Document Actions
Lynne Moquete - Dominican Republic
Filed Under:
Lynne Moquete, Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic (1990-1992), later went into a Peace Corps Fellows Master’s program and received an MA in Public Health. She started Building Dreams, Building Hopes to assess needs in remote villages and to build and repair houses.
CLICK on the player to listen to this eight minute interview, or on the link below to download the audio file to your desktop.
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Lynne Moquete joined the Peace Corps after being in a service program called Mexico Outreach and she wanted to continue working to help others. The idea of the Peace Corps came to her on a plane ride when her seatmate who had been in the Corps told her about it. She decided soon afterward that the Peace Corps was what she wanted to do.
She learned to fix plumbing, dig latrines and repair homes, and she learned from the people of the village. She realized that she and other volunteers could help facilitate things, but it was the villagers who did the teaching.
She later started Building Dreams, Building Hopes to build houses, repair homes, do plumbing, build latrines….whatever a village would need.
She says she now understands that she is a social entrepreneur. She feels that the world would work better if each of us took our gifts and worked for the betterment of humanity – if we were all social entrepreneurs. Her skill is teaching, so she gives back through teaching. Her work in the Peace Corps was a life changing event for her, living with people who were so full of love and generosity.
She advises other social entrepreneurs to understand that “everyone is gifted in a different way. It is not about competition, it is about helping people. If we can work together, in the end the world will be complete and beautiful. We all have to do our part.”
CLICK on the player above to listen to her interview.
