Heather Linnenkohl/The Falcon Community member Eileen Hinds goes table to table, checking out displays during Sunday’s Peace Corps expo in Upper Gwinn.

When Lawrence Kent arrived in Mauritania, a country in West Africa, for his Peace Corps assignment in 1985, he was surrounded by people who were poor, hungry and out of food. There he lived in a mud hut with a host family in their village, which had once been a refugee camp.

The conditions were so bad when he first arrived that two of the children in his host family died from starvation in the first month. His job was to help the people learn how to use their resources to develop their agriculture in order to prevent more deaths from happening, but there was little he could do.

"You can work really hard and try to change people's lives, but you can only make a tiny difference," he said.

Kent now works at the Gates Foundation, where he focuses on agricultural research and technology for the benefit of farmers in developing countries. He and many others shared their Peace Corps experience to start off the "Peace Corps: Serving Communities at Home and Abroad" event in Upper Gwinn last Sunday.

The event brought nearly 400 former Peace Corps volunteers and perspective volunteers together to network, share and learn from others' Peace Corps experiences.

The Peace Corps is a national organization that sends volunteers to countries across the globe in order to serve others and promote a better understanding of cultures between Americans and the people they are serving. According to a Peace Corps fact sheet, there are currently over 8,000 volunteers completing their two years of service in 68 countries.

While Kent was in Mauritania, he learned a lot, he said. As he prepared to go, he learned French. When he arrived, he learned the local dialect of Arabic that the people actually spoke. Along the way, he learned to appreciate the new perspectives on faith and relationships that the people in the village offered to him. He also discovered that simple things, like rain, can change the living conditions of people for the better.

His work and experience as a Peace Corps volunteer is something that he has allowed to influence the direction of his life, he said.

"I'm always thinking about the importance of agriculture," he said. "I'm always trying to find ways to improve agricultural activity."

While most of the audience was excited to hear about Kent's experience, questions were raised by potential volunteers regarding the fact that Kent was trained in French instead of Arabic before he went to Mauritania. Peace Corps officials then ensured them that things have improved since 1985, and that the three months of training that volunteers go through before going to their site would be in the proper language and skill training.

The audience of potential volunteers ranged from a handful of SPU students to a majority of baby boomers who were about to retire and looking for a way to give back to the community. Event organizers also offered three breakout sessions for attendees, which taught how to apply to be a volunteer, how the Peace Corps experience has shaped the lives of its volunteers, and how returned volunteers can put their experience to work in the United States.

The idea behind the event was to allow these individuals to hear about experiences, like Kent's, to see if the Peace Corps would be a right fit for them, said Wayne Blackwelder, the regional manager of the Peace Corps Seattle regional office. It was also a way for returned volunteers to fulfill the third goal of the Peace Corps, which is to bring the overseas experience back and teach others about the cultures, he said.

"You get this incredible cultural exposure," Blackwelder said. "It's life changing. You get to really grow, learn and change."

Though few SPU students were attendees to the event, Maria Lee, public affairs specialist for the Peace Corps, said that SPU was a prime venue for the event because of its location and the population.

"SPU has had a really long legacy of service," Lee said. "It just seemed appropriate to have it there."

One SPU student who is looking to follow the legacy is junior Klarrisa Frank. Frank is interested in serving abroad after she graduates next year and decided to look into the Peace Corps to do this.

"I think having the opportunity to go international and have a multicultural experience gives you a diverse skill set," she said. "Also, this is what I want to do with my life. I want to go abroad and serve others."

Frank said she was surprised and disappointed that there were so few SPU students at the event.

"The presentations made me realize how closely the Peace Corps goals and SPU's goals are aligned," she said.

While Frank is still in the process of deciding whether or not to apply for the Peace Corps, she said the event helped her see what the Peace Corps experience could be like.

"It was good to hear people's actual stories and from their experiences," she said. "It gave me a good picture of what it was like, and it was better than just hearing what it [the Peace Corps] is about."