ENCINITAS — An Encinitas native and recent college graduate will be among the first Peace Corps volunteers to return overseas this year following the coronavirus pandemic.
The Peace Corps has been on Nancy Saltamachio’s radar since she was a high school student at San Dieguito Academy High School.
Born and raised in Encinitas, Saltamachio graduated from high school in 2019 and started her first year at Westmont College later that same year, during which she met a Peace Corps recruiter who told her about how volunteering would work. The young college student put it on the back burner until her senior year when that recruiter again reached out.
Saltamachio was in college throughout the height of the coronavirus pandemic and couldn’t study abroad as she originally planned. So when the Peace Corps idea resurfaced for her, it seemed like the perfect time to apply.
In March 2020, the Peace Corps suspended its global operations and evacuated nearly 7,000 volunteers from more than 60 countries at the onset of the pandemic. Volunteer cohorts now returning to overseas service are made up of both first-time volunteers like Saltamachio and volunteers who were evacuated in early 2020.
Saltamachio will spend a short period in Miami for preparations before flying to Panama with her fellow volunteers.
Once there, the volunteers will undergo training for nearly three months and then spend two years of service there working with their host communities on locally prioritized projects in one of the Peace Corps six sectors: agriculture, community economic development, education, environment, health or youth in development.
Additionally, all volunteers will engage in COVID-19 response and recovery work.
The concept of experiencing a whole new culture for an extended period attracted Saltamachio to the Peace Corps. Though in her application, she noted that she would be happy being placed wherever she was needed most, Saltamachio hoped to go to a Spanish-speaking country where she could finally become fluent in the language she studied for her minor degree in college.
“I’ve been learning Spanish in a school setting for a long time, but I’ve been craving the immersion piece and learning the language in its entirety,” she said.
Saltamachio also admired the Peace Corps’ approach to service, which centers around building international relationships and going to places they are invited.
Saltamachio will spend more than two years in Panama, working with farmers to learn more sustainable fertilization techniques and homemakers to learn how to cook more nutritiously and fully utilize the local resources.
The trip will be both a learning and teaching experience for Saltamachio, who graduated from Westmont College last year, majoring in economics and business with minors in Spanish and environmental studies.
“It’s crazy to think my dream is happening,” she said.
Since the Peace Corps has been at the center of her future goals for some time, she hasn’t had much time to think about where life could take her after her service, though she knows the Peace Corps will open many doors for her ahead. Whatever she does, it will likely have some ties to environmental work.
“I can apply the skills I’ll learn wherever I feel compelled, whether in the U.S. working with big agriculture or maybe just continuing to learn more from indigenous regions,” she said. “It’s always the indigenous cultures that know how to take care of the land and sustain their livelihoods.”
The Peace Corps is currently recruiting volunteers to serve in 56 countries around the world at the request of the host country governments. Volunteers have already returned to a total of 48 countries around the world.
Those interested in joining the Peace Corps should apply at www.peacecorps.gov/apply before April 1 to start their service by this fall.
