Growing up in Bridgeport, Elizabeth Andrick had an early awareness that there were people across the world who needed help. She looked forward to Christmastime when she could fill shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child and pick an Angel tag off the Salvation Army Christmas tree. But it wasn’t until she spent time in El Salvador at end of her freshman year of college that she saw firsthand what need really was.

 

“You hear about it on the news and read about it online, but you don’t know what it’s truly like until you are there,” said Andrick, a member of the BHS graduating class of 2009.

 

It was something that stuck in her mind and heart and once she obtained her degree in chemistry from Marshall University, she put that passion into action and joined the Peace Corps.

 

Today, she works as a community health educator on the outskirts of Battambang City in Cambodia.

“In my particular community, people struggle with sanitation and malnutrition,” she said. “I am trying to combat the sanitation issues by building wells, bathrooms and sinks at the local schools and then going to the schools and teaching classes on germs, disease prevention and the importance of hand washing.”

 

Andrick’s overall responsibilities are to find where in her community villagers are lacking education about health and wellness, the find a way to educate them on living a healthier life. A major issue she deals with is malnutrition.

 

“I'm trying to work with the mothers of babies and young children to educate them on the importance of breastfeeding, eating plenty of fruits and veggies, drinking water, and how to properly prepare food so that family members don't get sick,” she said. “I also go to my village's health center every day and work in the maternity room.”

 

Andrick also works daily in the village health center and maternity room.

 

“I take blood pressures, measure the pregnant women’s stomachs - and sometimes get to assist with deliveries,” she said.

In her village – which is about 15 miles outside of Cambodia’s Battambang City – which, next to the capital Phnom Penh, is the country’s largest city -  Andrick lives with her host family.

 

In addition to the mom and dad – Mon Rany and Ouch A – she has two younger sisters, 12-year-old Pich Sophea and 24-year-old Vicheka and an 18-year-old brother Tola.

 

The area is primarily agricultural, with rice the main crop. Living conditions are humble, but functional.

 

“My host family is lucky enough to have bathrooms, though they are behind the house,” she said. “We don’t have running water, but rely mostly on rainwater during rainy season and well water during dry season.”

 

Though the family has electricity, the power is often off. Ironically, that happens a lot in April – the hottest month.

 

“The temperatures here are in the 90s most of the time,” she said. “I think the lowest it has been since I’ve gotten here was around 65 degrees F. and that was only once or twice. The local people think it’s freezing when that happens.”

 

This year has featured the hottest temperatures ever recorded – 108 degrees F. – and the worse drought in 50 years.

Andrick makes her daily travels on a bicycle.

 

“Volunteers are not allowed to ride motos and most people here cannot afford cars,” she said.

 

In addition to acclimating to temperatures and conditions, Andrick said one of the most difficult aspects of her job is the language. The official language of Cambodia is Khmer. Close to 16 million people speaking the language, it is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language, next to Vietnamese.

 

“Luckily the Peace Corps has amazing language teachers and I have a wonderful tutor in my village,” she said. “In the evenings, I teach an English class of high school aged students who want to better their English speaking skills so that they can go on to college and medical school.”

 

It’s going well. In fact, just a couple weeks ago, she and her students began reading “Harry Potter” in class. 

 

Getting into the Peace Corps was no easily process. The application process took about a year.

 

“I applied for Peace Corps back in August 2014. I interviewed about a month later for a science teaching placement in Sierra Leone, however, because of the Ebola outbreak going on there, they decided not to send volunteers,” she said. “Luckily I was transferred to Cambodia where I was offered a spot as a Community Heath Education volunteer. I left for Cambodia July 25, 2015 and after two months of language and cultural training, I swore in as an official Peace Corp volunteer. Once we swear in, volunteers serve for two years.”

 

What Andrick loves about the Peace Corps and what makes them stand out from other humanitarian/volunteer organizations is their approach to sustainability.

 

“Many of the organizations come in to the villages and give people things (that they may or may not need or even want) and then leave,” she said. “Most of the time whatever it is that the organization was giving is forgotten about, never used, or not taken care of. What the Peace Corps does is try to motivate and inspire the local people to use their own resources and skills to better their lives and their communities.”

 

Andrick said she and her fellow Peace Corps members live and work in the communities they are helping.

 

“So there is much more familiarity and trust,” she said. “We try to facilitate conversations and find what the needs are in the community, then work with the villagers to figure out we can make it happen.”

 

Andrick has made lifelong friends and expanded her horizons and understanding of real world issues. Perhaps the biggest reward is watching the villagers utilize what they learn from her then pass that knowledge down through the generations.

 

“I think the most rewarding thing is when the younger generation realizes that they can make a difference in their own lives and in their communities,” she said. “People here mostly believe that whatever situation they are born into, that is how they will live the rest of their lives. If they are poor they will remain poor, if their parents are farmers, they will become farmers."

 

Andrick said the people there have never been told that they can do anything and be anything.

 

“They don't realize that they have the power to make a difference, to better the future of their country,” she said. “I love talking to people and showing them that there is always a way to achieve their dreams. It may be difficult, it may take a long time, but they can do it.”

 

At BHS, Andrick was a member of the National Honor Society, Interact Club and the BHS Marching Band Frontline. She is the daughter of Herb and Debbie Andrick and the sister of Caleb Andrick, Courtney Windom and Scott Windom.

 

Andrick studied abroad in Italy the summer after graduating from BHS and just before entering Marshall University.

 

“The next year I did a mission trip to El Salvador and while in college I took trips to Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, England, Scotland,” she said.

 

While serving in the Peace Corps, she has traveled with friends to Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia.

 

“The great thing about Southeast Asia is that once you are here, it is easy and cheap to travel so I'm trying to take advantage of my time here and experience as many cultures and countries as possible,” she said.