Finding personal fulfillment via the Peace Corps and Clark

Looking for a respite after nearly a decade of corporate employment in the United States, Feyzal Ebrahim returned to his native Somaliland, where he worked as an education planning consultant. While there, he heard “an inner voice persuading me to give back to a society that so desperately needs healing from injustices such as war, food insecurity, and climate change,” he says. Heeding the call, Ebrahim leveraged his citizenship as a naturalized American to join the Peace Corps.

In March 2019, after 10 weeks of intense training, Ebrahim was posted to the rural Langogu Village in Karaga District, Ghana. As a Business Agriculture Extension volunteer, he led community education sessions and demonstrations on agriculture techniques, nutrition, malaria prevention, and sanitation. He also conducted a community needs assessment that was instrumental to the opening of a much-needed health care clinic three months later.

Then COVID-19 hit. Ebrahim was evacuated, content with his accomplishments in Ghana and determined to find equal purpose in the next chapter of his life. And that’s what led him to Clark.

Making positive impacts in multiple ways

Ebrahim was drawn to the IDCE department to pursue a master’s degree in International Development. One-on-one advising sessions with Associate Professor Jude Fernando motivated him to declare a concentration in Refugee and Forced Migration. But, as is the case with many Clark students, his learning and leadership experiences would extend well beyond the classroom.

Ebrahim served as a member of President Fithian’s University Diversity Action Committee and was part of the Food Security initiative led by the Dean of Students office. As the IDCE Student Association Co-President, he helped students connect with one another and served as a link between students and faculty. And in the summer of 2022, he organized three Peace Corps recruitment opportunities for Clark students.

Through his varied experiences at Clark, Ebrahim discovered how to become a resource for others, culminating in his current position as supervisor of Clark’s Campus Ambassadors. In this role, he schedules, trains, and motivates a contingent of 19 student ambassadors who provide assistance to fellow students and visitors across the Clark campus. In their signature red jackets, Campus Ambassadors are a welcome presence at Gala, Commencement, Reunion, and other significant university events.

“They’re a great team,” Ebrahim says, adding that his ambassadors are always on the move. “There’s nothing stationary about this job,” he says with a grin.

Given his global journey to Clark, Ebrahim is quite familiar with being on the move himself.