March 12, 2004 - The Hampton Union: In many parts of the developing world, Peace Corps volunteers are the ones directly negotiating the complicated interactions between very different cultures

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Headlines: March 2004 Peace Corps Headlines: March 12, 2004 - The Hampton Union: In many parts of the developing world, Peace Corps volunteers are the ones directly negotiating the complicated interactions between very different cultures

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In many parts of the developing world, Peace Corps volunteers are the ones directly negotiating the complicated interactions between very different cultures



In many parts of the developing world, Peace Corps volunteers are the ones directly negotiating the complicated interactions between very different cultures

Opening window to other worlds

By John Pedler
hamptonunion@seacoastonline.com

HAMPTON - Americans have a tendency to assume that deep down, everyone is just like them. Misconceptions about the United States similarly exist on the part of many people throughout the world. In many parts of the developing world, Peace Corps volunteers are the ones directly negotiating the complicated interactions between very different cultures.

On Thursday, students at Winnacunnet High School were given the unique opportunity to hear firsthand about some of the challenges faced by those who commit two years of their lives through the Peace Corps to projects in countries without electricity, running water or any of the luxuries Americans take for granted.

Kevin Fleming, a teacher at Winnacunnet, met Suzanne Delany, a Peace Corps recruiter, at a conference last October, and he told her that he would love his students to hear her story. Though she usually only speaks at colleges, Delaney stopped by Fleming’s History of Media class and shared her experiences in Paraguay.

Fleming thought she could "offer a perspective on how Americans are perceived worldwide, and how we perceive foreigners." He thought it would be effective for his class to compare Delaney’s tale of living in a village to media representations of life in the developing world to illuminate misunderstandings common among Americans. Delaney, he said, "spoke to (Americans’) lack of appreciation and understanding of everyday lives" in other parts of the world. "There is a need for clean water and improved agricultural techniques," he said, as well as some of the same things Americans are in need of, like after-school programs to keep kids occupied.

Fleming referenced Norman Soloman, a media critic, who said that an African lion drinking at a water hole has a better chance of being on American television than an African man, except in cases of disasters or combat.

Delaney also said that many of those she lived and worked with in Paraguay assumed that the Peace Corps volunteers were wealthy, just because they were American. "That is what local folks think America has, is wealth," said Fleming.

Many of his students were excited by the presentation. Cordelia White, a junior, said it would be "pretty awesome" to "have a completely different cultural experience than people in the United States have, to eat different food, to get a chance to meet different people, to take a break from the U.S."

Eddie Sousa, a senior, agreed. He was amazed that, after "going from a society where she has everything to a country that has nothing" Delaney found it "harder leaving there than it is going."

Being "open-minded and outgoing," Sousa said he would consider joining the Peace Corps, "to experience how they go through a normal day" in other cultures.

He pointed to cultural differences like "the way they eat, the way they work, the way they spend time, how they use materials differently" in developing countries. By better understanding their lives, he said, he learned "how beneficial it is to be an American."





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Story Source: The Hampton Union

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Cross Cultural Issues; Third Goal

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