Is the Peace Corps any use?
LizardBreath at the blog Unfogged, who did a stint in Samoa from 1992 to '94, answers the question:
The substantive work I did wasn't all that useful. I was teaching math and science to high school senior equivalents, and it was really kind of pointless: first, the students had been very poorly taught before I got them ...My value to the Samoan government was solely that I was free, because the US paid my salary, and they would otherwise have had to pay a Samoan teacher to do the same job. I was the equivalent of a cash payment of about $3500/year (a teacher' s salary, if I've done the math right) to the Samoan government. ...
However (emphasis in original), and this is the big kicker, while I don't know how useful PC is generally to the people we're trying to help, I'm very certain that it is incredibly, incredibly helpful to the US's image abroad. ... The US gave very little aid comparatively, but a whole lot of Volunteers, and we got the credit for everything. No one cares if you buy them an office building, but a couple of dozen twenty-somethings going to the village dances and trying to help people, even if it's totally ineffective, is spectacular PR. If I were graduating from college and wanted to do something patriotic, rather than simply charitable, joining the Peace Corps would be high on my list. (And if I were the US government, I'd be pushing PC into more Muslim countries, even loosening the safety requirements, for this very reason. ...)
Hmm. I hadn't thought about that. Interesting.
Comments (8)
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I don't think a PC teacher in Tanzania -- where my son is doing that -- necessarily makes a greater or lesser impact than a teacher at any school in the U.S.
I definitely see the positive public relations value. In some places where PC volunteers live, they may be the only Americans the locals ever get to know. I'd say these young people are good representatives of our country.
But relax security standards to put PCVs in hostile countries? No way. It's not part of their jobs to become targets for kidnapping or murder.
Posted on August 17, 2006 11:43 AM
I agree.
But, stepping outside the box for just a moment, I wonder whether there might not be young Americans to take that risk in order to reduce the current levels of hostility. In a way, from a risk standpoint, it's no different from volunteering to be an Army or Marine infantryman right now, and (thank God) people continue to do that. I'm not advocating this, mind; I'm just wondering whether there are people who would be willing and if so, whether they really could make a difference over time ....
Posted on August 17, 2006 11:49 AM
Sorry, should read, " ... young Americans WILLING to take that risk ... "
Posted on August 17, 2006 11:50 AM
I don't doubt that there would be many young Americans willing to take the risk. Heck, they're YOUNG.
I don't think PC would be willing to take the risk or responsibility for them.
You can't compare them to the young men and women in the armed forces who are, after all, ARMED, trained to deal with hostility and usually in large groups with backup nearby. Many PC volunteers are in remote areas, on their own and a long way from assistance if it's needed.
There may be places that are a little edgy where some increased risk might be acceptable. But if we're talking about places like Somalia, where even the U.N. can't operate safely, PC should continue to stay out.
Posted on August 17, 2006 12:54 PM
I wouldn't send troops to Somalia right now, let alone PC volunteers.
I was thinking of places more like Lebanon and Egypt ... where a growing Islamicist movement might perhaps be set back by a sincere nation-building effort on our part. But I'm just thinking out loud (to coin a phrase).
Posted on August 17, 2006 12:57 PM
I recently missed out on a short-term training contract in Somalia. I was looking forward to seeing the current infrastructure.
Posted on August 18, 2006 11:20 AM
I gather you'd have to look for quite a while to find any over there.
Posted on August 18, 2006 11:24 AM
Well, the U.N is there helping, so things should be running like a well-oiled machine in no time.
Riiiiight....
Posted on August 19, 2006 3:55 PM