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Mund joins Peace Corps

A Lincoln High School graduate has joined the Peace Corps, an international volunteer program operated by the U.S. government.

Jeffery Mund, a member of the Lincoln High School class of 2015, will serve two years in the west African nation of Benin.

Mund graduated magna cum laude this spring from Hamline University in St. Paul with a double major in economics and music and a minor in business analytics.

He was scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C., on June 10 for one day of training before continuing on to Benin for three months of training. After which he’ll begin his two-year commitment.

“I really like the idea of being able to go into a completely foreign culture and immerse myself, but I also want to do something that has meaning,” he said.

In Benin, he’ll be a sustainable agriculture systems extension agent, working with farmers on farming techniques and business practices.

The goal, he said, is to make sure children, and especially girls, have enough food to attend school.

Educating girls has been a major focus of the organization because of the comparatively large return on investment.

“For every dollar you spend educating girls, you get three times the return for developing countries,” Mund said.

Benin is a nation of about 10 million people. French is the national language, but 55 indigenous languages are also spoken there, according to Mund.

“It’s a stable democracy,” he said, in contrast to some other areas of the developing world.

Electricity and running water are possibilities, but not guaranteed.

A monthly stipend will provide enough to live on while he’s there. There are some breaks, too, but the program doesn’t pay for volunteers to return to the states during them.

After the end of his commitment, he’ll receive readjustment allowance based on his time spent abroad.

What he’ll do when his service is complete he isn’t sure.

“I’m sure this experience will affect those goals,” he said.

Mund has started a blog at https://mund.video.blog/ to record his experiences abroad.

The Peace Corps website is http://peacecorps.gov.

 

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