From Ketchikan to Kyrgyzstan: David Mitchel, Peace Corps volunteer
From Ketchikan to Kyrgyzstan: Peace Corps volunteer
In one of the poorest countries of Central Asia — a country of mountains where the people live hand-to-mouth and wonder whether they were better off under the Soviet Communist system — Ketchikan resident David Mitchel is trying to make a difference.
It can be frustrating working to improve the economic situation of people in Kyrgyzstan, Mitchel said, especially because — due mostly to the effects of the Soviet education system — the people tend to be complacent and often lack the critical-thinking training imperative to a successful capitalist system.
Mitchel was home recently to attend his brother's wedding, and spoke with the Daily News about his experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Kyrgyz Republic.
The population there is about 5 million, he said, and the country was under Soviet rule until 1991. The once-nomadic people live a mostly subsistence lifestyle in a land of about 90 percent mountains. Mitchel is assigned to the village of International.
