Peace Corps Volunteers : Assignment in Belize Combines 2 Passions

At an age when most people would be considering a peaceful retirement, Frank and Henrietta King are embarking on a two-year adventure with the Peace Corps.

The Kings, both 62, will leave soon for Belize, a tiny country on Central America’s Caribbean coast between Mexico and Guatemala.

Their commitment to the Peace Corps combines two passions: the wanderlust that has marked their lives and a missionary-like desire to educate others.

“We feel the same way about working in the area of education as some missionaries feel about propagating the faith in underdeveloped countries,” said Frank, a retired San Diego teacher.

Saying they are “very excited” about their assignment, the Kings expressed little concern about traveling to war-torn Central America. Belize itself is notable for a history of internal peace. “But even if it were involved in hostility, we would still go there,” Frank said, adding, “I don’t think it’s a risky enterprise, like scaling Mount Everest. It’s a new chapter in our lives.”

Living in a thatched hut with no electricity or running water will be part of that new chapter for the Spring Valley couple, who have been married almost 37 years. “I think where other people live, I can live there too,” Henrietta said.

“We’ve never been concerned about drinking the water or eating food in any foreign lands,” her husband added. “I know that modern conveniences are very important to some people, particularly Americans, but not to us.”

Frank will travel among the villages of Toledo, the poorest district in Belize, training local teachers, many of who have only a grammar school education. He will work in a pilot program designed to lift the standard of education in Belize.

Henrietta will teach nutrition and child care to mothers. Her assignment is not as clearly defined as her husband’s because when the Peace Corps assigns couples, only one is given a written assignment.

The Peace Corps is enlisting more and more older people like the Kings. Patricia A. Seaman, a spokeswoman for the Peace Corps in Washington, said 6% of the 5,300 volunteers are over 50. In the early 1960s, the average age of a volunteer was 23; today the average age is approaching 29, she said.

“It’s something we encourage. Older people have a whole lifetime of experience and have skills in education. They are often placed in a culture where age is respected,” Seaman said.

Frank taught high school in the San Diego Unified School District for 22 years. In 1972 he became an administrator in the Special Projects office, which coordinates such programs as bilingual education and education for gifted students that are funded from sources outside the district.

He formally retired April 1 as coordinator of the office, but is still working because a replacement has not been found. His “retirement” will start when the Kings leave for Chicago July 1 to attend orientation classes. They will fly to Belize on July 4.

To qualify for the assignment the Kings went through a lot of paper work, interviews, FBI background checks, and extensive medical and dental examinations.

“We have been filling out forms forever,” Henrietta said.

The Kings were surprised they were assigned to Belize. “Our first choice was French Africa, because my wife and I speak fluent French, but we said we would go anywhere,” Frank said.

The official language of Belize (formerly British Honduras) is English, but the Kings will be required to learn a Mayan dialect as part of their Peace Corps training. The Kings anticipate little difficulty learning a new language. Besides French, they also speak Dutch and some German.

The Kings met in Switzerland when Henrietta was studying nursing and Frank was studying political science and international law. They were married in Amsterdam, where Henrietta was born.

The Kings are hopeful that their five children, who range in age from 20 to 35, will visit them during their stay. Tom, who is studying optometry at UC Berkeley, was planning to intern a few weeks next summer in Belize before he heard of his parents’ Peace Corps assignment.

“I’ll make it a point to go and visit them,” he said.

During their marriage, the Kings have traveled to Mexico, Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. Frank said he also visited Cuba, Panama, the Philippines and the British Isles before he got married.

“Our main interests are reading and traveling,” Henrietta said. “When we’re not reading, we’re moving.”

The Kings intend to keep moving when their two-year stint with the Peace Corps is over. “I don’t know what we will be doing, but you can be certain it will be something similar,” Frank said.

“We always talked about going to the little island of Pitcairn, where ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ took place. It only has about 40 inhabitants, half English and half Tahitian, who are the descendants of the British sailors who stayed.”