Today marks the one year anniversary of the tragic death of Peace Corps Tanzania Volunteer Joseph Chow. Joe died in a rock climbint accident near the village of Mbuji, in the Mbinga District of the Ruvuma rEgion on September 22nd, 2009.
Joe was a graduate of Amherst College in 2007, and was first invited to serve in Peace Corps/Kenya as a math and science teacher. He was sworn in as a volunteer in November and placed in the village of Ndalat to teach chemistry and physics at St. Clement Secondary School. Following the suspension of the Peace Corps/Kenya Program in early 2008, Joseph volunteered to transfer, along with four others, to Tanzania to continue his service as an education volunteer. In February 2008, he ban teaching chemistry at Ndanda Secondary School in Mtwara Region.
Along with teaching chemistry, Joe Chow also chose to teach advanced physics and math. He was active in his community raising HIV/AIDS awareness with an after-school health club for his students, HIV testing and counseling, and a community theatre program. Joe loved atletics - especially swimming, travleing to visit other PCVs, and cooking for himself and friends.
In his 2007 Peace Corps aspiration statement, Joseph wrote that one of the reasons he decided to serve with Peace Corps was because he had never spent a long period of time in a different culture. He hoped to meet the challenge of teaching in a classroom in Africa and understood that the work he faced would be much more difficult than any work he had previously accomplished. Joseph not only adapted to his new surroundings, he flourished. Please join us all at Peace Corps Tanzania in remembering the very rich life and service of Joe Chow and in carrying on his legacy.
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