2011.01.12: January 12, 2011: Colombia One RPCV Pancho Lane writes: Two years of total immersion in a different culture was a turning point for each of us

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Colombia: Peace Corps Colombia : Peace Corps Colombia: Newest Stories: 2011.01.12: January 12, 2011: Colombia One RPCV Pancho Lane writes: Two years of total immersion in a different culture was a turning point for each of us

By Admin1 (admin) (98.188.147.225) on Friday, January 14, 2011 - 3:45 pm: Edit Post

Colombia One RPCV Pancho Lane writes: Two years of total immersion in a different culture was a turning point for each of us

Colombia One RPCV Pancho Lane writes: Two years of total immersion in a different culture was a turning point for each of us

As one of us put it, "You had two choices: you could sit in your room alone, or you could go out and make a total fool of yourself. And when you did, people welcomed you, and helped you become part of their community." By the time I left Colombia, I was totally bilingual and bicultural. In fact, friends have told me that I am a different, and happier, person in Latin America – and they're right. While we may, or may not, attend high school or college reunions, it is the bonds of our shared Peace Corps experience that have held us together through the decades. For the past 50 years, we have stayed connected. I get emails from our group list almost daily, we visit each other, and we have get-togethers every two or three years.

Colombia One RPCV Pancho Lane writes: Two years of total immersion in a different culture was a turning point for each of us

This fall marks the 50th anniversary of the election of John F. Kennedy – and of the founding of the Peace Corps. Even more than Obama's campaign, JFK's victory seemed to mark a new, positive, vision of the US – egalitarian, both in class and race, committed to peaceful solutions abroad as well as at home. For many in the US, and especially in the developing world, the Peace Corps came to symbolize this "New Frontier".

In May.1961, while a delegate to the National Student Association Conference on the Peace Corps, I applied and was accepted to the Peace Corps. On June 25 I started training with Colombia One, the very first Peace Corps group, at Rutgers University. After two months of preparation in Colombian history, Spanish, and Community Organizing, 62 volunteers – all male, because we would be working in remote villages - flew to Bogotá and were assigned to rural communities throughout the country. But no matter where we served, we all visited peasant homes where Kennedy's photograph held the place of honor.

Two years of total immersion in a different culture was a turning point for each of us. As one of us put it, "You had two choices: you could sit in your room alone, or you could go out and make a total fool of yourself. And when you did, people welcomed you, and helped you become part of their community." By the time I left Colombia, I was totally bilingual and bicultural. In fact, friends have told me that I am a different, and happier, person in Latin America – and they're right.

Our Peace Corps experience changed all of our lives. Many of us went on to work in the federal government, or with international organizations such as the UNDP, CARE, and the World Bank. Others pursued academic careers in Latin American Studies, Economics, or Anthropology. I ended up teaching at a Mexican university, and making films about rural indigenous communities like the ones I experienced in Colombia.

While we may, or may not, attend high school or college reunions, it is the bonds of our shared Peace Corps experience that have held us together through the decades. For the past 50 years, we have stayed connected. I get emails from our group list almost daily, we visit each other, and we have get-togethers every two or three years.

On November 4. 2010, 34 of our group (out of the surviving 52) returned to Rutgers to dedicate a memorial plaque on the building where we trained. It turned out to mark the start of the national celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. MSNBC covered the event, the Assistant Director of the Peace Corps and various others gave talks. For us, it was a moment to reflect on how the vision that inspired us in 1961 has affected the world 50 years later.

From the beginning, the Peace Corps was charged with three goals: to help people in the developing world; to provide a pool of trained Americans with experience in the developing countries, and to help all Americans understand the rest of the world.

Certainly Peace Corps volunteers have achieved much in the developing world, both by our effect on the countries where we served, and by providing a more positive image of Americans. Certainly also many returned volunteers have, as we did, pursued careers that reflect their Peace Corps experience. It is in the Third Goal – changing how Americans perceive the rest of the world – that the Peace Corps has not had the hoped-for impact. Kennedy once said that when there were 1,000,000 returned Peace Corps Volunteers, the US would finally be able to have a decent foreign policy. There are only about 200,000 returned Volunteers so far, and we have engaged in three disastrous wars since 1961.

The Viet Nam war cost the US around 600 billion in 1970s dollars. The Iraq war so far has cost 750 billion, and the Afghan war 350 billion. That's not counting the devastation to the three countries, let alone the destroyed lives and families, at home and abroad.

In Viet Nam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, our soldiers have little or no understanding or experience of the language and culture, and so view the locals as "gooks" or "hajis". Worst of all, we are – with the best intentions, from our point of view – attempting to impose top-down solutions that are alien to the countries where we have intervened. It took us at least a year in Colombia to learn the language and culture well enough to operate effectively – and to establish the personal relationships that enabled us to make a real impact. More importantly, we were not trying to impose anything, but rather to help our new friends do what they themselves wanted for themselves, on their own terms.

During the campaign for George W Bush's invasion of Iraq, one of my Colombia One friends said to me, "If Bush were to listen to a dozen returned Peace Corps volunteers who served in Iraq, he would never do anything so stupid as to invade." I was in Viet Nam with AID in 1965, and filming in Afghanistan in 1987, and I would certainly have argued against our military intervention in both cases – because of my Peace Corps experience.

Of course the Peace Corps is no cure-all for the ills of the world. But the concept behind it - that we applied in Colombia – is: help people to help themselves, and they will look on you as friends, not intruders.

So on this 50th anniversary, my New Year's wish is for a renewed, more proactive, Peace Corps! Maybe a million returned Peace Corps volunteers will not be enough, but it would be a good start.



"Should it come to it, I had rather give my life
trying to help someone than to give my life
looking down a gun barrel at them."

David Crozier, Colombia I Peace Corps Volunteer
died in Colombia, Dec. 1961




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: January, 2011; Peace Corps Colombia; Directory of Colombia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Colombia RPCVs; 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps; Speaking Out





When this story was posted in January 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers RSS Feed

 Site Index Search PCOL with Google Contact PCOL Recent Posts Bulletin Board Open Discussion RPCV Directory Register

Support Independent Funding for the Third Goal Date: November 9 2010 No: 1460 Support Independent Funding for the Third Goal
The Peace Corps has always neglected the third goal, allocating less than 1% of their resources to "bringing the world back home." Senator Dodd addressed this issue in the "Peace Corps for the 21st Century" bill passed by the US Senate and Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter proposed a "Peace Corps Foundation" at no cost to the US government. Both are good approaches but the recent "Comprehensive Assessment Report" didn't address the issue of independent funding for the third goal at all.

Jan 9, 2011: Push for the Peace Corps Date: January 9 2011 No: 1464 Jan 9, 2011: Push for the Peace Corps
Rajeev Goyal Pushes for the Peace Corps 20 Dec
Denis Dutton founded Arts & Letters Daily 2 Jan
Jim Carter promotes organ exchange 29 Dec
Bob Hollinger embraced the Toyama-ryu style of karate 27 Dec
Anthony Siracusa is Riding a bike around world 27 Dec
Marianne Combs writes: Another Upheaval in Ivory Coast 25 Dec
Kathy Rousso documents weaving methods in Guatemala 24 Dec
Ramsey Nix writes: Christmas in Mongolia 23 Dec
Leanne Moore writes: Coming Back to America 23 Dec
Cancer Victim Linda Lahme dreams of Africa 23 Dec
The RPCV Who Changed American Parenting 22 Dec
Dick Holbrooke at the Peace Corps 22 Dec
Mahlon Barash publishes "Imágenes del Perú" 20 Dec
Susan Luz writes "The Nightingale of Mosul" 18 Dec
RPCV arrested in alleged Sandinista 'Land Grab' 17 Dec
Peter DiCampo captures village life in Ghana 16 Dec
John Coyne writes: Peace Corps Prose 16 Dec
Kathleen Stephens presses China to rein in North Korea 15 Dec
Greg Parsley writes: PC taught me to bypass bureaucrats 14 Dec
Pat Waak writes: Peace Corps Pays Off 8 Dec
David Matthews wins NATO medal for work in Afghanistan 7 Dec
Ralph Bolton wins award in Anthropology 9 Nov

Nov 8, 2010: The 50th Begins Date: November 9 2010 No: 1457 Nov 8, 2010: The 50th Begins
University of Michigan commemorates 50th 16 Oct
Wittenberg University also has claim on 50th 31 Oct
Historical Marker Unveiled to Celebrate 50th 15 Oct
Directors Discuss Impact of Service 13 Oct
Mary Morgan writes: Some thoughts on the 50th 16 Oct
Colombia I Holds Reunion at Rutgers 31 Oct
Remembering the Early Program in Ghana 23 Oct
George Packer writes: Meaning of the Mid-Terms 2 Nov
Steve Driehaus Defeated for re-election 2 Nov
Michelle Obama's Uncle was PCV in India 1 Nov
Chic Dambach writes "Exhaust the Limits" 31 Oct
Alrick Brown Directs Documentary on Rwanda 31 Oct
Rajeev Goyal writes: Obama Does Nothing for Peace Corps 31 Oct
Dr. Paul Frommer Created Language for 'Avatar' 20 Oct
Cy Kukenbaker Directs Movie about Soccer in Malawi 15 Oct
Peace Corps has no Institutional Memory 14 Oct
Kristof and Stacia Nordin demonstrate permaculture in Malawi 9 Oct
Volunteer Stephanie Chance dies in Niger 8 Oct
Peace Corps volunteer Census hits 40-year high 4 Oct
Malaysia PM wants Peace Corps to Return 25 Sep
Volunteer Thomas Maresco Murdered in Lesotho 4 Sep
Johnathan Miller launchs Airborne Lifeline 26 Aug

Memo to Incoming Director Williams Date: August 24 2009 No: 1419 Memo to Incoming Director Williams
PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams

Join Us Mr. President! Date: June 26 2009 No: 1380 Join Us Mr. President!
"We will double the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011. And we'll reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity," said Barack Obama during his campaign. Returned Volunteers rally and and march to the White House to support a bold new Peace Corps for a new age. Latest: Senator Dodd introduces Peace Corps Improvement and Expansion Act of 2009 .



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: PCOL Exclusive

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Colombia; 50th; Speaking Out

PCOL46472
72


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: