It’s a long way from Afghanistan to Mercer Island, but Suzanne Griffin can make one feel like they are present in that far-away land and following in her footsteps when she worked in the Peace Corps — and helped rebuild the country’s education system.

Nowadays, you can find the 79-year-old world traveler and impact-maker keeping track of global political issues and sharing what she’s experienced and learned during her robust lifetime at Áegis Living Mercer Island.

Griffin, who has resided at Áegis since last May, sat comfortably in the senior community’s spacious lounge while perusing the newspaper on a recent morning. A political story splashed across the front page.

“I’m interested in politics because I was the refugee education person for the state of Washington. I dealt with both state politics and national politics around refugees and immigrants,” she said.

“The bottom line is, we’re from a diverse world. And I’ve always been the teacher that had all those people in the classroom,” she added about students speaking about 20 different languages. She speaks German, Dari and Farsi. “My classroom looked like the United Nations.”

Griffin once told a colleague that, “it’s not about language, it’s about attitude,” as to how she got along with everyone in the classroom. She taught English as a second language in the United States and English in Isfahan, Iran, during her career.

A timeline of Griffin’s life work overseas begins in 1968 when she and her husband, Michael, were a Peace Corps field team in Afghanistan (he had previously completed a Peace Corps tour in Iran). In 1978, the couple and their two young daughters, Sarah and Rachael, relocated for education and housing department work in Iran, but were soon evacuated at the start of the Iranian Revolution. And in 2002, she returned to Afghanistan to lead projects in health, education and higher education. Also while in Afghanistan, she worked with government officials to provide education equity for young women.

According to Griffin’s book, “Lessons of Love in Afghanistan,” her work was “often risky, sometimes dangerous.” It was sustained by love and a lifelong commitment to the Afghan people.

“Overall it was a dangerous place for everyone who lived and worked there because armed conflict was almost continuous in some areas of that country,” said Griffin, who received a Ph.D. in education from the University of Washington. “When I and my Afghan colleagues traveled north from Kabul into the mountain passes, we were occasionally near armed conflict that sometimes involved U.S. troops. However, we stayed on the road and kept on moving as quickly as the road conditions allowed.”

Up until two years ago, Griffin did volunteer work by contacting the state department in Washington, D.C., regarding identity confirmation of asylum-seekers from Afghanistan.

In the present day, Griffin is pleased to be living at Áegis, which is nearby one of her daughter’s in-laws on Mercer Island. Griffin hasn’t yet delved into any Island issues, but said she might look into a situation if it involves equity for people.

During her stay at Áegis, she’s found some similarities to her life’s work: “I think one of the things I like about here is that there are a lot of people from very different backgrounds. Áegis does what they do really well. They look at the background of the people coming, and then they pick one of us to welcome them. And so I’m going to be welcoming a couple tomorrow.”

A lifelong Rotarian, Griffin recently took a fellow Áegis resident and Rotarian to a meeting at her University District club. While visiting different countries, Griffin attended Rotary meetings and has kept those positive experiences in her life.

One of Griffin’s mottoes that she learned from her late husband during their work travels is: “The diversity of the people you know makes your life richer.”

Digging further into that maxim that guides her on a daily basis, she adds: “In fact, the more different they are, the richer you become because you learn to look at the world with different lenses. Instead of accusing them of being wrong, just accept the fact that we all have different ways of thinking.”

At the conclusion of Griffin’s book, she writes that part of her heart will never leave Afghanistan.

“Afghans have shown me that the best way to live is to make the most of each day and to be ready to deal with whatever the future brings.”

Suzanne Griffin, left, and Afghan women attend an International Women’s Day celebration in Dubai in the 2000s. Had they been attending an event in Afghanistan, the Afghan women would not have been photographed. Courtesy photo