RALEIGH, N.C. — After 35 years, a Raleigh couple is on their way back to Africa. They want to fulfill their dream of giving back to the country where they worked in the 1960s.

Eve and Tom Vitaglione quit their jobs and returned to Malawi, a small country in Africa where they served and met in the Peace Corps in the mid-1960s.

Now, at age 60 , the couple has gone back to help children orphaned by AIDS.

"We are who we are because of the two years we spent in the Peace Corps in Malawi, and so to go back and recapture that, it feels good," Eve said.

"We felt worse being here than being there. So in some ways it's selfish, it's meeting our own needs. We feel called to do this and if we didn't respond to the call we'd feel very uncomfortable," Tom said.

There are an estimated 400,000 children in Malawi orphaned by AIDS. The couple, along with 10 other former Peace Corp members, have started a nonprofit organization to help the children called "The Malawi Children's Village."

The group expects to stay in Africa for at least five months.

To learn more about the organization or to make a contribution, write to:

"Malawi Children's Village" Garry Prime, Treasurer 20 Pond Park Road Hingham, MA 02043

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