2007.11.09: November 9, 2007: Headlines: COS - Zambia: Speaking Out: Television: Chicago Tribune: Zambia RPCV Lara Weber writes: In an e-mail discussion with other former Peace Corps volunteers, many of us who served in Africa were sympathetic to Winfrey's situation and commended her for stepping up quickly to take responsibility for the problems at her school

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Zambia: Peace Corps Zambia : Peace Corps Zamiba: Newest Stories: 2007.11.09: November 9, 2007: Headlines: COS - Zambia: Speaking Out: Television: Chicago Tribune: Zambia RPCV Lara Weber writes: In an e-mail discussion with other former Peace Corps volunteers, many of us who served in Africa were sympathetic to Winfrey's situation and commended her for stepping up quickly to take responsibility for the problems at her school

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-51-17.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.51.17) on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 4:35 am: Edit Post

Zambia RPCV Lara Weber writes: In an e-mail discussion with other former Peace Corps volunteers, many of us who served in Africa were sympathetic to Winfrey's situation and commended her for stepping up quickly to take responsibility for the problems at her school

Zambia RPCV Lara Weber writes: In an e-mail discussion with other former Peace Corps volunteers, many of us who served in Africa were sympathetic to Winfrey's situation and commended her for stepping up quickly to take responsibility for the problems at her school

For Peace Corps volunteers, in a country for a meager two years, the rule is to take it slow, start small, learn the culture, make our projects sustainable --sort of the anti-Oprah approach. In Zambia, my group of volunteers was advised not to start any project until we had lived in our villages for at least three months. Even that was probably too soon. If only Winfrey could have been in the Peace Corps, lived in a village, tried to do something as simple as distribute a stack of children's books. Would she have built her academy? Or would she maybe have considered developing 100 teachers colleges with that $40 million instead? I'll keep watching Winfrey live out her celebrity-style volunteer experience, and I'll still root for her. But--if she hasn't already done so--I invite her to get to know a few Peace Corps volunteers. To talk to someone who was taught by a volunteer and was inspired to become a teacher. To hear about projects that failed. And to visit some of the thousands of programs around the world that thrive today because they weren't dependent on large grants or beautiful buildings.

Zambia RPCV Lara Weber writes: In an e-mail discussion with other former Peace Corps volunteers, many of us who served in Africa were sympathetic to Winfrey's situation and commended her for stepping up quickly to take responsibility for the problems at her school

Even with the best intentions...

Money and love only go so far amid Africa's complexity

By Lara Weber

8:11 PM CST, November 9, 2007

Caption: As seen on a control monitor, Oprah Winfrey, bottom, left, answers reporters questions via a video link from Chicago during a press conference held in a Johannesburg, South Africa, hotel Monday Nov. 5, 2007. A dormitory matron accused of indecent assault on pupils at Oprah Winfrey's school in South Africa for disadvantaged girls was freed on bail today. Twenty-seven year old Tiny Virginia Makopo faces 13 charges of indecent assault, assault and criminal injury committed against at least six students, aged 13 to 15, and a 23-year-old at the school. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

How to change the world:

Go to an exotic developing nation. Be charmed by throngs of beaming children. Meet with locals who have big plans and no funding. Donate seed money. Build a school, or a clinic, or a library. Feel like a hero.

Then watch it fall apart, as things so famously tend to do in places like Africa.

Oprah Winfrey knows what I'm talking about. Building a girls school in South Africa and then having to confront allegations of sexual abuse and malfeasance at the school, as she did in the last few weeks, cannot feel heroic. But because she's Oprah, she gets the unenviable honor of watching her dream fall apart (or at least crumble a little) in front of a global audience.

She's not the first to stumble, of course.

Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers and other aid workers in Africa have been there too, as I was, riding the development roller coaster in remote towns and villages across the continent. The budgets may be smaller, but the highs and lows are just as intense.

I've been watching Winfrey get to know Africa since 2002, when I had just returned from two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia and caught a televised special about her visit to South Africa. The pure joy and compassion she exuded carried me straight back to my first days in Zambia. Winfrey was smitten with Africa, and I knew exactly how that felt.

Since then, she has been on a journey that is so familiar to so many volunteers--the euphoria, the idealism, the connection with the community--and I've been rooting for her. Cautiously.

Her pet project, an ultramodern elite school for a select number of girls in South Africa, rings of a Western solution to an African problem. At the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, she wants to shower the girls with luxury to boost their self-esteem and turn them into leaders. Hmm.

I thought back to my experience in Zambia, where jealousy (ukwa in the local Senga language) could, at the least, stop the best-intended projects and, at the worst, lead to murderous vengeance.

A small stack of children's books sent to me for my village by well-meaning friends set off a firestorm of ukwa. For days, the village swirled with nasty accusations of special treatment, and ill will grew between families. I couldn't distribute the books and finally opted to start a tiny library at my house where the children could come to read. No bloodshed, thankfully, but the joy of sharing the books had been completely deflated.

Winfrey's 450 lucky girls, receiving free education and luxurious housing and clothing, certainly would face an unfathomable amount of ukwa. Surely there are local advisers explaining these issues to Winfrey, right?

Or has her team, like so many of us in the Peace Corps, been too swept up in idealism to notice that a $40 million campus, with theaters and a beauty salon, might be overkill? And that the lavish surroundings could even have harmful consequences in a culture where jealousy runs much deeper than the petty envy we experience in our culture?

The sexual abuse allegations have put Winfrey's African journey back on the world stage. They also show how complicated development work can be. In an e-mail discussion with other former Peace Corps volunteers, many of us who served in Africa were sympathetic to Winfrey's situation and commended her for stepping up quickly to take responsibility for the problems at her school. It's a lesson in accountability that some volunteers should take note of, one told me.

But we also recalled so many projects that failed because of corruption and deep traditions that condoned abuse, prostitution and sexual relationships between teachers and students.

I remembered happily befriending a group of European development workers who had descended on my village to install new water sources, only to discover that they were paying the local girls $10 for sex. In the local economy, $10 is like picking the winning lottery numbers. How could I persuade the girls not to cash in?

Navigating an environment of deep poverty, shifting social mores, corruption and rampant disease is disorienting for the best of us. It gets complicated fast, and it's hard to know where it's going to get messy unless you've been in it for a long time.

Career aid workers and lifelong missionaries spend decades getting to know the local culture, learning the language and exploring ancient traditions that hold a tight grip on the present day.

For Peace Corps volunteers, in a country for a meager two years, the rule is to take it slow, start small, learn the culture, make our projects sustainable --sort of the anti-Oprah approach. In Zambia, my group of volunteers was advised not to start any project until we had lived in our villages for at least three months. Even that was probably too soon.

If only Winfrey could have been in the Peace Corps, lived in a village, tried to do something as simple as distribute a stack of children's books. Would she have built her academy? Or would she maybe have considered developing 100 teachers colleges with that $40 million instead?

I'll keep watching Winfrey live out her celebrity-style volunteer experience, and I'll still root for her. But--if she hasn't already done so--I invite her to get to know a few Peace Corps volunteers. To talk to someone who was taught by a volunteer and was inspired to become a teacher. To hear about projects that failed. And to visit some of the thousands of programs around the world that thrive today because they weren't dependent on large grants or beautiful buildings.

Then I hope Winfrey will teach her millions of viewers and fans that changing the world isn't so easy after all. It can still feel like the greatest high. It's always worth the effort. But it doesn't always work as shown on TV. The real test comes when things fall apart: Are you willing to adapt to put them back together?




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Headlines: November, 2007; Peace Corps Zambia; Directory of Zambia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Zambia RPCVs; Speaking Out; Television





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Story Source: Chicago Tribune

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Zambia; Speaking Out; Television

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