Acton Resident Begins Peace Corps Service in Cambodia

 EDITOR'S NOTE: The following was submitted to Acton Patch.

Alexa B. Ofori, 24, of Acton, has been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Cambodia July 10 to begin training as a health education extension agent volunteer. Ofori will live and work in a community to help carry out social and behavior changing activities for improved public health, while enhancing the capacity of community partners and service providers.

“Ever since I was younger, whether it was community service or my church, I was really inspired to help,” said Ofori. “When I was a junior in college, I started to think about what I wanted to do next. I looked the Peace Corps website with my mom. I was also considering grad school, so when we discovered the Masters International program, I thought ‘Why not do both? I can go to graduate school and get my masters while serving in Peace Corps.’”

Ofori is the daughter of Patricia and Michael Ofori and a graduate of Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. She then attended Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology, and Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, La., where she will earn a master’s degree in public health in 2015, after her return from service with the Master’s International Program.

“I’ve had a really great experience with the Masters International program,” Ofori said. “There is someone to help you at every single step of the application process, so I think it’s good that you get a well-rounded sense of what you are getting yourself into.” 

During the first three months of her service, Ofori will live with a host family in Cambodia to become fully immersed in the country’s language and culture. After acquiring the language and cultural skills necessary to assist her community, Ofori will be sworn into service and be assigned to a community in Cambodia, where she will live and work for two years with the local people.

“I’m a first generation American, both of my parents are from different countries. My dad is from Ghana in West Africa, and my mom is from Grenada in the Caribbean. Coincidentally, they both had Peace Corps Volunteers teaching them in their schools when they were growing up.” 

Ofori joins the 247 Massachusetts residents currently serving in the Peace Corps and more than 7,932 Massachusetts residents who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961.