Sitting at a Pier Avenue Café in a salmon-colored sundress and billowy white blouse, Marcy Morita glows in the late afternoon sun of the city she’s called home for 15 years. In September, Morita will say goodbye to the community she loves in order to travel to Azerbaijan for a two-year Peace Corps assignment.
Volunteering is a passion for Morita, 44. Last August she traveled to Indonesia for a week to help build homes with Habitat For Humanity. She also has taken part in volunteering activities through her job in the financial services field, including teaching entrepreneurship to fourth graders in a junior achievement program.
Joining the Peace Corps, a 50-year-old organization fostering development worldwide and nurturing mutual cultural understanding abroad, is something Morita has wanted to do for a long time.
“In speaking to people and then reading more about their mission and truly what they’re trying to accomplish, that kind of anchored me into getting to the Peace Corps,” she said. “It just took a little bit of time for me to get to a point where I could be serious and apply, and then ultimately get invited to join.”
One of Morita’s earliest inspirations to join was her high school French teacher, Ms. Richardson in Hilo, on the big island of Hawaii, who had trained for the Peace Corps before declining an assignment and becoming a teacher.
Morita did not retain any French, but she fondly recalls the learning environment Ms. Richardson cultivated. It wasn’t just about learning how to speak the language, she said, but also about understanding the culture.
“The reason she was such a great teacher is that you could see the passion she had for teaching, which emanated when she taught,” said Morita.
She sees her assignment as similar to that in Ms. Richardson’s classroom: engaging another culture in an educational experience.
“I don’t see it as just me imparting information,” said Morita, who will serve as a community economic development advisor in Azerbaijan, located in the Caucasus between Russia, Armenia, Iran and the Caspian Sea.
“I see it as a two-way learning experience, because I have a lot to learn about other cultures as well. It really is an opportunity for everyone to learn.’’
Morita plans to participate with a friend, a middle school history and geography teacher, in a “correspondence match program” to share what she learns in Azerbaijan. She will write letters to her friend’s class on a monthly basis and welcome questions from the students.
It was by happenstance that Morita landed in Hermosa Beach. Born in Hilo, she came to Southern California in 1985 to attend UC Irvine. After earning a master’s degree in accounting at USC, she started looking to the South Bay.
Strolling through the beach cities one day, she caught a “for rent” sign on Monterey Avenue and answered its call.
She quickly grew at home in the city, she said, because it reflects the community and family-oriented lifestyle she grew up with in Hawaii, where she called everyone “auntie” or “uncle.”
“[Hermosa] was a fantastic place to gain the values I’ve grown to appreciate,” Morita said. “Everyone helps out each other. Your neighbors are your family.”
The climate, coastal waters and sandy beaches didn’t hurt either. When she departs on assignment this fall, it will be the first time Morita has moved away from Monterey Avenue since she arrived in 1996.
Morita is active in all things outdoors. She plays golf and tennis and runs five days a week, but only recently took up surfing. For eight years she has played volleyball with the same group of friends down at Third Street.
In 2008 she hiked Mount Kilimanjaro with a friend, after having surmounted Whitney as a “precursor.” Despite this, she claims she is not a hiker.
Although Morita has traveled to most of Western Europe and a large portion of Asia, she is unsure what to expect in Azerbaijan, or how to prepare. She has asked friends to send “care packages” and said she’ll probably have to pack all her Mount Kilimanjaro clothing for the frigid climate.
She said what she might miss most is watching U.S. sports in person.
“I did hear there’s professional women’s volleyball there,” she added. “I’m very excited if that’s the case.”
