July 4, 2003 - Star Tribine: When the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in October because of their nearness to Afghanistan, it wasn't because of volunteers' jitters

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Kyrgyzstan: Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan : The Peace Corps in Kyrgyzstan: July 4, 2003 - Star Tribine: When the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in October because of their nearness to Afghanistan, it wasn't because of volunteers' jitters

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When the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in October because of their nearness to Afghanistan, it wasn't because of volunteers' jitters



When the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in October because of their nearness to Afghanistan, it wasn't because of volunteers' jitters

Volunteering abroad: A path to travel with meaning
Berit Thorkelson, Special to the Star Tribune

Published April 14, 2002

PCBR



Konnie Hess of St. Paul wanted a job that provided lengthy and total immersion in another culture. Her search landed her in a life-changing 27-month stint with the Peace Corps in Nepal.

"I went into the Peace Corps thinking I'd be more productive, that I'd see more tangible results" working on agroforestry, Hess said. "But the Peace Corps stresses that it's not all about your job, the technical aspect. You also help others learn about your culture -- the relationships you develop are as important as everything else."

That happened for Hess as she connected with the family whose home she shared and formed working relationships with farmers and officials in her region. But she came back with something most volunteers don't: a spouse.

The last day of my stay in Nepal, Hess (now Konnie Gurung) and I met the Nepali man she later married -- he owned a bar in Kathmandu. The two now live in St. Paul and run a Nepali import business.

Gurung's life took other unlikely turns after she joined the Peace Corps. At age 28, she had a background in social work and teaching English as a second language, but her assignment in Nepal involved agroforestry.

She was placed with the Nepal Agroforestry Foundation (NAF), which teaches local farmers how to set up savings and credit cooperatives, plant nurseries and properly care for animals, among other things. A large part of her assignment was attending farmers' meetings, conducted in Nepali or Tamang, one of the oldest languages in the Himalayan region. The languages, as well as the gender, cultural and community issues were all foreign to her.

Day by day, foreign became familiar. The Peace Corps encourages volunteers to develop side projects where they see fit, and Gurung contributed photos and work on a calendar that raised money to educate girls and helped organize a women's day parade in her village, among other things.

The travel landscape has changed drastically since Gurung returned last May. (Despite political turmoil and violence in Nepal, the Peace Corps continues to operate there.)

Sept. 11th and ensuing events prompted many Americans to avoid air travel. But with the soul-searching instigated by the very same events, many are still seeking ways to be engaged with -- and by -- the rest of the world.

On Sept. 11, there were 417 Peace Corps volunteers in the United States awaiting placements abroad. Some waited as long as a month before embarking on two-year assignments.

Of those 417, not one backed out, said Elysha Iversen, Minneapolis regional Peace Corps office public affairs specialist. When the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in October because of their nearness to Afghanistan, it wasn't because of volunteers' jitters.

"They wanted to stay," Iversen said. "And those three countries were very supportive of our current administration. We just did not know in what direction things were going to head, so we felt it was best just to bring the volunteers home."

Peace Corps inquiries have gone up since Sept. 11, said Iversen. Inquiries during October 2001 were 20 percent higher than during October 2000.

Another increase in interest followed President Bush's State of the Union address in January. When Bush urged Americans to fight terrorism through volunteerism, phones at the Peace Corps started ringing. As of the end of March, there was a 40 percent increase in inquiries and a 25 percent increase in applications over the previous year. Another change, Iversen said, was a new reason for enrollment.

"More people say they are concerned about how other countries perceive Americans and want to be the face of America through the Peace Corps," she said.

Current events did nothing to dissuade Dave and Heather Wilsey of St. Paul, who left for a Peace Corps program in Ecuador in February. For Dave Wilsey, the terrorist attacks confirmed his reasons for choosing the Peace Corps in the first place.

"When we looked at our assignment geographically, on the surface, it didn't seem to have too much bearing on what we were going to be doing," he said. "But anywhere you go, there are issues you're going to have to deal with. And the reality is, there are a lot of cultural factors behind September 11th. If we can contribute to minimizing the cultural divide that currently exists, that's a great thing."

Some prospective volunteers, however, want to spend less than two years chipping away at that cultural divide. For them, there are volunteer vacations or service-learning trips.

That type of travel has become widely recognized as a way to seek deeper meaning and ethical value in travel.

When St. Paul-based Global Volunteers began in 1984, the idea was new and the founders had to choose their wording carefully lest the Internal Revenue Service think the organization disingenuous.

Global Volunteers Vice President Michele Gran said that immediately after Sept. 11, most Global Volunteers teams scheduled to travel did so, possibly in part because of nonrefundable money sunk into airline tickets. Starting in October and continuing through the end of the year, volunteers called to postpone.

"Even though canceling a program doesn't hurt our offices so much, it certainly hurts the community that was expecting those volunteers," Gran said.

On the flip side, a new participant is emerging, Gran said, one who considered Global Volunteers in the past and now, finally, is acting.

"One person had been on our mailing list for eight years and just applied," Gran said. "I guess it's one of those things where people were thinking, 'I should do this some day.' Now some day has arrived."

Then there are the faithful, the people who knew the risks of travel all along.

"When people call and they tell us, 'You know what? I'm not going to let all of these security worries bother me. I'm going to do this because we need to do this now more than ever,' what does that say?" Gran asked. "They recognize the importance of what they do. It's gratifying."

Global Volunteers, too, saw an increase in inquiries following the State of the Union address. After two busy weeks, things dropped off to a level typical for this time of year.

Another St. Paul-based nonprofit, Global Citizens Network (GCN), organizes similar trips in the United States and abroad. Program director Kim Schneider said GCN, too, saw a drop in new applicants following Sept. 11th. Now, Schneider said, inquiries and enrollment have jumped back up. Programs are booking up faster than ever with people looking to make a difference.

"Because we share meals with people, go into schools, go into homes, we're pretty much part of the community while we are there," she said. "So we're trying to push the idea that that's what creates peacekeeping -- actually getting to know people of another culture."



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Story Source: Star Tribine

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Kyrgyzstan; COS - Turkmenistan; COS - Uzbekistan; Safety and Security of Volunteers

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