Mailbox of peace

Section 3. Love & Fr iendship Mai lbox of Peace 066 067 Korea Foundation & US Peace Corps KF COVID-19 Survival Box Gratitude Letter Col lection From 1970 through 1972 , I served as a K - 14 Peace Corps volunteer in the Of- fice of Rural Development in Gimje , Jeollabuk - do and later worked on train- ing programs for new volunteers in 1973 and 1974 . I have been fortunate to have been able to maintain contact with Korea in the years since . My professional career took me to the University of Pittsburgh ’ s Asian Stud- ies Center ( 1991 - 2001 ), Hobart and William Smith Colleges ( 2001 - 2008 ), and the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia ( 2008 - 2015 ) where I had the opportunity to work in support of Korea studies , with student ex- change programs with Korean universities , and with the Korean alums of my U . S . colleges . With the United Board I worked with alums of a number of Korean Univer- sities in support of their alma maters and with programs to place scholars from other Asian countries at Korean partner universities . < omit > I have returned to Korea a number of times in the years since the 1970 ’ s and have always been heartened by both the steady pace of growth and change and the delightfully high degree of cultural continuity . Let me also add a be- lated “ thank you ” for the Foundation ’ s support of the Return Visit program . It was another unforgettable and deeply moving experience . < omit > Sincerely yours , “I have returned to Korea a number of times in the years” Jonathan Wolff , K - 14 Jonathan H. Wolff Ishikawa, Japan I hope this e - mail finds its way to you . I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea from 1972 til 1974 in a TB Control- Program and later in a University teaching Program at Soong - jun Universi- ty ( Sangdo - dong , Seoul .) This past week I received the COVID - 19 Survival Box that you sent me , and I was genuinely touched by your thoughtfulness and the effort you and your staff took to send it to me . It was extremely generous and I deeply appreci- ate it . It has been so many years since I was in Korea , but it was a genuinely trans- formative experience for me . Although you went to great effort to thank us for our very small contribu- tion to your country , I think many Peace Corps Volunteers will tell you that we received more than we gave . The lessons we learned from that time , the friendships and the connections to your country have stayed with us for the rest of our lives . For that too , I am grateful . I wish you the very best in the future , much professional success and a great deal of personal health and happiness . Kind regards , “It was a genuinely transformative experience for me” J . Anton Bodor , K - 24 / 26 J. Anton Bodor, Ph.D.