coworkers,” Spokesperson Tamim Choudhury said. “We started this back in Sri Lanka in 1962. There’s a parallel with those who went in 1962, if you can imagine, setting up the entire infrastructure, which was mainly education. Now Charles and his coworkers are going to be doing the same. Setting up an infrastructure, not just as volunteers, but as a part of the community. What we’ve been missing all this time that they’ll be filling in the gaps.”
Those interested in transformative service and lifelong connections can apply to Peace Corps service at peacecorps.gov/apply.
