Local resident Helga Thompson is making a career move most people her age wouldn’t dream of.
She has joined the Peace Corps at age 56, and departed last week for a trip to offer aid in Tanzania.
Thompson recently told the Review the story of how the death of her husband prompted her to look for a reason to carry on, one she has apparently found in the Peace Corps.
“I was born in 1956 in Virginia (so I am not a Yankee), but grew up in Chicago,” Thompson said. “I am the first one in my family to be born in the United States.  My parents came over as teenagers after WWII, because they were displaced persons (no home to return to since it was then under Communist occupation).  I grew up speaking German at home. I graduated high school in 1974 in Ohio.  My parents moved to Alabama where I met and married my husband, who was from Tennessee.”
A short-lived job brought the family to the area in the 90s, and Thompson fell in love with DeKalb County.
“My husband got a job at the former Smithville Tool and Die in 1994 and we moved here,” she said. “The job lasted a year, but I came back to visit friends I had made here and said I would move back if I ever got the chance.  After moving back to Alabama and then Florida, both my parent's died, and with what I inherited I bought the Vandergriff farm in 2000. We moved our printing business up here. I worked one year in Cannon County as an English teacher, at New Frontiers and the former Butternut Valley Nature Center for several years.  I also worked as the Liberty librarian for 2.5 years until June, when I quit to go to Ghana with the Peace Corps. Plans changed,and I’m leaving for Tanzania on Feb. 8.  I have been substitute teaching at the DCHS and the Middle School until I leave.  I also participated in most of the story telling events here organized by Susan Hinton.” 
“About four years ago my daughter, Karley Thompson, moved here after graduating from FSU and losing her job in the recession. She started a C.S.A. (Community Supported Agriculture) where she grows unique vegetables for her clients.  She also is the secretary/treasurer of the Farmer's Market here in Dekalb County and has a booth there.  She will be taking care of my home while I am gone.”
Thompson said the loss of her husband of 28 years caused her to examine her future.
“My husband died of a heart attack in Aug 2012,” she shared. “We were married 28 years. What I had thought my life would be was now gone. I thought and prayed about what I should do. I looked into teaching overseas and came across ‘Peace Corps 50+’ on line.  I did not know they took ‘old’ people. This was something I would love to do and be able to help others. I applied and got accepted. I said that if I got accepted, I would take it that this is what God wants me to do.  Later I found out that only one-third of all applicants are accepted and only 7 percent of all volunteers are over 50 years old.”
Thompson said she will be gone for more than two years.
“I am on my way to Tanzania to work with the Environmental Education division of the Peace Corps. The commitment is for 27 months. I will be working with schools and farmers on helping them to protect their environment.  Also all PC workers do AIDS education, since it is spreading rapidly and is not understood by much of the population in Africa.” 
Thompson will not only send photos and regular accounts of her experiences to be printed in the Review, she will keep a blog at HelgaPC.wordpress.com.