Comments on: Love and the Peace Corps

By: Phyllis Harris-John

Phyllis Harris-John — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:56:00 +0000

The author of this article is “keeping it real” and has a very realistic perspective of “love and the PC.” As a RPCV, I would have to say if you are going to marry while serving, marry USA, all day baby! It is AWFUL how American women are taken advantage of during a time of true, “vulnerability; in-other-words , blinded by the romance, sex, attention and everything else that motivated them to be a risk-taker in the 1st place.” With this said, it is what it is! I was married to a “villager” for 8 years and after finding out, you, as an American, can never replace what the heart is longing for; from from one’s own culture…you will always be considered a 2nd or 3rd class citizen, even though you are what the “so-called world” considers the best and brightest. Have some dignity, get a vibrator or companion and leave the bullshit alone…we are different and there is no such race as the “human race”…with all their flaws and such, I love my American Men and wouldn’t trade them for anything as opposed to living a lie! You want an experience? Date the Whiet, Asian, Indian, or Black Boy down the street…save yourself from heartache and wasted time…Real Talk!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:10:00 +0000

Please
forgive Bell (Bill) his vituperative comments. I happen to know Bell personally
and would like to provide some background. Bell is actually an RPCV, of sorts, himself. I have not known him to lash out at
the Peace Corps previously, but perhaps a wonderful story which dealt with both
the Peace Corps and love was too much for him.

You see
Bell was about halfway through a stint in (country redacted) when he was discovered
in flagrante delicto with an attractive Rhode Island Red behind the village hen
house. Adding to the interest of the circumstance was the fact that Bell had in
fact himself imported his inamorata to be the mainstay of an improved poultry
breeding program.

I want
to make it clear that this was no case of common cruelty to animals or sexual
predation. Subsequent testimony from amused villagers indicated that the female
in question had exhibited a marked affection for Bell since receipt. No one,
however, had suspected the depth of the relationship.

Needless
to say, Bell was immediately sent home by a scandalized and unsympathetic Peace
Corps administration. Bell was mortified and crushed. This was nothing,
however, to the fury that filled him when it was ruled that he could not take
Henrietta (for that was her name) back to the States. Small wonder he reacted
so poorly to this article.

You may
also be wondering about Bell’s unusual and somewhat androgynous first name.
There are several possible explanations. The story least damaging is that when
opening his first email account he typo’ed his fist name, “Bill,” and could not
figure out how to correct it. Rather than admit to this technical shortcoming,
Bill adopted Bell as his online appellation.

If you
check around the web you may find Bell listed as a female. Behind that lies a
much more involved narrative. Perhaps someone else who knows Bell would like to
expand.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:02:00 +0000

The Peace Corps was a wonderful experience for me. I met my wife, a local, and we’ve been married for over 15 years. It’s been great - everyday brings a new experience and opens my mind to a different perspective. I can’t imagine myself without her.

The 80% figure in the story sounds kinda high. For our group, I would say that it was more like 15%. This includes both volunteer to volunteer and volunteer to local relationships.

Regards, Michael Ratelle, RPCV Thailand 1993-1995.

By: Lori Cookston

Lori Cookston — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:09:00 +0000

I am proud to call Glen and Janice my Family! Love you “Little Bro”!!

By: Edina

Edina — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:35:00 +0000

Much to my surprise, I met my husband in the Peace Corps while working on health education projects in Mauritania, a country south of Morocco and north of Senegal. I met a local guy through a friend of a friend and bam…married him six months later. This shocked me, as well as everyone I knew, back at home. I considered myself a cautious person, a cynic, when it came to love. I had fallen in love several times during college and I lived with my ex-boyfriend for three years but had not been “ready” for marriage. I would agree that the intense, extreme circumstances made us fall in love at lightning speed. The harsh environment combined with the fact that life is slower in developing countries
(i.e. people do not have entertainment options other than sitting around drinking tea, in my case). The Peace Corps experience is about getting to the core of who we are and what we want as individuals and about making ourselves useful to others. We are forced to ask, “What can I do with what I have, where I am?” In the Peace Corps, a person is stripped away of all external markers- the job we do, the clothes we wear, the friends we have, the music or books we hold dear, organizations we belong to, the neighborhood we’re from, the family we belong to- all this is useless in an environment where most people are just trying to survive. Life gets boiled down to the basics- how can I eat, sleep, make friends, AND make myself useful even though I barely speak their language and I have no money or tools to offer them.

I can accept that I may have been driven by Dopamine when I feel madly in love with my husband. It allowed me to “cut to the chase.” I was able to see and feel the core of my husband without regard to his status or position. I saw his kind, gentle nature, his integrity, his sense of responsibility towards his family, and his direct way of approaching with acceptance and a positive attitude. We married one year into my service and came home to America a year and a half later.

We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary last month. While inter-cultural marriage is not easy, I will say it constantly offers me what I joined the Peace Corps for- adventure, surprise, exasperation, creativity, challenge, and most of all- human connection and love stripped of external markers. He and I fell in love with who we really are, at the core, so to speak, so I know we can face anything, handle anything, do anything together. What gets people through marriage is love, kindness, patience, and an ability to make the most of each other and the situation. The Peace Corps experience allowed me this and much more.

Sincerely, Edina Butler, RPCV, Mauritania 2000-2002

By: Lizzie Etzel

Lizzie Etzel — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:38:00 +0000

Chill out. Go protest somewhere in the real world instead of hiding behind an internet user name and let this article be!

By: Lizzie Etzel

Lizzie Etzel — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:38:00 +0000

Chill out. Go protest somewhere in the real world instead of hiding behind an internet user name and let this article be!

By: Nitai Vinitzky

Nitai Vinitzky — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:42:00 +0000

Personally, I find what Bell is saying to be quite offensive. Bell, I am asking you, if you read this, to reference the fact you stated above:

“In fact, countries that have welcomed the Peace Corps have gotten poorer and less democratic.”

I’m not quite sure if you are, super bitter, majorly right wing, or just crazy- but would like to confront your assertions by stating that Peace Corps volunteers are human beings with feelings and emotions too. If you come out and throw words around, you will be combated.

While there there may be a lot of failure in the way that Peace Corps is run, and yes you may be right that some of us are a bit “Dullard”, but where do you get the imputus to say that we are obsolete?If you ask me, war is obsolete. We should halt our army if anything. Check the numbers on how many of your tax dollars go to the army and then check how much money goes to peace corps and tell me that you think we are a waste of tax dollars. IN FACT (and this is really a fact, not just an assertion like yours), my budget has been cut drastically this past year, and our army has received more.Furthermore, As a current PCV, I can list off many great accomplishments I have personally witnessed in the year alone i’ve been serving. So unless you are an RPCV, current PCV, or some other part of this institution, with ACTUAL knowledge, please go jump back in your hole and hide there until the end of time. Thanks.

By: Nitai Vinitzky

Nitai Vinitzky — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:42:00 +0000

Personally, I find what Bell is saying to be quite offensive. Bell, I am asking you, if you read this, to reference the fact you stated above:

“In fact, countries that have welcomed the Peace Corps have gotten poorer and less democratic.”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:47:00 +0000

My husband and I met similarly in a Washington, D.C. hotel during our Peace Corps Staging before we flew off to Botswana to serve as Education Volunteers in 1995. We waited a year after returning stateside to get engaged, just to be sure it wasn’t simply the “romance” of living, working and traveling in Southern Africa. Eleven years later, we have two glorious children and often tell them about how mama and papa met in the Peace Corps. It is our hope to volunteer again after we retire and hope our children will want to serve in the Peace Corps when they finish college!

By: jeremy

jeremy — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:57:00 +0000

What a great story….and true! As far as toughness goes, I bet marriage beats the Peace Corps hands down.

By: bell larson

bell larson — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:04:00 +0000

It is not by accident that the government of India halted all Peace Corps activities. I find the peace corps’ agenda rather troubling. Traveling 13,000 miles to teach third world societies how to water a plant, put on a condom, or graft a mango [Pathetic].
These missions are very suspicious indeed. The Peace Corps and institutions like it are obsolete their existence must come to and end.

For they are arrogant, imperialist, colonialist, condescending and covert, further NGO’s like it stamped economic growth, smother social and cultural mobility, and destroy political passion, rearward educational awareness and consciousness.

In fact, countries that have welcomed the Peace Corps have gotten poorer and less democratic. Self-sufficiency and empowerment starts from within, NOT the outer surfaces. Sadly! what most of these African countries need is an aware and awakens government, and a competent leadership, not bags of high protein biscuits and cash aid.

By: bell larson

bell larson — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:04:00 +0000

By: Jeff Werling

Jeff Werling — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 03:02:00 +0000

Falling in Love in the Peace Corps? That’s ridiculous.

By: David Campbell

David Campbell — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 01:40:00 +0000

As a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Venezuela in middle 60′s, I wonder why you feel so biased against those of us that chose to volunteer two or more years of our lives trying to learn from others; to put our careers on hold and to believe we could make a difference in another culture –even accepting the challenge of learning another language?
Yes, there are plenty of needs here in the US and I propose that many of my former peers, after service, chose to continue such a eleemosynary career focus here in the US–as I did working with and advocating for Hispanic students and their families. Other stayed in programs that were run by NGO’s to continue work both here and abroad–I have met many in my travels.
I would hope that you might talk to a number of RPCV’s and visit the Peace Corps web site to gain a broader perspective of this ongoing Government program.
David Campbell