Born to parents who were among the earliest Peace Corps volunteers sent out by President Kennedy, working as Regional Director for CI’s child sponsorship program in the Africa Region comes naturally to Paul Hooper.
Paul holds an International MBA and spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer serving impoverished communities in Latin America. His wife, Julie, who works as a marketing manager for Children International, is also a veteran of the Peace Corps.
Recently, Paul shared with me one of the defining moments in his career:
“A couple of years ago I happened to be in Zambia when a young girl named Tina was being treated for a rare form of cancer. Our local staff had taken her to see every specialist possible, and they all concluded that she would need an operation to remove a large tumor from her belly, but that there was virtually no chance of her surviving the surgery. I visited Tina in her humble home one afternoon and took her a load of groceries that her sponsor had paid for and some candy valentine hearts – the kind with the little messages on them. She pulled one out of the box and asked me what it said. I told her it said “You’re Special”. Her sunken eyes lit up and she started to beam with pride. Tina died a week later.
Without CI Tina’s final days would have been spent alone and hidden in shame from her neighbors. But thanks to CI, Tina died knowing that she was special and that someone out there, someone she never met, cared dearly for her.”
Paul stands in front of the Nile River during a visit to Uganda, Africa.
Paul holds an International MBA and spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer serving impoverished communities in Latin America. His wife, Julie, who works as a marketing manager for Children International, is also a veteran of the Peace Corps.
Recently, Paul shared with me one of the defining moments in his career:
“A couple of years ago I happened to be in Zambia when a young girl named Tina was being treated for a rare form of cancer. Our local staff had taken her to see every specialist possible, and they all concluded that she would need an operation to remove a large tumor from her belly, but that there was virtually no chance of her surviving the surgery. I visited Tina in her humble home one afternoon and took her a load of groceries that her sponsor had paid for and some candy valentine hearts – the kind with the little messages on them. She pulled one out of the box and asked me what it said. I told her it said “You’re Special”. Her sunken eyes lit up and she started to beam with pride. Tina died a week later.
The generosity of her sponsor brought a little joy to Tina's last days.
Without CI Tina’s final days would have been spent alone and hidden in shame from her neighbors. But thanks to CI, Tina died knowing that she was special and that someone out there, someone she never met, cared dearly for her.”
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