Robert L. Strauss writes: Locals Don't Always Love Peace Corps Volunteers
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2008.04.01: April 1, 2008: Headlines: COS - Cameroon: Country Directors - Cameroon: Criticism: Foreign Policy: Robert L. Strauss writes: The Peace Corps has never lived up to its purpose or principles :
Robert L. Strauss writes: Locals Don't Always Love Peace Corps Volunteers
Robert L. Strauss writes: Locals Don't Always Love Peace Corps Volunteers
Robert L. Strauss has been a Peace Corps Country Director, recruiter, consultant, and Volunteer. Earlier this year Strauss wrote an op-ed for the New York Times asserting that "Too often young volunteers lack the maturity and professional experience to be effective development workers in the 21st century." Now Strauss has a longer piece in "Foreign Affairs" that says that the Peace Corps has "never lived up to its purpose or principles." Read and comment on the seven myths about the Peace Corps that Strauss refutes.
"People everywhere almost always get a kick out of hearing a foreigner speaking—or trying to speak—their language. In small villages around the world, a foreigner who can use local parables correctly or dance the sacred traditional dance, or who appears content to sit around the village circle for hours on end, is a curiosity, an amusement. Lifelong attachments can and do grow. In Cameroon, dozens, if not hundreds of times, I was asked what had become of so and so, a volunteer who had served 30 or even 40 years earlier. I loved that many people had such fond memories of volunteers. For better or worse, people often loved “their” volunteers as much for the volunteer’s willingness to buy rounds of drinks as for any concrete thing he or she might have achieved. "
Readers can respond directly to "Foreign Policy" by sending and email to Moisés Naím, editor in chief mnaim@CarnegieEndowment.org
Robert L. Strauss writes: Locals Don't Always Love Peace Corps Volunteers
Think Again: The Peace Corps
By Robert L. Strauss
Posted April 2008
In the eyes of Americans, no government agency better exemplifies the optimism, can-do spirit, and selfless nature of the United States than the Peace Corps. Unfortunately, it’s never lived up to its purpose or principles.
[Excerpt]
Myth: “Locals Love Peace Corps Volunteers”
Not always. People everywhere almost always get a kick out of hearing a foreigner speaking—or trying to speak—their language. In small villages around the world, a foreigner who can use local parables correctly or dance the sacred traditional dance, or who appears content to sit around the village circle for hours on end, is a curiosity, an amusement. Lifelong attachments can and do grow. In Cameroon, dozens, if not hundreds of times, I was asked what had become of so and so, a volunteer who had served 30 or even 40 years earlier. I loved that many people had such fond memories of volunteers. For better or worse, people often loved “their” volunteers as much for the volunteer’s willingness to buy rounds of drinks as for any concrete thing he or she might have achieved.
But just as often, people were disturbed by volunteers who had set terrible examples by abusing drugs or alcohol or violating cultural sensitivities and professional norms. The Peace Corps strives to represent the diversity of the American population, but in casting its net wide, it scoops up many who represent less than the best American traditions of dedication, persistence, creativity, optimism, and honesty. Like any large organization, the Peace Corps has its share of deadbeats, philanderers, parasites, gamblers, and alcoholics. The problem is that the agency sends these people tens of thousands of miles from home and expects them to work responsibly with minimal supervision. Disasters logically result.
The Peace Corps is remarkably effective at cleaning up the messes those volunteers make and getting them back to the United States before local authorities step in. What’s less clear is the Peace Corps’ overall impact on people’s impressions and understandings of the United States. Does the goodwill generated by the small minority of great volunteers outweigh the indifference or outright hostility caused by the mediocre or truly sinister ones? The agency doesn’t know, because it doesn’t ask.
Robert L. Strauss has been a Peace Corps country director, recruiter, consultant, and volunteer. He is a recipient of the State Department’s Meritorious Honor Award and lives in Madagascar, where he runs a management consulting company. He can be reached at RobertLStrauss@hotmail.com.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: April, 2008; Peace Corps Cameroon; Directory of Cameroon RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Cameroon RPCVs; Country Directors - Cameroon; Criticism
When this story was posted in April 2008, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act Senator Chris Dodd vowed to filibuster the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped this administration violate the civil liberties of Americans. "It is time to say: No more. No more trampling on our Constitution. No more excusing those who violate the rule of law. These are fundamental, basic, eternal principles. They have been around, some of them, for as long as the Magna Carta. They are enduring. What they are not is temporary. And what we do not do in a time where our country is at risk is abandon them." |
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Story Source: Foreign Policy
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Cameroon; Country Directors - Cameroon; Criticism
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