Lily Mirsepassi visits illuminAid

Last month, illuminAid had the pleasure of visiting with an old intern, Lily Mirsepassi. Interning for us in 2013, Lily has since graduated from Chico State with a double major in French and Business Finance and a minor in International Studies. Following her graduation in 2016, Lily volunteered for the Peace Corps.

Currently stationed in South Africa, Lily has been teaching English to children and adolescents for nearly two years. This last year, Lily’s work in KwaZulu was expanded as she spearheaded a project to develop a modern computer lab, taught HIV/AIDS awareness and began a girls empowerment club for South African young adults. Next year, Lily will be personally training a new batch of Peace Corp volunteers.

Even with her increasingly full plate, Lily was kind enough to swing by the illuminAid office during her latest visit back to the United States. She talked with us about her experiences in the Peace Corps, her memories of illuminAid and how her time at illuminAid has impacted her humanitarian work since.

“Moving from illuminAid to the Peace Corps was an intuitive transition,” said Lily. “The core concept of illuminAid—training people on how to effectively disseminate skills to a target population, empowering them towards self-sustainability—the Peace Corps prescribes to the same philosophy.”