January 10, 2002 - Riverside Press Enterprise: In aftermath of 911, Peace Corps hopes to reopen its programs in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Uzbekistan: Peace Corps Uzbekistan : The Peace Corps in Uzbekistan: January 10, 2002 - Riverside Press Enterprise: In aftermath of 911, Peace Corps hopes to reopen its programs in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

By Admin1 (admin) on Saturday, January 12, 2002 - 10:11 pm: Edit Post

In aftermath of 911, Peace Corps hopes to reopen its programs in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan





Read and comment on this excerpt from the Riverside Press Enterprise published in Riverside California in which Peace Corps spokeswoman Ellen Field said the Peace Corps hopes to reopen its programs in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and that volunteers also might be assigned to Afghanistan if invited by the new government. Read the story at:

In aftermath of 911, Peace Corps hopes to reopen its programs in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan*

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



In aftermath of 911, Peace Corps hopes to reopen its programs in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

Jan 10, 2002 - Press-Enterprise Riverside CA Author(s): Sharyn Obsatz

Ed Cho, 23, of Diamond Bar was among 311 volunteers evacuated back to the United States from Central Asia in September as a safety precaution.

Cho had taught English in the small, drought-plagued agricultural town of Yoleten, just three hours from Afghanistan. Volunteers were barred from visiting Afghanistan, where the Peace Corps ended its programs when the Soviets invaded in 1979.

Cho, a Christian, became close friends with a Muslim co-worker from Turkmenistan, a 25-year-old history teacher named Arslan Akmurador. The area is mostly Muslim, although decades of Soviet communist rule discouraged Islamic practice.

"They were raised believing there was no God," he said. "They would eat pork, drink vodka" -- both Islamic taboos.

Cho said he watched the Sept. 11 attacks on Russian-language television.

"We had no idea it was a terrorist bombing. We just thought it was a fire," he said.

Cho and fellow volunteers were pulled from their sites and evacuated 10 days later. Turkmenistan has a longstanding animosity toward Afghanistan, he said, but "we would have been an easy target if (someone) wanted to get vengeance."

"I really didn't get to say a proper goodbye to anybody but my counterpart," Cho said. "He actually apologized. He said, 'This was really stupid. I don't know why these crazy people did this.' He was very sad, I could tell."

Peace Corps spokeswoman Ellen Field said the organization hopes to reopen its programs in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. She said volunteers also might be assigned to Afghanistan if invited by the new government.

In the long run, Cho said, organizations like the Peace Corps will be more effective than the military in lowering anti-U.S. feelings in Islamic countries.

"There's so many misconceptions about Americans all over the world," said Cho, whose family immigrated to the United States from South Korea when he was 7. "Americans are people too. We're not some tyrant overseas superpower trying to exploit them at every turn. . . . I think America has done a lot to help the world."



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