Em Rademaker: North Central Grad Fulfilling Her Peace Corps Dream

When Em Rademaker was in high school, she took two mission trips. One of the trips was to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota where she helped the Lakota Sioux build houses and do work on a school.

The experience was one that allowed her to learn about the people and the culture.

Now, as she plans to leave her family and friends behind for South Africa and a two-year stint in the Peace Corps, she believes that experience was one of the best opportunities to prepare herself mentally and physically for what lies ahead. Though, she knows that nothing could fully prepare for her time in South Africa. 

Rademaker, 22, is a recent graduate of where she earned her bachelor’s degree in classical civilization and German. Her minor was in sociology. Her goal is to one day work in public policy or economics.

“Over the last four years, I have learned from other people and their take on life and learned compassion. That is really what I was hoping for,” she said. “South Africa has a really rich history and culture, and I am looking forward to learning from other people.” 

Rademaker, a Cary native, leaves July 10 for Atlanta, where she will get a quick orientation. From Atlanta, she will travel with her two suitcases and carry-on bags to South Africa. Once there, she will go through eight weeks of training in North West Pretoria in South Africa. 

While she is training, she will be immersed in South African life, which will include job training, language immersion, learning Zulu (she believes), living with a host family and learning about the culture.

She will be working as an English teacher during her roughly 27 months in South Africa, she said. Along with teaching English, she will also be doing HIV/AIDS education.

After her two month training and immersion Rademaker will be sworn in and sent off to the community where she will work. She isn’t sure where that will be in South Africa, though there are two regions she hopes to be sent to, including KwaZulu-Natal. 

Rademaker’s interest in joining the Peace Corps started her freshman year in college when a resident assistant in her dorm was going through the application process and shared information and blogged about it. 

Kimberly Sluis, the college’s dean of students, also served as a resource on the process and experience of serving in the Peace Corps. 

When she was a sophomore, Rademaker knew she wanted to apply, but had to wait until July 2011 when the application finally opened. The application process was long because it involved interviews, physical and mental evaluations. 

Her parents, Dana and Linnea, are very supportive of her and used to having children overseas. Two of her brothers have served overseas in the military and she currently has an older brother in Afghanistan. 

“I don’t know that my faith was what initially inspired me. When I was much younger, my parents would read to me a lot. I have always been an avid reader and when you read about far away places, you get interested. As a kid was interested in different cultures that didn’t have the same values or lifestyle as I did, how they lived their lives in the physical realm and mentally,” she said.

Her major in college allowed her to study language, culture and society, a theme that clearly runs through her life.

She is in the process of sorting out what she will take with her and what she will leave behind. Since South Africa is more developed, it should be possible to find similar items as are available in the United States.

She knows she will bring along school supplies and gifts for her hosts. A lover of books, she has work to do to pare down. 

One book she is certain she'll bring is The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, by Roald Dahl. The story is about a greedy man who becomes generous, she said. 

“Whatever I choose to do, I know at the end of my service I will be a completely different person than I am now,” she said.

She plans to use her experience to help others, not just in the Peace Corps, but throughout her life, she said.

“What I think I would really like to do for the rest of my life is gain perspective and help people in whatever way they might need,” she said. “In order to be of service to people, you have to learn what is important to them in their daily lives.”

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