Once upon a time, Jeju was mainly a rural island with barely any places to access electricity. The number of active haenyeo was slowly decreasing and Cheju National University was only fourteen years old. Not many people aspired to go to university because access to education was still an uphill battle, and priorities were set on developing the precarious economic situation that the island was going through. In other words, modernization was still not commonplace, as effects of the April 3rd Massacre and the Korean War were deeply affecting the conditions of the island.

Facing this background, the Peace Corps – a US governmental agency that sent volunteers to developing countries – first arrived in Jeju in 1966. Many volunteers came to the island in order to provide medical and educational services, but some others also aided in the construction of new buildings, advice for enterprises and for rural development.

Charles Robert Kelley was one of them. He came to Jeju Island in 1977 and stayed until 1979. As a volunteer, he was assigned to teach English, and that is how he became the English Advisor for The Islander. And now, forty-three years later Mr. Kelly came back to the offices of our newspaper recalling his old experiences in the university.

“Nothing is like it was before” Mr. Kelly pointed out; “passing through the vicinity I wonder if the trees that now surround the school are trees that I planted ages ago.” He brought with him some issues of The Islander that he sent to his mother during his time as advisor of the paper.

Today we are lucky to face another background. Jeju National University has now become a globalized institution that accepts foreigners as both professors and students. But more often that not, we forget the things that brought us to this precise circumstances. Despite the Peace Corps leaving Jeju in 1981, their legacy remains outstanding after all these years.