It all started in 1960, when presidential candidate John F. Kennedy urged students at the University of Michigan to take their calls of service out into developing countries — to see the world, to serve their country and to work toward peace.
His challenge of service brought forth the establishment of the international organization today known as the Peace Corps. Since its formation, more than 200,000 volunteers have taken Kennedy’s challenge to heart — including Pepperdine couple Ryan and Lindsay Dapremont.
Having served in a volunteer capacity during their time at Pepperdine, the couple was already well acquainted with Matthew 10:8, “Freely ye received, freely give.” But after graduating and spending a few years in the work force, they decided to take their service overseas, and in 2010, they took a bold step and moved to Suriname, located in northern South America, to begin their work.
“Going into this experience as a couple has been a tremendous challenge for us but I’d say it has also been an equally tremendous blessing,” Ryan wrote in an email. “As we’ve dealt with the standard ups and downs of Peace Corps service, it’s been wonderful to know that my best friend is experiencing the same feelings right along side me.”
The couple met
in the summer of 2006, while working at Special Programs. Ryan was a Telecommunications major and Lindsay a double major in International Studies and Spanish. They later married in 2009, after graduating from Pepperdine in 2007.
Since beginning work with the Peace Corps, the Dapremonts have been able to work on numerous projects including female empowerment camps for youth ages 12 to 15 and integrating into and working alongside locals. Though the work they have accomplished is concentrated, the impact on members of the local culture is immeasurable.
“There’s no doubt that we are making a difference and it’s not always necessarily through project work that we do so,” Ryan wrote. “Even just being a presence in someone’s life, allowing them to gain a better understanding about and appreciation for what an American is like makes a difference.”
He continued, “When you layer that onto the various development projects, trainings, and capacity building exercises we have implemented during our time here, it’s clear that we are impacting people’s lives.”
When reflecting on their most memorable experiences while in Suriname, Lindsay explained that while participating in empowerment camps, the couple has been able to share their relationship story with the Saramaccan people, as well as their views on marriage and gender roles.
“Being careful not to impose our views on others, we simply demonstrate that various cultures and various couples choose their own relationship path, encouraging the girls to make positive decisions, whatever they might choose.”
Ryan added that participating in a local burial ceremony, in which only a select group of people are able to handle the funeral proceedings, made himself and Lindsay feel, for the first time, both accepted and “completely integrated into our community.”
While the couple spoke positively about their time together in a volunteer capacity, they also explained that their shared service has brought both blessings and trials.
“Serving in the Peace Corps as a couple has many advantages but there are also additional challenges,” Lindsay wrote. “We have a built in support system, which is invaluable during this often stressful and trying experience. However, learning the local language is more difficult with couples because we are not forced to speak it all of the time. Integration can be tricky because the local culture demands we both adhere to its gender roles and marriage model when ours is extremely dissimilar.”
Collectively, the couple agrees that their experience with the Peace Corps is one that has changed their lives and will be able to shape the lives of the Saramaccan people.
“Our goal here isn’t to change the world,” Ryan wrote. “We do small projects with a small village in a small country knowing full well that we will likely never see the vast majority of the positive developments of our work. Our goal here, indeed the goal of all Peace Corps volunteers, is to plant seeds that will one day lead to sustainable development. It may take years or it may take decades, but the work we are doing here, the seeds we have planted, will undoubtedly bear fruit.”
Lindsay wrote, “Perhaps the greatest gift is yet to come, however, when we re-integrate back into the U.S. Like all Peace Corps volunteers, we have each grown, changed and experienced things that are impossible to explain to people back home. It will be wonderfully comforting to have each other to understand what we have been through during our life abroad and to look forward to our life together in the future.”
