At age 60, Shirley Maly had not spoken a word of Spanish or been outside the United States before she started training for the Peace Corps.
Shirley Maly, 74, of Lincoln has won a national honor from the Peace Corps.
Now, at 74, she has traveled to 11 Spanish-speaking countries.
Earlier this month, Maly, of Lincoln, made a trip to Atlanta to be recognized with the Lillian Carter Award for her work in the Peace Corps. Every two years, the award, which is named after the mother of former President Carter, is given to a volunteer who was at least 50 years old when he or she started serving.
Lillian Carter joined the Peace Corps in 1966 at age 68 and spent two years as a health volunteer in India.
At the ceremony, Maly encouraged people older than 50 to volunteer for the Peace Corps. Her remarks coincide with the Peace Corps’ campaign to recruit older volunteers because of their advanced skills and expertise.
Maly brought 35 years’ experience working in advertising to the Peace Corps. During the last eight years of her career, she owned her own business, which taught small-business owners about marketing and sales.
As a Peace Corps volunteer from 1992 to 1995, she used her knowledge to teach Uruguayan artisans and other small-business owners how to improve their accounting, sales and other business skills.
Maly also taught English out of her home to villagers because, as she puts it, “when you are in the Peace Corps, you are considered on duty 24/7.”
Maly credits the Peace Corps for her increased confidence speaking Spanish and her desire to travel. She also takes Spanish classes in Lincoln.
In addition to her work with the Peace Corps, Maly said she believes her volunteer work with other organizations influenced her selection for the award. With Global Volunteers, Maly traveled to Costa Rica to help artisans draw new embroidery patterns and went to Mexico to teach English to students at the University of Guanajuato.
She has also gone to South America with Friendship Force International, taken return trips to Uruguay and written a book about her experiences.
Jennifer Marciniak, the Peace Corps recruiter for Nebraska, nominated Maly because of her commitment to volunteering, both with the Peace Corps and with other organizations.
“Peace Corps was the catalyst for Shirley’s work and influence in other nations,” she said.
Through sharing her experiences with local groups, Maly is part of a growing effort to recruit retired and older Americans to serve as Peace Corps volunteers. As of September 2006, 5 percent of the 7,749 American volunteers were over age 50.
The recent push for older volunteers is occurring because “our countries are asking for emotionally mature adults with more advanced skills,” Marciniak said.
Jill Thiare, a spokeswoman with the Denver Peace Corps division, said the Peace Corps has its greatest success recruiting when previous volunteers share their experiences. The Peace Corps is organizing an event in Lincoln on June 16 for Maly to share her story.
At the ceremony honoring Maly, Jason Carter, a Peace Corps volunteer, introduced his grandfather. Jimmy Carter then joined Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter in talking about the importance of older volunteers in the Peace Corps and in presenting the award to Maly.
In her speech, Maly advised people to challenge themselves with the Peace Corps or similar experiences.
“Be open and put yourself in the shoes of those with whom you wish to interact and understand their reality and reasoning,” Maly said. “I believe persons who’ve lived 50 years or so are well equipped to do this . . . to suggest and teach new ideas that show our culture in its best light.”
Maly said her outlook has changed drastically because of her Peace Corps experience. She now pays more attention to international events, especially in South America, because she has friends in other countries.
“I understand more where they might be coming from in different countries,” Maly said. “I look for more of the whys instead of automatically thinking that’s not a good thing to do.”
