Santa Fe lawyer and former Peace Corps volunteer David Davenport is one of eight Crisis Corps volunteers who will be aiding in constructing homes for tsunami victims in Thailand



Santa Fe lawyer and former Peace Corps volunteer David Davenport is one of eight Crisis Corps volunteers who will be aiding in constructing homes for tsunami victims in Thailand

SANTA FEAN HEADS TO THAILAND WITH CRISIS CORPS
Mar 19, 2005 - The Santa Fe New Mexican
Santa Fe lawyer and former Peace Corps volunteer David Davenport is one of eight Crisis Corps volunteers who will be aiding in constructing homes for tsunami victims in Thailand.

Davenport, 59, left Friday morning for Bangkok. He'll spend a few days there at an orientation covering what he and other volunteers can expect once they get to the disaster-hit regions of the country.

The Crisis Corps, created in 1996, sends former Peace Corps volunteers around the world to assist with natural disasters or humanitarian crises. Crisis Corps assignments are short-term, usually up to six months instead of the 27-month commitment of the Peace Corps.

Davenport heard about the project from a friend's email saying the Peace Corps was looking for volunteers to help with tsunami relief.

"It's going to be a challenge living with people who have been through a disaster," Davenport said. "These are people who have been hurt and I think it will be a challenge to be helpful, and not intrusive and be sensitive to how they are feeling."

Davenport's Peace Corps assignment was in Thailand from 1967 to 1971. He was chosen for his current assignment in Thailand because of his knowledge of Thai culture and fluency in the language.

"The first two years I was a teacher of English off the Gulf of Siam," he said. "The last two years I was there I was supervising volunteers in the southern region of the country and that includes the area that was hit by the tsunami, in the area of Phukhat."

After the Peace Corps, Davenport went on to become a lawyer. He now teaches law in Cambodia for the University of San Francisco and the American Bar Association. He lives in Santa Fe when not teaching abroad.

Out of the group of volunteers, Davenport is the only one that can speak Thai, so he will be translating the language and the culture to the other volunteers as well as assisting on construction projects.

"It's always hard for Americans to go abroad and adjust to how other people live, think, speak. Hopefully I'll be able to help the other people in the group," he said.

He and other volunteers will be responsible for rebuilding permanent housing for tsunami survivors and they will also assist with other projects, such as packaging donated goods for delivery to families.

"I think the living conditions will not be great," Davenport said. "The latest word that I got, we'll be jamming three people to a room and there are some showers and toilets in the camp but it's not going to be fancy. But I don't mind that because it's a challenge."

For the trip, Davenport packed a camera, a laptop, work clothes, some good books and a Thai dictionary. Possibly joining him in April will be his wife Beth, who he met and married while they were both in Thailand for the Peace Corps, where she taught English- writing courses at a college in Bangkok.

"We're planning to meet up there at the moment," she said. "Peace Corps is sending another group in April and they're looking to see if I can work in the second group that is going in a more administrative role."

More than 300 Crisis Corps volunteers have worked in 22 countries since the program began in 1996. To date, most Crisis Corps assignments have been related to natural disasters, according to the Peace Corps website.

Davenport said this is his first time doing Crisis Corps, and he doesn't have any inhibitions about going.

"I'm not scared at all. I'm excited and look forward to getting back to a country that I think is a great place and having a chance to speak Thai again," he said. "Also I have friends there, so I look forward to seeing them."

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


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Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last December, Peace Corps issued an appeal for Crisis Corps Volunteers and over 200 RPCVs responded. The first team of 8 Crisis Corps volunteers departed for Thailand on March 18 to join RPCVs who are already supporting relief efforts in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and India with other agencies and NGO's.

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RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

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Add your info now to the RPCV Directory Call Harris Publishing at 800-414-4608 right away to add your name or make changes to your listing in the newest edition of the NPCA's Directory of Peace Corps Volunteers and Former Staff. Then read our story on how you can get access to the book after it is published. The deadline for inclusion is May 16 so call now.

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March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

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