RE "volunteer decides to return home," by Senegal RPCV Allegra K. Troiano
RE "volunteer decides to return home,"
Oct. 26: I read Mei-Ling Hopgood's piece on Kristen Sweetnich's dismal Peace Corps experience. I'm sure if the DDN interviewed a few of the 160,000- plus volunteers who finished out their two-year commitment, it would present a more balanced opinion of the Peace Corps.
When I read about Sweetnich's experience, much of what happened to me when I was in Senegal (1980-1982) came flooding back. I don't often think of the days when I was sick with amoebic dysentery or the four times that I had outbreaks of malaria.
I consider my illnesses part of the trials and tribulations of living in Africa.
When I meet with returned volunteers, we often talk about our horror stories, but in fact, those stories bind us together no matter where, when, or how we grew up in the United States. We survived - some better than others, some never having experienced anything bad or unfortunate.
As much as we joke about the illnesses we survived, we all came away from our Peace Corps experiences better people; more open to viewing the world from a global perspective; more willing to try new things and go to exotic places; and more able to criticize American ethnocentricity.
None of this would have taken place had I left during training when I had dysentery or after my first bout of malaria, two weeks after I arrived in the village.
I encourage the DDN to balance out its negative reporting of the Peace Corps with stories from volunteers who survived and who continue to support the Peace Corps through the work that it does.
Allegra K. Troiano Milwaukee
