2011.01.27: January 27, 2011: Bulgaria RPCV Scott Brinton writes: For anyone considering joining the Peace Corps, you should understand that you're probably safer overseas than in many parts of the U.S.
Peace Corps Online:
Peace Corps News:
Library:
Peace Corps: Sexual Assault and Harassment:
Sexual Assault and Harassment: Newest Stories:
2011.01.27: January 27, 2011: Bulgaria RPCV Scott Brinton writes: For anyone considering joining the Peace Corps, you should understand that you're probably safer overseas than in many parts of the U.S.
Bulgaria RPCV Scott Brinton writes: For anyone considering joining the Peace Corps, you should understand that you're probably safer overseas than in many parts of the U.S.
As "20/20" pointed out, 23 volunteers have been murdered overseas in the past 50 years. What the program failed to mention is that 200,000 volunteers have served in that time, which equates to a murder rate of roughly 11 in 100,000. According to the FBI, the murder rate in New Orleans in 2009 was 52 in 100,000; St. Louis, 40; Baltimore, 37; Newark, 29; Buffalo, 22; and Kansas City, 21. New York City's rate, by the way, was 6 in 100,000, in line with the U.S.'s overall rate. In 1998, Washington, D.C.'s murder rate reached a terrifying 69 in 100,000, and the BBC named the city of just under 600,000 the "murder capital of the world" that year. Its rate has since dropped to 21 in 100,000. While "20/20" reported that a thousand female volunteers have been sexually assaulted in the past decade, it didn't mention that roughly 11,000 women have served in the Peace Corps in that time, which equates to an assault rate of 1 in 11 末 a horrible statistic, for sure. According to the nonprofit Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, however, 1 in 6 American women have been sexually assaulted.
The world - and the U.S. - can be a dangerous place. But by showing kindness, Peace Corps volunteers make it safer.
Bulgaria RPCV Scott Brinton writes: For anyone considering joining the Peace Corps, you should understand that you're probably safer overseas than in many parts of the U.S.
Rape, murder and the Peace Corps?
by Scott Brinton
It was an unfortunate, though likely unintended, editorial choice. On Jan. 18, America Online's Politics Daily ran a column by poet and essayist Donna Trussell in which she advocated dismantling the U.S. Peace Corps because of its apparent failure to protect female volunteers. "Peace Corps Turns 50 Amid Charges of Rape, Murder and Cover-Up" read the headline.
Hours later, the nation was memorializing Sargent Shriver, brother-in-law of President Kennedy, who had appointed Shriver the Peace Corps' first director in 1961. Shriver, a political force who ran unsuccessfully for vice president in 1972, died of complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 95.
Founding the Peace Corps, Shriver said, was among his 末 and the nation's 末 greatest achievements. I agree.
I served in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria from 1991 to '93, just as the country was emerging from a peaceful Democratic revolution that overthrew one of Eastern Europe's longest-standing communist governments. I count my service as one of the best experiences of my life.
That's because I had a good experience. There are volunteers who have had terrible experiences, even volunteers who have been brutalized, raped and murdered. Trussell focused on those cases.
She based her column on a recent ABC News "20/20" report about a 24-year-old Peace Corps volunteer, Kate Puzey, who was murdered on March 11, 2009, on the front porch of her ramshackle house in Benin, in West Africa, allegedly by a host-country national who was hired by the Peace Corps as a teacher in Puzey's village.
Puzey had reported to organization officials that she believed the man had raped several of his teenage students. Her report was supposed to have remained confidential. It didn't. The man in question, who apparently received word of the report from a relative who worked in the Peace Corps' central office in Benin, allegedly slit her throat while she slept.
"20/20" interviewed a group of young women, all of whom had been raped while in the Peace Corps. According to "20/20," a thousand female Peace Corps volunteers have been sexually assaulted in the past decade, though the program did not cite a source for the statistic.
We should all grieve for Kate Puzey. She was, as her parents said, a national hero, lending a helping hand in one of the poorest countries on the planet. She died in service to her country.
Her parents noted how much she loved the Peace Corps. They are right to be asking tough questions and demanding answers of the federal agency in the media. The only good that might come of her death is that it could serve as a wakeup call to improve security for Peace Corps volunteers, who serve alone and unarmed in many of the most remote and dangerous places in the world.
Volunteers, I believe, should work in pairs or small groups - the buddy system, if you will 末 but the Peace Corps model, in most parts of the world, has long been individual volunteers serving by themselves.
Still, for most volunteers, the Peace Corps is a safe experience that opens their eyes to the world outside the U.S. as it really is. The organization may need better accountability, security and counseling and repatriation services, but it should not be disbanded.
For anyone considering joining the Peace Corps, you should understand that you're probably safer overseas than in many parts of the U.S. As "20/20" pointed out, 23 volunteers have been murdered overseas in the past 50 years. What the program failed to mention is that 200,000 volunteers have served in that time, which equates to a murder rate of roughly 11 in 100,000.
According to the FBI, the murder rate in New Orleans in 2009 was 52 in 100,000; St. Louis, 40; Baltimore, 37; Newark, 29; Buffalo, 22; and Kansas City, 21. New York City's rate, by the way, was 6 in 100,000, in line with the U.S.'s overall rate.
In 1998, Washington, D.C.'s murder rate reached a terrifying 69 in 100,000, and the BBC named the city of just under 600,000 the "murder capital of the world" that year. Its rate has since dropped to 21 in 100,000.
While "20/20" reported that a thousand female volunteers have been sexually assaulted in the past decade, it didn't mention that roughly 11,000 women have served in the Peace Corps in that time, which equates to an assault rate of 1 in 11 末 a horrible statistic, for sure. According to the nonprofit Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, however, 1 in 6 American women have been sexually assaulted.
The world - and the U.S. - can be a dangerous place. But by showing kindness, Peace Corps volunteers make it safer.
Scott Brinton is senior editor of the Bellmore and Merrick Heralds and an adjunct professor at the Hofstra University Graduate Journalism Program. Comments? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203. Brinton's profile and posts can be found at facebook.com/scottabrinton.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: January, 2011; Crime; Women's Issues; Congress; Speaking Out; Sexual Assault and Harassment
When this story was posted in June 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Peace Corps: The Next Fifty Years As we move into the Peace Corps' second fifty years, what single improvement would most benefit the mission of the Peace Corps? Read our op-ed about the creation of a private charitable non-profit corporation, independent of the US government, whose focus would be to provide support and funding for third goal activities. Returned Volunteers need President Obama to support the enabling legislation, already written and vetted, to create the Peace Corps Foundation. RPCVs will do the rest. |
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
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: LI Town Herald
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Crime; Women's Issues; Congress; Speaking Out; SA
PCOL46664
03