Kirsten Franklin lived in Akok, a village in Gabon,working as an agricultural extension agent

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By Admin1 (admin) on Thursday, July 12, 2001 - 10:27 pm: Edit Post

For two years, Kirsten Franklin lived in Akok, a village in Gabon,working as an agricultural extension agent



For two years, Kirsten Franklin lived in Akok, a village in Gabon,working as an agricultural extension agent

Kirsten Franklin lived in Saudi Arabia -- her father worked for the Saudi government -- and the experience had a profound effect on her career goals. In college, Franklin studied international affairs, thinking she might be a Peace Corps volunteer. In fact, that's exactly what she did. For two years, she lived in Akok, a village in Gabon, the Central African nation (and former French colony), working as an agricultural extension agent. "Peace Corps philosophy is that you work with what the people have, and you don't bring anything else in," she says. "You try to make it sustainable after you leave. I wanted to see if that actually worked. I learned that it does work, but it takes a lot more time." Franklin, 24, now works for Campaign Consultation, a company involved in training for Americorps and VISTA, as the firm's training coordinator.

Monster.com: How did you end up going into the Peace Corps?

Kirsten Franklin: I had lived overseas when I was in high school. In college, I majored in international affairs and focused on the Middle East and North Africa. I knew that I wanted to go into the Peace Corps. I applied, and I ended up being posted in Central Africa. I was there for two years, from October of 1997 to December of 1999.

Mc: Where did you live overseas as a teen-ager?

KF: Saudi Arabia, where my father worked for the government. The whole family picked up and moved. I went to an American school there. Half the students were American, half were from all over the world. It was a great opportunity to meet people from everywhere. It helped me develop my interest in international affairs, and led me to the Peace Corps.

Mc: What was your Peace Corps experience like?

KF: I was in Gabon, and African nation right on the equator. I was an agricultural extension agent, even though I didn't have any background in agriculture. I had a little bit of gardening experience, and I guess the Peace Corps picked up on that. We had two and a half months of training, and I was posted in a rural village anywhere between an hour and a half to four hours from the capital, depending on cars, mud and rain -- and if the driver decided to stop for a beer along the way. I was at that post for two years. I did a lot of work in the local school in the village. I didn't have much of an agricultural background, so that was difficult; I'm not the kind of person who can just talk my way through something when I don't know what I'm talking about. Through a practice garden for the students, I was able to teach the adults what worked and what didn't work in the climate.

Mc: What were some of the challenges?

KF: Being a woman, a white woman, in Central Africa is not the easiest thing. A lot of attention was drawn to me. Everybody wanted to talk to me and figure out what I was doing there -- and ask for a visa back to the US That was a big thing. One or two people, every day, would ask how they could get to the US.

Mc: Did that cause difficulties with your work?

KF: It definitely caused problems in work. A lot of people pretended they were interested in working with me, just so they could talk to me. Then, you figure out they're not serious, that they really just want a free ride back to the States. In the beginning, it was difficult, because you want to start your work, and you're all gung-ho, and you really want to help people, and you realize a lot of people aren't serious about it, they just want to hang out and be your friend.

Mc: What about the language?

KF: I learned French. Gabon used to be a French colony, but everybody also speaks a local dialect, and that's very difficult to learn. I learned a few phrases like, I'm hungry or I'm thirsty, or other icebreakers. Gabon is a very educated country, and almost everyone speaks French except for the very old. Most people spoke French, and if they didn't, I would find a translator.

Mc: What about cultural differences?

KF: Being a woman, I couldn't go out and tell men what to do because of the macho attitudes. On the other hand, you also get a little bit of status because you are American. It kind of balances out, but they know you're a woman, and you're still looked down upon a little bit. There are also problems with jealousy; if I was working with a man, his wife might think I was trying to steal her husband. To get around that, I'd become friends with the wife first so she knew I wasn't a threat. Or I would suggest that we would all go out together and work. You needed to do little things to work around the biases and prejudices and cultural barriers.

Mc: Were you the only Peace Corps volunteer in the village?

KF: I was the only one, and I was the first one that was ever put in this village. The closest other Peace Corps volunteer was about 20-miles-away. The next closest was 60 or 70miles away.

Mc: Are you glad you did this?

KF: Definitely. I'm actually thinking about going in the Peace Corps after grad school. The way the Peace Corps works is in tune with my development philosophy, and I really wanted to see that. Peace Corps philosophy is that you work with what the people have, and you don't bring anything else in. You try to make it sustainable after you leave. I wanted to see if that actually worked. I took away that it does work, but it takes a lot more time. Two years was not enough. I did have some effect, but it wasn't like the village is eating 110 percent better. They have an appreciation for Americans, and I did things at the school, but there were no big changes.

Mc: What was the main goal?

KF: We were trying to increase their income and diversify what they're already eating. It's a little bit health related and a little bit business related. They don't eat a lot of vegetables. They have one staple, casaba, but it has no nutritional value -- it's just there to fill up your stomach. We would encourage them to plant different things, like tomatoes or green beans.

Mc: What was the adjustment like coming back?

KF: It's been strange, like walking into a grocery store and seeing the variety of food. Everybody wants more stuff here. I have definitely become much more of a minimalist. I don't need 25 t-shirts. I've realized that I don't need that much after seeing what little people have. It's a lot easier to live simply.



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Story Source: Monster

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Gabon

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