Peace Corps Veteran Mark Fulford ’70 Returns to Africa

Mark Fulford ’70 organized last year’s classes of ’69, ’70, and ’71 collective 70th birthday party. Then in November, he and Katherine Fulford left for Africa. Guided  by the husband of a Peace Corps friend,  the two toured Namibia  in southwest Africa, seeing lots of birds and animals and beautiful sand dunes in the Namib Desert, visiting Ju/’huonsi villagers on the edge of the Kalahari, and camping on an island between the Zambezi and Chobe rivers.

They then returned for a week in eSwatini (fka Swaziland) where they themselves had served from 2013 to 2015 as Peace Corps volunteers, visiting their rural homestead and their young friends (now 3 ½ years older and moving on) at the UN refugee camp near that homestead. Three years ago, Mark and Katherine hosted a CYA potluck at their home and shared their Swaziland experience.

Mark says “This was a great trip, to a part of the world we’ve come to love, with the best birds anywhere, the excitement and energy of the mix of cultures, and the stunning beauty of the natural phenomena. But the shortage of opportunities for our young refugee friends frustrates and saddens us.”