Mailbox of peace

Section 3. Love & Fr iendship Mai lbox of Peace 084 085 Korea Foundation & US Peace Corps KF COVID-19 Survival Box Gratitude Letter Col lection From the day we set foot in Korea in 1980 , to begin our Peace Corps service , your country has gone to great lengths to make us feel welcome and bring us into the heart of the Korean people and society . That you continue to make the effort to maintain that bond between us , even though the Peace Corps left Korea in 1981 , is very rare and special . Whatever we might have achieved in our communities through our Peace Corps service , knowing that the bond with Korea on a more profound and enduring level might have been our greatest achievement together . From 2012 - 2014 , I was the Peace Corps country director in Ethiopia , where Korea now has Koica volunteers . I once met a gentleman who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia in the 1960s , who came back on a visit similar to our Korea Revisits . He met the people who had been his students and the young people he had influenced and encouraged . As they were praising him for his work , he said to me , " It took me 50 years to realize that I achieved something in the Peace Corps ." The Korea Foundation ' s Covid - 19 Survival Box and especially the Revisit I participated in in 2018 , have had the same effect on me . < omit > Our thanks to the Korea Foundation from the bottom of our hearts . Sincerely , “It took me 50 years to realize that I achieved something in the Peace Corps” Greg Engle , K - 50 Ambassador Greg Engle (Ret) and Ms. Maureen Engle “Korea Foundation's gift is certainly one sign that we are all in this together” Connie Shepherd , K - 19 Sam & Connie Shepherd My husband and I were both part of the Peace Corps Korea - 19 group that taught middle school English from 1971 - 1973 . Sam taught at Daejeon Middle School and I taught at Chungju Middle School until Sam and I married in 1972 and I moved to Song Mo Middle School in Dae- jeon . We have many , many wonderful memories of living and working in Korea . We often reflect on how our volunteer service so long ago has affected the students and teachers we came in contact with during those two years . We were both able to return to Korea since then and visited our schools . I was able to see my former co - teacher and we shared our perspectives on the day , so many years ago , when I , a tall American , was introduced to the student body . I don ’ t know which of us was more nervous ! It is very heartwarming to have received the COVID - 19 Survival Box from Korea so many years after our service . We are so grateful for your thought- fulness , and for the good wishes for health that came with it . The world is truly united in the fight against this global pandemic , and the Ko- rea Foundation ' s gift is certainly one sign that we are all in this together . Thank you again .