Kellogg Community College will host college alumnus and Peace Corps volunteer Jordan Blekking at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 26, when Blekking will deliver a presentation highlighting his experiences while on assignment in Zambia.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the newly renovated Kellogg Room adjacent to the cafeteria on KCC’s North Avenue campus, 450 North Ave., Battle Creek.
Blekking graduated from Pennfield High School and KCC before transferring to Michigan State University, where he graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and Applications, specializing in international agriculture.
The 27-year-old joined the Peace Corps in February 2012 and was assigned to serve in the Republic of Zambia, a landlocked country south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in south central Africa. Blekking is halfway through a two-year commitment to the Peace Corps and will return to Zambia at the end of June.
Blekking has documented his experiences online at jordanblekking.blogspot.com and in a series of articles published by the Battle Creek Enquirer. In one Enquirer article, he writes that his work “involves working with rural communities on the specific focus of improving agricultural production and livelihoods. In addition, my program – Linking Income, Food, and the Environment (LIFE) – puts a great emphasis, as does the Peace Corps as a whole, on reducing the effects of HIV/AIDS on these communities.”
He describes his current living arrangements as a mud hut with a grass-thatched roof with no electricity or running water.
The KCC event will include a presentation about Blekking’s work and attendees will have the opportunity to ask him questions about his experiences. Refreshments will be provided.
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