HAS THE PEACE CORPS OVERSTAYED ITS WELCOME IN SAMOA? by Peter Harre

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By Admin1 (admin) on Thursday, July 05, 2001 - 5:08 pm: Edit Post

Has the Peace Corps overstayed its welcome in Samoa by Peter Harrer



Has the Peace Corps overstayed its welcome in Samoa by Peter Harrer

THE SOFTEST JOB
HAS THE PEACE CORPS OVERSTAYED ITS WELCOME IN SAMOA?

by Peter Harrer

The Author, Peter Harrer

It was to be a great, humanitarian adventure: one that would test my skills in a culture and climate very different from my own: In January of 1998, I took up residence near the campus of the National University of Samoa, outside the capital of Apia, to begin a two-year hitch as a Peace Corps Volunteer. A film school graduate, I had been sent to the South Pacific, along with 19 other daring souls, to serve as a video adviser. Assigned to create documentaries to support the curriculum, I would also work alongside a Samoan counterpart, whom I would train.

It looked like a fine opportunity in human assistance—but it quickly deteriorated into a misunderstanding arising from a culture of foreign-aid dependency within which the Peace Corps is only a minor player.

My experience was not unique. In an organization-wide survey conducted two years ago, more than half the Samoan Peace Corps members responded that the Corps should reduce or discontinue its Samoan programs. When asked about their particular programs, an impressive 42 percent responded that it was "not recommended" that the Peace Corps continue that work in Samoa.

Congress has approved an 8 percent budget hike for the Peace Corps next year, and the organization is in the midst of an unprecedented drive to increase the number of volunteers from 6,000 to 10,000. Yet there seems to be little analysis of the Peace Corps' role in some countries where conditions have changed dramatically in the decades since the Peace Corps began its work. Take Samoa, and my experience there, for an example. National University of Samoa

Built of cyclone-proof cinderblock on a gently sloping hill, the new buildings for the National University of Samoa were completed with $39 million in funds and technical assistance from the Japanese. While the university is woefully short of cash for day-to-day operations, it has a decent physical plant: I was assigned to an air-conditioned office, equipped with a computer, two large desks and a huge, louvered window out of which I could watch the students pass by on their way to class.

Nor were my living conditions by any means spartan. Two of us shared a three-bedroom bungalow with ceiling fans, wooden floors and indoor plumbing, located on the heights above the campus. The view of the ocean from our deck was so splendid that at first I referred to my situation as "Club Peace Corps." It was all a far cry from the mud huts and impoverished conditions I had seen in the Peace Corps' brochures.

Moreover, the entire country looks surprisingly prosperous. The roads were crammed with expensive cars and trucks, and many people had relatives working abroad who sent back money. In central Apia, supermarkets, fast food outlets, car dealerships, fine clothiers, discotheques and computer outlets—much of the "good life"—were already available.

I was placed in the university's publications and communications department. My Samoan counterpart, who I'll call Taua, was head of the video unit at the university. He was a capable cameraman—a former technician with TV Samoa—who did not require training in the use of our equipment: What he did need to develop were some writing and producing skills.

Having taught film and video production at the college level, I was prepared to work on this with him, but whenever I broached the subject, he would leave the office. Furthermore, with that option closed off, the school didn't otherwise seem to have much need for me.

After a few weeks, it was clear that what the Peace Corps had brought me to do and what the university really wanted from me were not the same.

Taua's two cousins handled the office chores, and none of the departments I approached was interested in my services. By the end of the month, I was wondering why I was there … until Tupo mentioned the need for money and more equipment. Could the Peace Corps give him a grant? Although I made efforts in that direction, it quickly became clear that such funds were limited to needy communities and special projects. I could hardly provision Taua's unit, when he'd just received a new shipment of video equipment—worth about $15,000—from Japan.

When I explained the situation, Taua accepted the news with an air of disenchantment. For several weeks afterward, I saw very little of him.

I approached the director of the Peace Corps' programs in Western Samoa, but he encouraged me to hang on, telling me it takes some time to form a working relationship. I was advised not to look for other opportunities. Given the circumstances, I still believe this was good advice. At least, it was better than the indifference I encountered from the university.

Eventually, however, I became convinced that the university administration was so desperate for cash that only fat checks waved at close range would catch their attention. Although no one said as much, unless you showered the institution with foreign aid, you were not a consideration.

It certainly gave new meaning to the Peace Corps' motto, "Helping people help themselves."

Despite several appeals to the university administration for guidance, my working relationship with the video production unit -- or Taua -- was never defined. (The fact that the university registrar who had requested a video adviser, leading to my placement, had been forced to retire before my arrival created an added disadvantage.) The lack of structure, purpose and activity was defeating.

As a member of the University staff, Taua was not prepared to take me seriously. Educated at a technical university in Australia, what he needed was not an adviser, but some hands-on experience, perhaps with an Australian or New Zealand TV network.

After the first few months, I made up my mind that what I was doing was misguided. Although we managed to produce a couple of TV commercials and some tapes documenting school events, I could not overcome my counterpart's contempt, nor the obstacle of my position. Recognizing the futility of the situation, in August I resigned. After only nine months, my Peace Corps service was over.Harrer and one of his host family, Tinari

Established in 1961 by John F. Kennedy in response to the Cold War, the Peace Corps' promotional materials proclaim the virtues of service and self-sacrifice to foster mutual understanding and democracy in the developing world. Currently promoted as "the toughest job you'll ever love," the Corps provides volunteer teachers and technical advisers to work in local schools, build houses, assist with health care and plan environmental projects. Above all, its purpose is to prove that the United States is not an evil empire.

The first group of volunteers arrived in Samoa in 1967. Seen on a map, the Polynesian country comprises a few small dots in the Pacific, containing the major islands of Upolu and Savai‘i, 13 degrees south of the equator, 2,600 miles southwest of Hawai‘i. As a protectorate of New Zealand, it gained independence in 1962 (when it was still called Western Samoa), but is today a poor cousin to its neighbor, American Samoa, 80 miles to the east.

Corruption is fairly widespread; the government hasn't conducted an audit of its finances in years. But thanks to a sultry climate, abundant vegetation, and plentiful rainfall, no one starves or suffers from exposure. Both Samoan and English are the official languages, and nearly everyone is bilingual.

Though a poor nation, according to the latest United Nations' Statistical Year Book (1997), the per capita Gross Domestic Product is $1,100 in American dollars, well above the figure of $699 established for developing country status.

The centerpiece of the technical program in Samoa is "counterpartnership"—the idea that the volunteer and a designated employee of the host institution will work together to their mutual benefit. Ideally, the local partner will obtain a transfer of skills, while the volunteer will acquire a greater cultural awareness. However, success depends upon the commitment of those involved: If one element is wanting, the whole thing starts to slide.

The failure of this idea was a common experience for many of my fellow technical advisers: A young woman with a master's degree in public administration was reduced to filing papers and serving tea at the Ministry of Health. A veteran science teacher assigned to advise the Ministry of Education was marooned at a desk all day. Advisers for various youth development programs were equally unemployed, and either hung out at the beach or in the volunteers' lounge at the Peace Corps office.

Of the 40 or so volunteers in the country, a few did manage to carve out meaningful niches for themselves by organizing events such as a national science fair. Others offered adult education classes. But after several months, many settled into a benign complacency. A couple acquired drug and alcohol problems. The efforts of the Country Director and staff to counsel us were mostly in vain—there was little they could do.

We were advised to go slow and accept the situation as one of "cultural adjustment."

In addition to the technical program for government ministries and public organizations that I was placed in, the Peace Corps administers a teaching program. An initiative permitting Samoan teachers to complete their university degrees while a Peace Corps volunteer serves in their place was begun last year—yet there's no certainty that teachers will return to the classrooms. Just this past year, so many secondary school teachers walked off their jobs, to take higher-paying ones elsewhere, that instruction in a number of courses ground to a halt. Students were left to sit at their desks unattended, waiting for the hour to end. For this reason, the Peace Corps plans to conduct an appraisal at the end of five years.

In 1997, several months before my arrival, the Peace Corps distributed the Peace Corps 2000 Survey to each volunteer, asking them to assess the program: In Samoa, 64 percent of the volunteers responded that the program should be reduced or discontinued. When asked about Peace Corps staff performance, 64 percent of the Samoa volunteers responded that their performance was either "good" or "excellent"; volunteers praised the ideal of Peace Corps service in similar proportions. But they revealed ambivalence when it came to Samoan programs -- with 45 percent, for example, labeling it "not recommended" that the particular program they had been placed in be continued. Respondents in Samoa had the highest proportion of negative or ambivalent answers in these categories world-wide.

The Peace Corps' biggest handicap is that it is not respected. The reasons for this are many: For starters, we've been in the country so long that the Samoans have come to take us for granted.

Considering the number of capable volunteers wasted in menial or non-existent jobs, the government is not playing its part. It is abandoning us to solicit work wherever we can, sometimes on the flimsiest premises: Two years ago, a technical volunteer was recruited to work as a mechanic in a private garage and ended up running the business for its absentee owner. That's a curious arrangement for promoting democracy and mutual understanding.

Most importantly, the economic conditions of the country have changed dramatically in 32 years.

In 1970, the per capita GDP was only $201. Except for Apia, there was no electricity, no indoor plumbing and only a few paved roads. When development loans and foreign aid became available, conditions gradually changed. By 1990, there was nationwide electrification, miles of paved roads, an international airport and plenty of available plumbing. In addition, the GDP had climbed to over $900, largely due to money sent by relatives living abroad.

According to the Pacific News Service, in 1997 Samoans abroad sent $33 million in U.S. dollars to the folks back home. This is substantial aid for a country with a population of less than 175,000.Not Peace Corps Housing in Samoa

Unfortunately, the Peace Corps has had neither the funding nor the leadership from Washington to keep pace with these changes. Since the end of the cold war, Oceania, the global region where Samoa is located, has been largely abandoned by U.S. foreign policy. (Other than the Peace Corps, the U.S. government's only official presence is a small, consular office.) Without the Soviet naval threat, Oceania is no longer considered relevant to our interests, nor much deserving of U.S. aid. That's a policy that has not been lost on the Samoan government.

Although Steve Nagler, the director of Peace Corps programs in Samoa and Niue, was named in December 1998 to head a new Pacific Initiative—with the aim of building youth development and environmental awareness in partnership with non-governmental organizations—it remains to be seen whether the Peace Corps can forge an effective group of programs in the region.

Furthermore, promoting democratic ideals and the value of self-sacrifice is not sufficient in a country where fast food restaurants, modern advertising and a host of consumer goods and services promising instant gratification have gained a foothold—especially when the host government has grown dependent on a variety of rival foreign aid programs, becoming indifferent to the Peace Corps' fanciful goals. Rather than encouraging democracy, the Peace Corps then becomes an instrument for maintaining the status quo.

Far more than volunteers, what Samoans now want is economic investment, hard cash and equipment, with a limited amount of interference. (There's even a Web site to promote private investment: www.interwebinc.com/samoa/invest.)

Since it does not dispense foreign aid, the Peace Corps does not occupy a position of influence. Yet it still expects its volunteers to be influential. This situation was at the heart of my dilemma: When I failed to provide money and equipment for my counterpart's unit, I was cut adrift.

Other volunteer agencies, such as the Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, provide grant funds and equipment when they take up their positions. Their activities form part of a carefully researched strategy to forge economic relationships with developing countries.

Over the last 20 years, through the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, Samoa has received funds and technical assistance for big-ticket items including road construction, a sea wall surrounding Apia's harbor, two hospitals, a ship to ferry passengers between Upolu and Savai‘i, a building to house the central bank and the aforementioned $39 million for National University of Samoa facilities. None of this was done in the name of altruism, but to sustain Japan's foreign policy, (including such matters as permitting Japanese fishing boats to roam Samoan waters).

There are also development initiatives promulgated by United Nations-affiliates (the United Nations Development Program, United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization, and the Farm and Agriculture Organization among them), the World Health Organization, the Asian Development Bank, the European Union, and various health and human service programs. And let's not discount the foreign aid programs of China, Australia and New Zealand.

The new, multi-storied Government House in central Apia was built by the Chinese in 1994, who also built the National Stadium and Apia Park. Australia and New Zealand, Samoa's primary trading partners, provide technical volunteers for education and business development, university scholarships, guest-worker initiatives, money for schools and hospitals, a yearly complement of doctors to work in public clinics and thousands of dollars in other assistance.Club Peace Corps

As a small, volunteer service, the Peace Corps cannot possibly compete with such bounty, yet it is not exempt from the expectations it can create. Still, there is much to recommend the Peace Corps. It offers Americans a rare opportunity to experience life in developing countries.

This can lead to some harsh lessons, but it can also serve to enlighten us. Despite the criticism that it is an imperialistic endeavor masquerading as human assistance, there are plenty of countries that want Peace Corps volunteers and value their efforts. Its much-lauded altruism is real, and the volunteers are of a high caliber. There's nothing antiquated about that.

Our problem is recognizing that the conditions of development in many places have changed, and that U.S. foreign policy does not always support the Peace Corps' goals. Either we accommodate these new conditions in relation to our foreign policy, or else get out altogether.

This is not to let Samoa off the hook. There remain many areas where the island country could use our expertise. Samoa has the highest teenage suicide rate in the world; domestic violence is an enormous problem; heart disease and lung cancer from smoking, and diabetes and alcoholism from overconsumption of alcohol, remain big problems. Health and dietary programs could be of great usefulness to Samoa, and my contacts in the Peace Corps tell me that a few volunteers are already active in these areas. Undoubtedly, here, too, there will be some resistance. Although the brewery is up for sale, both it and the local cigarette factory are major, income-producing, government subsidies.

One prescription for the Peace Corps is to limit itself to a fixed amount of time in each country. A contract of 10 years that allows for an option of one five-year renewal might prevent it from drifting into obsolescence.

Taking a tip from the Japanese, I might also suggest that we use that 8 percent budget increase to empower our volunteers, guaranteeing them a quota of needed equipment and small grants to supplement their on-the-job activities. In the present competitive environment, this would encourage cooperation.

As for counterpartnerships, it's one policy that needs to be seriously re-examined. Too many people are languishing in menial or non-existent jobs, where they have been reduced to flunkies. This is defeating and absurd. Some advance work negotiating their responsibilities would be a big help. If there is no clearly defined job to be done, then they should not be recruited in the first place. Plenty of large corporations hire consultants to advise and train their employees. We should be able to tailor a similar arrangement for our technical volunteers.

Regardless of the disappointment, there was much I enjoyed as a volunteer. To these eyes, Samoa will never again look like an insignificant series of dots on a map of the Pacific.

The patience and goodwill of my Samoan language teachers, and some of the families I encountered, will always inform my experience. But by continuing out-of-date programs like the one in Samoa, we're just offering an incentive for exploitation, and a placebo to Americans who want to be of service in the developing world. It is a betrayal of their altruism, and of the people whom they wish to serve.

This article was originally published in the April 14–20, 1999 issue of the Honolulu Weekly.



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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Samoa; Critique of the Peace Corps

PCOL2469
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By Mark Murphy (mareko) on Thursday, August 02, 2001 - 3:37 pm: Edit Post

Get a life. You couldn't even make it through the entire two years, Quitter.

By Kevin Johnson on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 7:05 pm: Edit Post

I remember reading Peter's article in the Honolulu Weekly when it came out a few years ago and immediately comparing my 2+ year stint to his experience. I remember casting off much of what he said as an aberration, but upon reflection and rereading his thoughts, I think there is more than a grain of truth to his words. Many material things about Apia and Samoa as a whole have changed since my time (Group 25, 1978-1980), but even when I was there the seeds for much of what Peter described were in evidence. In particular, I often got the feeling from some of the higher level Samoans in the Public Works Department where I worked, that we PC volunteers were simply free help. One of my first assignments was to go to Malietoa's residence in Vailima and install a pump and filtration system for his swimming pool. Although I acquiesced to this request, I refused subsequent ones like it, and over the years ended up developing several projects of somewhat clearer public good, mostly through my own initiative and with small grants from US AID that were available to us PCVs. Whether these grants are still available, I don't know, but they weren't enough to compete with the big money being thrown to Samoa by the large foreign aid programs of Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. At the same time, however, nearly all the Samoans I knew showed a sincere friendship with us PCVs, perhaps seeing us as more ingenuous in our desire to work with them than the expats who commonly lived in special compounds and commanded big salaries. Perhaps this feeling of acceptance by my Samoan friends and counterparts on a day-to-day level was what I was looking for and what satisfied me about my stay in Samoa, even though the essence of what Peter wrote in his article is undoubtedly true.

By Kevin Johnson on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 7:18 pm: Edit Post

I remember reading Peter's article in the Honolulu Weekly when it came out a few years ago and immediately comparing my 2+ year stint to his experience. I remember casting off much of what he said as an aberration, but upon reflection and rereading his thoughts, I think there is more than a grain of truth to his words. Many material things about Apia and Samoa as a whole have changed since my time (Group 25, 1978-1980), but even when I was there the seeds for much of what Peter described were in evidence. In particular, I often got the feeling from some of the higher level Samoans in the Public Works Department where I worked, that we PC volunteers were simply free help. One of my first assignments was to go to Malietoa's residence in Vailima and install a pump and filtration system for his swimming pool. Although I acquiesced to this request, I refused subsequent ones like it, and over the years ended up developing several projects of somewhat clearer public good, mostly through my own initiative and with small grants from US AID that were available to us PCVs. Whether these grants are still available, I don't know, but they weren't enough to compete with the big money being thrown to Samoa by the large foreign aid programs of Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. At the same time, however, nearly all the Samoans I knew showed a sincere friendship with us PCVs, perhaps seeing us as more ingenuous in our desire to work with them than the expats who commonly lived in special compounds and commanded big salaries. Perhaps this feeling of acceptance by my Samoan friends and counterparts on a day-to-day level was what I was looking for and what satisfied me about my stay in Samoa, even though the essence of what Peter wrote in his article is undoubtedly true.

By Carrie Norin (host-24-225-174-216.patmedia.net - 24.225.174.216) on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 - 5:14 pm: Edit Post

Peter most definitely has a point - I was a PCV from 2000 to 2001 (yes, I ET'd for the same reason) and found our presence there not only futile, but detrimental to the people of Samoa. I'm not going to get into a potentially long-winded explanation right now, but I do believe there must be accountability...
To Mark Murphy: ignorance is bliss, isn't it?

Carrie (Kale) Reichman Norin


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