2011.01.30: January 30, 2011: Malawi RPCV Michael L. Buckler writes: Some Suggestions for Making the Peace Corps less risky for volunteers

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Benin: Peace Corps Benin : Peace Corps Benin: Newest Stories: 2011.01.14: January 14, 2011: Report by ABC News 20/20: Parents of Slain Volunteer Kate Puzey Say Peace Corps Error Led to Murder: 2006.12.01: December 1, 2006: PCOL Editorial: The Peace Corps Needs a Procedure in Place for Death Notifications to the Families of Volunteers who have Died in Service to ease the Suffering and Pain of the Grieving Process of the Volunteer's Survivors and Families : 2011.01.30: January 30, 2011: Malawi RPCV Michael L. Buckler writes: Some Suggestions for Making the Peace Corps less risky for volunteers

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Malawi RPCV Michael L. Buckler writes: Some Suggestions for Making the Peace Corps less risky for volunteers

Malawi RPCV Michael L. Buckler writes: Some Suggestions for Making the Peace Corps less risky for volunteers

In honor of Mr. Shriver, the Peace Corps should do more to promote the safety of its volunteers. These changes would help prevent future tragedies: Allow volunteers to live together (there is strength in numbers); Give volunteers allowances to hire watchmen (an inexpensive measure that provides local employment); Encourage volunteers to live with local people (as I did in Malawi); Place more volunteers in rural areas (urban centers have higher crime rates); Strictly protect volunteer confidentiality, so that whistle blowers like Kate Puzey are protected; Working with the State Department and host country governments, aggressively prosecute criminals who prey upon Peace Corps volunteers; and Provide comprehensive, long-term support to volunteers who are victimized.

Malawi RPCV Michael L. Buckler writes: Some Suggestions for Making the Peace Corps less risky for volunteers

Make Peace Corps less risky for volunteers

January 30, 2011|By Michael L. Buckler

The Peace Corps has endured a rough month. On Jan. 18, the Corps lost Sargent Shriver, its charismatic architect and first leader. The previous Friday, ABC News ran a grizzly story on violence against Peace Corps volunteers - Jess Smochek was gang-raped in Bangladesh in 2004; Kate Puzey was murdered in Benin in 2009. This raises the question: Has Mr. Shriver's Peace Corps become too dangerous for volunteers?

There's no question that in male-dominated, developing countries, the Peace Corps experience is often more harrowing for women than men. Approximately 0.5 percent of female volunteers become rape victims in the Peace Corps (during the two-year service commitment), a figure that is artificially low due to underreporting of sexual assaults (by comparison, 15 percent of American women are raped during their lifetimes). Much harder to track are inappropriate touches, stares, shouts and intimidation, which female volunteers endure on a daily basis.

When volunteers die (3 out of 10,000), the culprit is usually a motorized vehicle, not a disease or violent perpetrator. In Malawi, where I was a volunteer from 2006 to 2008, the roads are precarious, as rickety minibuses, overloaded tractor-trailers, private passenger vehicles and bicycles compete for space in a high-speed game of chicken. In sub-Saharan Africa, traffic deaths are second only to AIDS as the biggest killer of people ages 15 to 44.
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Still, Peace Corps volunteers are much more likely to experience burglary or theft (5 percent and 9 percent of volunteers, respectively) than sexual assault or death. These statistics, from a 2009 Peace Corps report on safety, comport with my experience in Malawi, where petty property crime is common but violence occurs infrequently. Although no volunteer (to my knowledge) was raped or killed during my tour, the homes of several volunteers were burglarized.

As Peace Corps director, Mr. Shriver believed in volunteers and knew that the righteousness of their mission outweighed the dangers. That remains true today. The Corps is invited into countries because its no-strings-attached service is admired as a noble practice. As grass-roots ambassadors, Peace Corps volunteers put a human face on a powerful country whose image has been tarnished by propaganda. Volunteers live like natives, learn local languages and cultures, and help ordinary people achieve their goals for progress. The Peace Corps is soft power, and American altruism, at its best.

Yet, in honor of Mr. Shriver, the Peace Corps should do more to promote the safety of its volunteers. These changes would help prevent future tragedies:

•Allow volunteers to live together (there is strength in numbers);

•Give volunteers allowances to hire watchmen (an inexpensive measure that provides local employment);

•Encourage volunteers to live with local people (as I did in Malawi);

•Place more volunteers in rural areas (urban centers have higher crime rates);

•Strictly protect volunteer confidentiality, so that whistle blowers like Kate Puzey are protected;

•Working with the State Department and host country governments, aggressively prosecute criminals who prey upon Peace Corps volunteers; and

•Provide comprehensive, long-term support to volunteers who are victimized.

Peace Corps service is a calculated risk - a relatively small one. Within the Peace Corps, changes should be made to protect volunteers; Sargent Shriver would have wanted that. I hope that these changes, not a fearful backlash against the Peace Corps, will be the legacies of Jess Smochek and Kate Puzey.

Michael L. Buckler, a Maryland native and member of the Maryland Bar, is the author of "From Microsoft to Malawi: Learning on the Front Lines as a Peace Corps Volunteer." His e-mail is mike_buckler@yahoo.com.



Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: January, 2011; Peace Corps Benin; Directory of Benin RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Benin RPCVs; Safety and Security of Volunteers; Crime; Murder; Television





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




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How Volunteers Remember Sarge Date: January 18 2011 No: 1487 How Volunteers Remember Sarge
As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge."

PCV Murder Investigated Date: January 18 2011 No: 1477 PCV Murder Investigated
ABC News has investigated the murder of Benin PCV Kate Puzey. Read our original coverage of the crime, comments on Peace Corps actions, the email Puzey sent her country director about sexual incidents with Puzey's students and with another PCV, the backstory on how RPCVs helped the Puzey family, and Peace Corps' official statement. PCOL Editorial: One major shortcoming that the Puzey murder highlights is that Peace Corps does not have a good procedure in place for death notifications.

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
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Dick Holbrooke at the Peace Corps 22 Dec
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Susan Luz writes "The Nightingale of Mosul" 18 Dec
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John Coyne writes: Peace Corps Prose 16 Dec
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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
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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 .



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Story Source: Baltimore Sun

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Benin; Safety; Crime; Murder; Television

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