Robert L. Strauss writes: Locals Don't Always Love Peace Corps Volunteers

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Special Reports: 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

By Admin1 (admin) (ppp-70-135-9-78.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net - 70.135.9.78) on Sunday, April 27, 2008 - 4:53 pm: Edit Post

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:


Contact PCOLBulletin BoardRegisterSearch PCOLWhat's New?

Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers RSS Feed
Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act Date: October 27 2007 No: 1206 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."

Peace Corps News Peace Corps Library Peace corps History RPCV Directory Sign Up

March 2, 2008: This Month's Top Stories Date: March 2 2008 No: 1236 March 2, 2008: This Month's Top Stories
Bush Meets with PCVs in Ghana 20 Feb
Jack Vaughn writes: Candidates 'discover' Peace Corps 28 Feb
Dan Lavin is going back to Sierra Leone 25 Feb
Peace Corps Returns to Rwanda 19 Feb
Doug Roberts returns to Vanuatu where son died 17 Feb
Paul H. Johnson writes: Criticism of Peace Corps 12 Feb
Doctoral Fellowship created for RPCVs at UC Berkeley 11 Feb
Jessi Griffin recovering after accident in Mozambique 10 Feb
Super delegates like Pat Waak are super important 6 Feb
Peace Corps pulls its volunteers out of Kenya 5 Feb
Robert Whittemore starts African Film Festival 4 Feb
Heidi Vogt writes: Modernity arrives via Cellphone 1 Feb
Bush's PC pledge nothing more than hot air 31 Jan
P. F. Kluge speaks in Saipan 28 Jan
600 RPCVs work in NY City Schools 27 Jan
Jim Walsh will be missed in Congress 25 Jan
Wisconsin RPCVs sponsor Freeze for Food 23 Jan
Maria Shriver reflects on Sargent Shriver 21 Jan
Mae Jemison says King's dream is call to action 20 Jan
André-Guy Soh remembers John Granville 16 Jan
Gaddi Vasquez addresses Placentia Rotary 16 Jan

New: More Stories from January and February 2008

What is Wrong at the US Embassy in Bolivia? Date: February 10 2008 No: 1227 What is Wrong at the US Embassy in Bolivia?
Last summer Peace Corps Inspector General David Kotz cited the lack of cooperation from the US embassy in Bolivia in the search for missing Peace Corps Volunteer Walter Poirier III. Now a member of the US Embassy Staff in Bolivia is accused of asking Peace Corps Volunteers "to basically spy" on Cubans and Venezuelans in the country. Could US Ambassador Philip S.Goldberg please explain what is going on at the embassy that he has been running in La Paz since 2006?



Read the stories and leave your comments.








Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Foreign Policy

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Cameroon; Country Directors - Cameroon; Criticism

PCOL41292
69


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: