Friday, April 27, 2012

Fifty Years of Service

 

At our swearing-in, our Country Director asked the question, then as we celebrated Peace Corps’ fiftieth anniversary, and this year move into the fiftieth year of Peace Corps presence in Cameroon, have we succeeded?
This is an important question to consider.  In any organization, any action plan must include measurable outcomes; how will we know when we’ve reached our goal?
She said that during celebrations worldwide, there were reports of people saying how much Peace Corps Volunteers of the past had affected their lives for the better.  She went on to describe the three goals of Peace Corps: to provide technical training to host country nationals at the invitation of their government; to share American culture with host country nationals; and to share host country culture with Americans.
There are common jokes here that “it’s all about goals two and three,” and that drinking a 33, a popular beer here, constitutes 33% of our job.
She then wished us all well on our journeys to our posts.

Did you notice what was missing there?

We’ve read descriptions of Cameroon from explorers of the past, from sixty years ago, one hundred and twenty years ago, and we recognize the descriptions, because if we hadn’t known what years these accounts had been written in, we’d have though they were describing circumstances here today.  What does it say that after fifty years of Peace Corps presence, not to mention the numerous other development workers sent in from around the world annually, descriptions of Cameroon are exactly the same as they were one hundred years ago?  Have we succeeded?
Missionaries have, after a fashion.  Everywhere you turn in the Anglophone region you hear a variety of God-talk, and find strange snippets of misspelled misquotes from the Bible on the back of most taxis.  The Francophone region is slightly more secular, but still most everyone attends one church or another, or a mosque, and you find the same snippets of biblical sounding phrases in French.
The country still has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world, and has been rated the most corrupt nation in the world.  Single motherhood and thirty-something grandmothers are common enough to not bear mention.  Mistreatment of women and girls is frequent.  Alcoholism is rampant.  Officials often require financial “motivation” to do their jobs or assure that paperwork doesn’t go missing.  Even in picking up a package from the post office, one may be required to give a “gift” of money or something from the package to the postmaster in order to have the package released (we are very grateful for the arrangements made by our regional office manager to avoid this).  And that’s just the social ills.
Have we succeeded?
That doesn’t even get into cholera outbreaks and routine illness due to such simple things as a failure to wash hands; constant threat of malaria; starvation in the north because the roads haven’t been paved or maintained; drought; lack of nutrition; limited access to health resources; lack of education across the board.

Have we succeeded?

Have we?

During a National Peace Corps Association event before coming into Peace Corps service, we were told that Sargent Shriver said in an essay about Peace Corps that the ideal situation would be for Peace Corps Volunteers to be in and out of a developing nation within one decade.  That our objective, as with any kind of development or aid work, should be to work ourselves out of a job.  Granted, ideals are about what would happen in a perfect world, which none of us live in.  And after living and working in Cameroon with Peace Corps, we’ve learned that any timeline must be the “worst case scenario” timeline, then doubled.  But isn’t five times longer than anticipated a bit excessive?  Is staying in Cameroon for another decade, two, five, really going to make the difference, when after one hundred years descriptions of the place remain unchanged?  Is that the best use of tax-payer dollars?  Of the time, effort, resources, skills of the volunteers who have believed in the mission and vision of Peace Corps, and left our homes, families and lives behind to follow it?  Are we making a difference?  Have we succeeded? 

We still believe in Peace Corps, the vision of world peace through understanding.  The mission of sharing knowledge to equip people to find their own solutions to the problems they face.  We still believe in the ability of a few passionate, motivated individuals to change the world.  But perhaps Cameroon is simply not ready to receive the training and skills that Peace Corps is prepared to offer, when motivation and commitment to make change is so sorely lacking.  Is it perhaps time to start thinking about an exit strategy?  And come back when the most common request is not for money and resources, but for the training to achieve things for Cameroon, by Cameroonians, without the need to rely on continual support from the West.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Peace Corps Oscars

 

Best movies to watch about Peace Corps that aren’t about Peace Corps.

 

1. Beauty and the Beast – Belle is a PCV, and we don’t know what medieval France was like, but we do know that the opening sequence was set in Cameroon.

2. Run Fatboy Run – because it’s not just about you, it’s about telling that guy who is cooler than you could ever hope to be, who starts sentences with things like, “Back when I was a Navy Seal…” and “When I was a professional paragliding instructor to Bono…” or “I’m considering a couple offers for the movie rights,” that, “Well, you know, back when I lived in Africa… no big deal…” (we kid!)  Actually, that wall he hits is a real thing, and it comes up often, and you’ve just gotta push through.  And anything starring Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is a real treat!

3. Batman – the new ones, not that cartoony mess certain directors made of our favorite superhero – fighting corruption, injustice, and evil in it’s many forms…  You can see the parallels, right?

4. The Quiet Gardener or Blood Diamond – because instead of sitting at home feeling riddled with guilt, you can sit at home and feel not so bad, because, well, you’re trying to do something. (But make sure to follow this up with Run Fatboy Run, or Beauty and the Beast, because they’re still depressing…)

5. Zombie Movies – Just think of your Peace Corps experience as preparation for the zombie apocalypse.  Going out after dark is risky.  Bars on the windows and a metal door are good things – again, bolt the door after dark.  Running water and electricity are luxuries.  Machetes (cutlass in NW Cameroon) are ubiquitous gardening tools that double as security/beheading devices. Attend wounds immediately – any open wound is a avenue for infection. Know where your water comes from – dysentery will slow you down.  Remember that nearly everything you learn in Peace Corps, even the hard lessons, will aid you in the inevitable trials to come…

6. The Men Who Stare at Goats – other than the fact that PCVs have Jedi Powers, it’s a raucous ride through foreign climes wherein one is expected to use abilities one may or may not actually have.  And it sort of captures the absurdity of it all.  AND you can enjoy that slight feeling of superiority every time Ewan McGregor calls Mahmoud, “Mohammed,” because you can tell the difference with your PCV powers of integration.

7. The Family Stone, Darjeeling Limited, The Royal Tenenbaums – don’t feel bad about running away to the other side of the world!  There are families way more dysfunctional than yours… And anything that makes you laugh when you are feeling homesick is a good thing.

8. The Adventures of Tin Tin – racing around the world, setting wrongs right, holding up your drunkest and dearest friends…. like you do.  Plus, the voice of Simon Pegg again.

9. The Chronicles of Narnia – because, really, it isn’t all about you.  It’s the opportunity to bring grace into a stranger’s life, to be their answered prayer, to hold to what you believe you’re meant to be doing with your life, even against all odds.  And when isn’t it a good time for Liam Neeson’s fatherly rumble to set all things right?

10. Jurassic Park – whether you still see this film as an action/adventure, or you’ve seen it so many times that it’s become comedy, no matter where you find yourself in the world, you can rest assured that you are safe from velociraptor attack, even if your computer system goes down and you live in an area bearing a striking resemblance to Isla Nublar.  And, come on – it’s Jurassic Park – one of the most quotable movies of all time (see Jack for examples)! And PCVs love movie quotes!

 

What Not to Watch – okay, so some of these are a little unavoidable but view at your own risk.

World War II movies – nothing, no matter how much you think it sucks, will ever make anything clad in a Nazi uniform the bearer of a warm and fuzzy.

No Reservations, Chocolat, other films about Beautiful Food – why torment yourself with things you have approximately one year, five months, nine days and seventeen hours (but who’s counting?) before you can even think about tasting again?

Black Swan or Dorian Gray – you’re already going to have days when you think you might be going crazy… So… just don’t.

Hotel Rwanda – I know you’re in Africa, or someplace equally exotic, and Rwanda is in Africa and/or equally exotic too, but this one goes with the WWII movies, not the African message movies.  Watch Madagascar instead.