Schyler Cordova is only 23 years old, and she wants to change the world — that is, change one person’s world at a time.

Cordova traveled recently to Peru as a member of the Peace Corps. She will spend the next 27 months as a community health facilitator administering maternal services to pregnant women and to those mothers with newborns.

“I’ve visited Peru before and I really enjoyed it there,” said the graduate of Lehighton Area High School and George Mason University, where she received a degree this year in global affairs.

“I come from a family of travelers. My dad told me to see what’s out there.”

She’s been to Mexico and seen much of the Caribbean. She lived in Spain for a month and Slovenia for another month.

Her mother was scheduled to go to the Peace Corps in the Philippines in the ’80s, but the country’s revolution caused her trip to be canceled.

Changing maternity in changing climates

Cordova sees this opportunity as a chance to help Peruvian women learn about nutrition and maternal health.

“Their diet consists mostly of starches, that is potatoes and rice. They are not uneducated, they are mis-educated, and we can teach them about better nutrition and how to keep their children growing properly.”

She will be educating these women about sexual health and well-being as well.

Peru lies at the edge of the southern hemisphere. The weather is seasonally opposite of that in America, so Cordova will be arriving near the end of winter. Summer begins in December.

“It’s difficult to know what clothes to pack for the length of time I’ll be there,” she said with a laugh. “Peru has 18 different climate zones with long wet and dry seasons.”

Taking Lehighton with her

As a Peace Corps member, Cordova will be in training for three months just outside of Lima, the country’s capital, and then will take residence with one of two host families at locations in the Andes Mountains.

She will work with a cohort group of 58 people. She will receive a monthly stipend equivalent to what an average lower- to middle-class person makes in the region. Vacation time is factored in, too.

“I’m allowed two days of vacation for every month worked, but to save them up and come back home would be at my expense. So my parents and my brother who graduates this year are planning to come and visit me in about nine months.”

Asked how growing up in Lehighton has helped her decide upon this grand endeavor, Cordova said that she would take with her the knowledge she attained in her hometown about helping others in a much smaller community. She also sees the irony of going from life in Lehighton to life in Peru.

“Here at home, you kind of think you’re a big fish in a small pond, but I’m going to be a small fish in a big pond over there.”

Giving away what we are given

She expressed a philosophical viewpoint in her decision to help Peruvian women.

“As Americans, we are lucky to have so many advantages and resources. We should be thankful, and it’s important that we spread our knowledge elsewhere.”

She also says her experience with the Peace Corps will offer her a “super opportunity” when she returns to achieve a master’s degree and then to get a job working in the field of global affairs.

For now, Cordova will live a life of service and hope stated in her own words.

“If I can help change one person’s life for the better, then I will help make the world a better place.”