Peace Corps in the news - LA Times

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Jose Abrego / For The Times
Alexandra Hodgkins, left, of New Hampshire and Yemiymah Yisrael of Chicago are volunteering with the Peace Corps in Santa Fe, Panama. Yisrael extended her stay.

More Americans turning to Peace Corps

With President Obama extolling the volunteer agency as an exemplar of public service and U.S. diplomacy, applications have jumped. The idealism is tinged with pragmatism, amid joblessness at home.

By Chris Kraul
June 2, 2009

Reporting from Santa Fe, Panama -- Peace Corps volunteer Alexandra Hodgkins couldn't be farther from her comfort zone here in Panama's Darien jungle: coral snakes, sauna-like heat and, just a few miles east up the Pan-American Highway, marauding Colombian rebels.

But the 25-year-old New Hampshire native wants a career in international development, and she figures a couple of years helping this poor community find permits and financing for a medicinal soap business will be invaluable experience. It also feeds her passion for public service and projecting a positive U.S. image.

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  Peace Corps in Panama

"This is a good way to test whether this is what I want to do," said Hodgkins, who was a community organizer in Boston before she joined the Peace Corps in October. "I like the Peace Corps approach of working with communities, not just giving out presents right and left."

With a mix of idealism and pragmatism, increasing numbers of Americans are turning to the Peace Corps. Some, like Hodgkins, see it as a training opportunity at a time when job prospects at home are bleak. Others have been inspired by President Obama's campaign call to public service, and his frequent mention of the Peace Corps as a good vehicle for volunteerism.

At his commencement address at Arizona State University last month, Obama said the Peace Corps was an American institution that shows "our commitment to working with other nations to pursue the ideals of opportunity, equality and freedom that have made us who we are."

Peace Corps officials credit the "Obama effect" for most of the 25,000 Internet requests so far this year for "starter applications," up 40% from last year.

That's on top of a 16% increase in completed applications submitted in 2008. A new wrinkle to the flood of application requests is that 7% of them are coming from people 50 or older, up from the typical 4%, says the Washington-based organization.

Even as some government programs are being scaled back because of the global financial crisis, the Peace Corps' budget is getting a boost from Obama. If Congress approves the proposed 9% increase in the agency's 2010 budget, the number of Peace Corps volunteers, now at 7,876, is expected to rise.

"We are just skyrocketing in applications," said Peace Corps acting director Jody Olsen, who expects the volunteer ranks to grow significantly this year. "Obama represents what Americans really want to be asked to do. We want to hear how important service is, whether it is domestic or international."

These are good times for the Peace Corps, which was founded by President Kennedy in 1961. It has had its ups and downs, peaking at 15,000 volunteers in 1966 and hitting a low of fewer than 5,000 in 1982.

"It's refreshing and uplifting to witness this sort of outpouring of American idealism again, particularly after the U.S. reputation has suffered such setbacks as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo," said Bruce Bagley, a University of Miami political science professor and a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia in the late 1960s.

Olsen said 20 countries that have no Peace Corps presence have asked for volunteers, with specialists in farming, English teaching, and HIV/AIDS and hygiene awareness the most in demand. The requests reflect the agency's proven effectiveness, she said. But budget and logistical restrictions mean that most requests will not be met.

On a positive note, the Peace Corps is returning to Rwanda, Liberia and Ethiopia for the first time in a decade or more. Here in Panama, the number of volunteers has steadily increased to 160 from 100 five years ago, said country director Peter Redmond. He said the upturn was due in large part to the fact that the country values and seeks volunteers.

But the final number of volunteers the U.S. sends out will depend on whether Congress passes Obama's $380-million budget request for the next fiscal year.

It's not a slam dunk. The program's cost-effectiveness has been a source of debate over its 48-year history, with some critics contending that the Peace Corps is a form of "developmental tourism" and that some volunteers at times drift aimlessly in their communities during their two-year tours.

U.S. diplomat Dale Maki disagrees vigorously. Maki is a former Peace Corps volunteer in Chile and is now an agriculture advisor at the U.S. Embassy in Panama. He said volunteering benefits the United States because it "develops leadership and puts a good face on the U.S. out there."

In addition to scores of former volunteers who, like Maki, have gone on to join the U.S. foreign service, five are members of Congress, including Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut.

Charles Goodsell, a Virginia Tech professor emeritus who is writing a book on the Peace Corps and other government institutions, said the critics are wrong.

"The Peace Corps is very hard work. It takes a lot of creativity to be effective in often lonely circumstances and where the tasks are not perfectly outlined," Goodsell said. "In fact, the whole idea is that individual volunteers not show up with prepackaged plans but find out what the locals really need."

Santa Fe resident Marcelina Noriega says that's what Hodgkins did, helping her cooperative cut through red tape and the application process to get a $20,000 United Nations grant.

Now the cooperative has its sights set on setting up an iguana farm to sell the skins and meat. "She has helped us do things we had no idea about," Noriega said.

Yemiymah Yisrael, a 26-year-old volunteer from Chicago who has spent three years in Santa Fe teaching composting techniques, extended her stay partly because of the lousy economy back home.

"Several volunteers who have gone home have advised me not to because it's so difficult to find a job," said Yisrael, who has her eye on a career in international health. Before the Peace Corps, she did carpentry work with Habitat for Humanity rebuilding hurricane victims' homes.

Not that the Peace Corps is lucrative: Hodgkins and Yisrael are paid about $320 a month, just above Panama's minimum wage.

Hodgkins said she gets discouraged at times by the delays and paperwork required by the Panamanian government.

"But if you keep an open mind and try to understand the culture," she said, "then you can do what you came to do."

Source:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-peacecorps2-2009jun02,0,2239945.story
Kraul is a special correspondent.

Planting Rice

It began last May:
When rain began to threaten and winter seemed close, many of the people began to cut and clear their land ¨limpiarla.¨ When the brush and shrubs were cleared away, they waited for the fallen plants and the bare soil to dry. This year, they had to wait much longer than normal - many of my neighbors complained that this was a very wet summer in southern Comarca Ngäbe-Bugle. By late may/early June, plumes of gray could be seen from the hillsides, little by little, the people were able to burn the fields - a final step to prepare the soil.

Ovidia and her family have plans to plant both rice and corn this winter. What kind? I was told there is a ¨fast rice¨ that will only need 3-4 months of growth before it´s harvested.

I arrived in the morning after being invited to photograph their family. It was a bright hot day, but the sky was already filling with clouds.

¨Where will we work?¨

¨This hillside, this is where we will plant rice. On the other side, the children are already planting corn. Put 6-8 grains in each hole and cover well with soil. My brother is already placing the holes (roughly 1 foot apart).¨

So we worked for hours this way, that is, until I decided to photograph my neighboring planters...

Olvidia´s sister, Guillermina worked the right-hand side and asked several questions about what is grown in The States. I tried to explain how family-owned farms still exist but the largescale planting is done by companies. That was when I suddenly remembered that I hadn´t mentioned the Thanksgiving tale to them yet! So, with very rough story-telling skills, I tried to explain how badly the Pilgrims failed when trying to establish crops in New England´s rocky soil:

¨Y el suelo tiene bastante rocas y piedras, no fue posible sembrar muchas cosas. Fue un tiempo malo, un tiempo de hambre. Pero habian grupos de indígenas también ...¨

¨¿Indígenas... como nosotros? ¿Cómo le parece? ¿Cómo está su lenguage?¨

¨Pues, se llama Wampanoag y ellos fueron muy similar a ustedes.¨

¨¿Y su lenguage? ¿Cómo habla en su lenguage?¨

¨Bueno, no estoy muy familiar con el lenguage, pero algunas palabras son como: Annisquam, Wawinet, Quidnet, Nantucket, ... estas son palabras del otro lenguage.¨

¨¿Y que significa tienen las palabras?¨

¨Pues, en realidad, no sé. Algunos discriben lugares.¨

¨Ah, sí.¨

¨Sí, eso es.¨

Her interest in ¨otras indígenas¨ isn´t the first time I´ve encountered questions about different cultures within The States. My other neighbors also ask: do they speak English, do they have land, do they have our skin color (one guy asks if they are ¨red like us¨), do they have hair like us?

And so I continue the story and finish with a punchline:

¨Y la idea nueva fue una estrategía. Pusieron una sardina conjuntos las semillas de maiz.¨
(And the new idea was a strategy. They put sardines in the ground with every corn seed.¨)

I love Thanksgiving and it was wonderful to explain the roots of such a large celebration, of why we celebrate and how: platefuls of food!

I know that the ¨indigenous¨ words I used were just town names in my home state. I know that they likely have a lost meaning, maybe a discription of the region, maybe the name of the particular people that used to live there. But just to sound out the different words, just to give an example of what the language might have been like... I thought that was useful for my Ngäbe friends. The complicated and not-so-idyllic relationship between my ancestors ¨antepasados¨and the original people of New England would be hard to explain. I went as far as saying that we have made ¨convenios¨ with the indigenous people and at least today, there is peace between us.

At just about noon, rain began to fall and suddenly the view to Cerro Iglesias was just a blank sheet, an aguacero was on its way - time for lunch!

First 3 Months

Stay in site! Trying very hard to do so...
Nov. 2007 - Jan. 2008

A time marked by paseando, house construction, adjusting to "stardom," learning the Spangäbe, appreciating yucca with rice and Ramen Noodle, cleaning mildew off leather, loving texting other volunteers, listening to Día de Bandera drum practice, visits to San Felix to check email and charge the cell phone, perfecting bucket baths, buscar leña, write letters home, organize water committee meetings, create community maps.
Also had a chance to work with PCMI Jessica and Adam uphill from me. Their composting latrine project is a large-scale event! So 2 days were spent mixing, blocking, and constructing the bases of latrines. Several of my community members wanted to join me and help out with the work (a great chance to share the ideas about this project, too!). So Miguel, Moises, Milton, and Roman have just gained some construction experience. Hope we can help again Jess! 3 more latrines to go, right?

At this point, it´s hard for me to say if my community will want their own compost latrine project. Many people are telling me they need/want latrines since few exist but this particular style of servicio might not be the most comfortable idea for the people. It would be a big change for someone to accept a fancy-looking latrine into their lifestyle after a lifetime of doing without even a pit latrine. My plan is to approach this matter slowly and get a better idea of what kind of sanitation solution is more sustainable. Stay tuned!

November Festivities:
My small town had been practicing for weeks and weeks; every day around noon we could all hear the drums start up. The school had been preparing to debut their drum corps and flag bearers and was ready to present their dedicated crew to the town during El Día de Indepedencia de Colombia, el 3 de noviembre. This was an important day! Not only did I wear my nagua dress, but the director of the school and every teacher was at the celebration.

First the drummers lead the circuit around the ball field, then the parade worked its way into the commons of the schoolyard. The Panamanian flag was then presented and raised as the entire community held their hands over their hearts (strangely, some hands were positioned over the heart, yes, but as if ready to throw a karate-chop). The formalities were very reminiscent of a Veteran’s Day Parade, but what followed was intriguing. Once the flag was high above us, the teachers invoked a series of presentations. One by one (I believe it was class by class), children stepped out of their tightly formed lines and recited speeches – with gusto! Children exclaimed: I am Panamanian! and reached out their hands to encompass the sky, the campo, the village, the families, the ducking child standing by that just missed the swinging arm... Not only were there well-memorized speeches, 2 students also sang original canciones. Our town has some very talented musicians!

November is a very busy time for honoring la vida de Panama. The Independence Day (from Colombia) is really just the start of festivities. Two more official holidays draw la gente together: El Día de Bandera and later in the month, Independence from Spain. Our students had been practicing for a series of marches, in fact, the following day the whole crew was going to a neighboring town to march down the main street of Quebrada Guabo. Roughly 17 different schools would gather there, march, and face judges to determine which school displayed the best organization, musical skill, choreography, costumes, etc.

Did my community win? No, not this time: but last year they had secured a runner’s up status and took home a prize. Well, there’s always next year and based on how much the community at large loved the drumming (little kids still sing: boom-boom-boombity-boo), I think they can produce a sharp performance.

Do I live in a rainforest? No, you’ll have to go to the Bocas side (Caribbean coast) of the Comarca to encounter rainforest, but in general it is an endangered environment in Panama. My community is tucked into the rugged foothills on the southern slope of the western highlands and very few hints remain of the oldgrowth: there has been so much farming in this region that it’s difficult to imagine the days when the dark interior loomed too dangerously for even the bravest hunters. How long ago did the mountains evolve into the tamed farmlands of corn and fincas of coffee? I haven’t been able to learn that from my neighbor yet, but he can explain how giants from the high mountains used to challenge the people to duels and swiftly disappear to high aeries.

My neighbor Roman is a wonderful story-teller. I’ve learned about the drunken frog that became lost in the stars, the witch of the cocoa tree, and a giant that loved stealing people lunches. Could I retell these stories for you? I wish I could, but these particular favorites were shared with me during my earliest days in site, my limited Spanish filtered only the most general ideas of these stories. But one day (maybe in a few months…) I’ll ask Roman: Hey, I’d like to hear that story again about giant and the heroes. Once I get a better handle on the details, I’ll be ready to share more. Stay tuned!