When longtime Milwaukeeans Marti and Dave Fine started thinking about downsizing from their roomy empty nest in Fox Point, they didn’t envision themselves living in a mud hut. And though they relished adventurous travel, they weren’t actually looking for an abode in Africa.
The Fines were simply contemplating newly possible lifestyle changes.
Possibilities included selling the house their family no longer needed, anticipating increased opportunities for the volunteer work they had always enjoyed, a possible career change for Dave and more travel that included contact with other cultures.
But next week, though they are still hoping for something a bit more familiar than a mud hut, the Fines will depart for South Africa and a 27-month stint as Peace Corps volunteers.
They won’t know exactly where they will live, or in what kind of shelter, but it’s certain that they will live as their neighbors do in one of the four northern provinces of South Africa.
After two months of training, the two will be assigned to the same place and possibly different jobs. That place could be either a second or third world setting, Dave said in a telephone interview Monday.
Combining goals
The subject of Peace Corps service first came up in the Fine household about two years ago when daughter Alyssa, then a junior at the University of North Carolina, returned home from a year abroad.
After a semester in South Africa and another in Germany, she decided to investigate enlisting as a Peace Corps volunteer. She ultimately decided to accept a Fulbright grant to do research in Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, instead.
But as he helped his daughter research the Peace Corps, Dave said, he started to realize that it might offer “a real option” for Marti and himself, a chance “to combine our goals [and] to make a major contribution.”
The two had enjoyed travel to Israel, Iceland, New Zealand and Capetown, South Africa, to visit Alyssa, among other places, and hoped to add to their travel experience.
“And as, or more, important,” Marti said in a telephone interview, “was just the factor of doing tikkun olam [repair of the world]. Here we are in our mid-50s, we’ve had a comfortable life. Right away I was interested.”
Dave worked for Johnson Wax, and its related company, JohnsonDiversey, for 27 years as a marketing manager and business leader. He also worked on acquisitions and for a start-up company, and then as a consultant to small professional businesses.
But recently, with his retirement savings provided for, Dave had thought about and even applied for positions with non-profit organizations.
Another factor in the mix was their health. Marti is a personal trainer; and she and Dave stay fit through exercise and bicycling.
According to Marti, Dave said, “We’re in good shape. Why not do this now?” They applied in October 2004; and this past April they received invitations to serve.
Dave said that volunteers in their group will be assigned to work as educators or as “capacity builders” helping non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that deal with the AIDS plague expand their capacities in the field. He and Marti could work for the same or separate NGOs.
“I would like to try to help the leadership [of the NGO] with its mission, vision and structure by taking a marketing and organization approach to their problems; that is, by applying the skills I’ve developed over the years,” Dave said.
“I’ve helped people make a lot of money over the years and now I’d like to help people make their lives better,” Dave said.
But, David added, “I think you need to be careful. I want to go in with a very open mind to seek to learn and then provide support based on the needs that [I’ve] learned about.”
“We have always done a lot of volunteer work,” said Marti, and this “seems like an extension of that.” Although she acknowledged that people have serious needs in the United States, she also feels, that Peace Corps work will allow them to “help people now who don’t really have a representative or a spokesperson.”
Both of the Fines believe language will present their most serious challenge. Though they expect to be able to communicate with their co-workers in English, they expressed a desire for meaningful communication with the people they are there to help.
And Marti and Dave each mentioned the important role they will play as representatives of the United States.
Dave hopes that when he leaves, “the people will say ‘they left something behind’ [and] that they will feel better about people in general and about the U.S.”
After selling their house and car, ridding themselves of some belongings and storing the rest, the Fines said they are feeling liberated.
“I know that a lot of people have it in their hearts to do something like this,” Marti said. “For many of them it’s not the right timing, or their health is not good enough. There are situations beyond their control that keep them from doing it.”
“I think we are just very lucky. Our kids are grown and we don’t have grandkids yet,” she said.
Also a lot of people are not aware that the Peace Corps has no upper age limit, Marti added.
“My hope is to make a difference in at least one person’s life. Honestly, if I can help one person, I’ll feel like my being there was worthwhile,” Marti said.
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