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Midwest Peace Corps Volunteer

International experience leads Poynette, Wis., resident to Peace Corps

Katlyn Saley, 23, of Poynette, Wis., has been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Malawi March 2 to begin training as an environmental education volunteer. Saley will live and work at the community level to raise awareness about a variety of health issues, including nutrition, sanitation, malaria, community health, water, maternal and child health, and HIV/AIDS.

“In the past few years, I have been given the opportunity to go abroad and travel in Third World countries on a few different occasions,” Saley said. “It is in these countries that God continues to call me to help these parts of the world. It is because of that calling that I pursued the Peace Corps.”

Saley is the daughter of David and Corina Saley of Poynette and a 2010 graduate of Poynette High School. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training. While a student at UW-L, she went to Kenya with an organization called Kenya Make a Difference.

“When I returned from Africa in January 2013, I attended a meeting with a Peace Corps recruiter, and it was then that I knew Peace Corps was something I wanted to do after college,” Saley said.

During the first three months of her service, Saley will live with a host family in Malawi to learn the local language and integrate into the local culture. After acquiring the language and cultural skills that will help her make a lasting difference, Saley will be sworn into service and assigned to a community in Malawi where she will serve for two years.

Saley will work in cooperation with the local people and partner organizations on sustainable, community-based development projects that improve the lives of people in Malawi and help Saley develop leadership, technical and cross-cultural skills that will give her a competitive edge when she returns home. Peace Corps volunteers return from service as global citizens well-positioned for professional opportunities in today’s global job market.

“During my Peace Corps service I hope to learn about a Malawi and its culture, and take in everything that the country has to offer,” Saley said. “As I will be working with a health extension program, I hope to learn more about the deadly diseases that are very common in this part of the world, specifically malaria and HIV/AIDS.”

Saley joins the 187 Wisconsin residents currently serving in the Peace Corps. More than 5,942 Wisconsin residents have served as volunteers since the agency was created in 1961.

There has never been a better time to apply to Peace Corps, and reforms have made the process simpler, faster, and more personalized than ever before. In 2014, applications reached a 22-year high for the agency, with more than 17,000 Americans taking the first step toward international service. Through a one-hour online application, applicants can now choose the countries and programs they’d like to be considered for. Browse available volunteer positions at www.peacecorps.gov/openings.

About Peace Corps/Malawi: There are 126 volunteers in Malawi working with their communities on projects in education, environment, and health, including volunteers in the Global Health Service Partnership program. During their service in Malawi, volunteers learn to speak local languages, including: Chichewa, Chiyao, Chitonga and Chitumbuka. More than 2,765 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Malawi since the program was established in 1963.

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