First Time, Hosts Helped to Recruit Volunteers in the United States And

DOCUMAINT RISSUMS ED 028 361It AC 004 065 By-Vaughn, Jack, Ed Peace Corps Seventh Annual Report. Pub Date Jun 68 Note- 54p. EDRS Price MF 40.25 HC-S2.80 Descriptors-Annual Reports. *Cross Cultural Training. *Developing Nations,Field Experience Programs, Foreign Policy, Indigenous Personnel. Language Instruction, Poverty Programs, ProgramCosts, *Program Evaluation, Statistical Data. Training Techniques. Volunteers, *Volunteer Training Identifiers-*Peace Corps This seventh annual report of the Peace Corps states thatthe two greatest achievements of 1968 are intangible. First. the Peace Corpsachieved a new measure of cooperation with the people in its host countries. In the summerof 1968 for the firsttime, hosts helped to recruit volunteers inthe United States and became members of overseas staffs. Second, as volunteers came home.hundreds answered the call of large cities seeking high-quality teachersfor low-quality schools. Also during 1968. the Peace Corps shifted a large portion of its training outof the United States and into host countries. Pre-service language training wasfurther intensified. In the future, as more Volunteers apply to the problemsof the United States the knowledge and insight acquired in helping people overseas, thefull value of the kind of "education" Peace Corps experience can provide will berealized. (The document includes a statistical profile chart for 1968.) (se) lb 16 . . Iw'antyou toknow thatmyGovernment .and

of 4..) IAA people 1660 indeedthe WA ba,. . a Clg cp CI6. : Botswana deeplyvalue .41= I40 =4..i=a - =411 service which thePe'ace 1.6.14..10 0 e Corps_ have provided in

this country . . . When I readand, hearof-the growing disenchantment in the developed nations Overexterna1aid 11-Aci technical issis Ia nce,SEVENTH PEACE tA,Then I learn ol fifein b-ANNUAL CORPS flUliondlresourceswhichREPORT _arebeing consumed in military confrontations, I cannot helpwishing that therewere afewmore ,\people who could recog- nizetheimpact'which fifty-tvvio young menand women arecapableof m.aking in a countrysuch

asmine . .

\ ((T.1)1Irm11 1(1 Spridlm E I, from (). K. 1Miic,IrP. :\( ()113()It\ nn(i ;Ind (II 1)n \ 1'loprm,n1()Owl' r(minwrI1,-, cm 111(' (,()T.1),, Vhile the Pedce Corp d fter seven years is an established institution, its ideds dnd doprodch to foreign dssist,ince continue to generdte comment and debate. Wh

". . .The Peace Corps . . . is not an instrument of change, but an instrument of the status quo; not a revolutionary organization, but a counter-revolutionary organization, it is the advance guard of the marines counter-insurgency in a velvet glove. Young people who sincerely want to see prog- ressive change in the world would be best advised to stay out of it." Marshall Windmiller, Associate Professor of International Relations. San Francisco State College, in the Los Angeles Free Press

.The premise of world need that gave the Peace Corps birth is as valid today as it was in the first days of the Ken- nedy presidency. And it will take a good deal more evidence than we have yet seen to convince us that the concept of voluntary service has lost its relevancy to American youth."

Editorial in the Kansas City, Mo., Star

tt Qualitative analysis of the 'microscopic good' this modern-day Children's Crusade has done may be hard to come by. Certainly the fatuous accounts put out by the Peace Corps itself cannot be heavily relied upon ...it has consumed more than half-a-billion dollars of tax money, floating eager neophytes of good will across the oceans of the world."

Editorial in the Manchester, N.H., Union Leader

"Newsweek, a well-informed Yankee weekly which once in a while serves up some gossip, reportedor maybe it just slipped byIthat last year the Peace Corps recruiters could not find a single North American who wanted to belong to the Peace Corps. Now everybody resists. Only for money or by force do the mercenaries join the Peace Corps. This is the famous Peace Corps, which is neither a corps nor peaceful." Radio Havana

"...A special word to the Peace Corps teachers in this parish, as well as the whole Peace .Corps operation in this country. ...this is really the type of cooperation aniong nations which is most fruitful. It is something apart from considera tions of big power diplomacY. It is on the level that the pe ple of this country can understand, and which they c readily accept.. . ."

Minister of,Educalion Erskine Sandiford, o Barbados. in a speech at groundbreaking for a new teacher-training center ,1

eople Say 410

" Considerable concern lets been expressed regarding the Ivkdont or imposing the unschooled and untrained brashness of youth upon the long-established protocol of nations. Our mill-trained embassy staffs and career dip- CONTENTS lomat- have L'ouble enough maintaining peaceful relations througeout btu vorld without the dabblings of youthful I. INTRODUCTION: A Time for Hope... 2 zeal blessed vith diplomatic immunities." Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn assesses the Willis E. Stone, Publisher. agency's 1968 record. Freedom NI:aid/Am' II. YEAR IN REVIEW: Several Steps Forward 4 1968 brought changes. Among them: new " ..The success of the Peace Corps should also provide countries, host involvement, young leaders, us with food for thought.... Ifthe altruism of young Ameri- applications, honors. cans has produced positive results in spiteof the fact that the Peace Corps' intrinsic nature is to serve the policy of III. COUNTRY REPORT: Nepal 11 American imperialism, think of the results the altruismof The Peace Corpsin microcosmisrepre- our own people could produceif their efforts were allied sented by Nepal, where Volunteer projects range from teaching and healthtoagri- with the humanistic goals of our own foreign policy. .. culture and public works. Nlezinarodni Po litika (Ciechoslovilkiiin journal) IV. TRADITION: Training Gets Cool 21 How the art of preparing a Volunteer has changed from uncertainty to understanding.

Inspiration exists. A refreshing spiritual impact, not V. STATISTICAL SUMMARY: requiring any materU substance, it canmake people feel Growth and Change 27 the joy and meaning of life. Inspiration comesnot neces- Charting the year'sactivities through proj- sarily ,f'rom the great man or the monumentalhappening: ects, people and jobs.Where theyare, what they do, where they come from and One can foul it whenthe gentle wind blows the leaves on the tree, 1,Vhen On the night of January 7, 1968,1 saw 69 what it costs. young American menand women speaking and singing 36 mine. They VI. IMPACT: HEALTH Korean on television, such an inspiration was While much of Peace Corps' work is in the were a Pence Corps groupwho had come to Korea to work invisible realm of custom and tradition, the in public health... . results of public health projects are very Editorial in Chosum Ilbo tangible. IKerean newspaper) VII. RETURNED VOLUNTEERS 42 Through their own words and deeds, former Volunteers define the meaning of the Peace ...This institution of the Peace Corps constitutes awork Corps experience. of peace, as well as a work of mutualcomprehensionan idea which includes affection, respect andunderstanding, which can develop, endure and extend toall areas of activ- ity. It is in this spirit that I wish tothank you for what the Peace Corps has brought in the wayof aid to Tunisia. .. . Prysident of Tunisia 'Habib 13ourguiba in a speech al a Peace Corps conference in Tunis

"1 predict that '1967 will be thelast year of the Peace Corps!" --loron King Criswell in "Criswell Predicts!" (syndicated column) I. INTRODUCTION A Time For Hope elm ow aim ow01110 ow Inno dem min Chile

Peace Corps Director lack Vaughn with Vice PresidentHubert H. Humphrey, chairman of the Peace Corps' National Advisory Council, and DeputyDirector Brent Ashabranner.

ss2,2"

7-'

r Red denotes Peace Corps countries.

recognize that Peace CorpsVolun- hisreportistraditionallya fiedtoincreasethe Volunteer's ability to communicate withand teers often receive morefrom their Tshowcase for quantified results service than they give, learn more of Peace Corps activities. But to me understand his host people. of Second, as thousands of Volun- than they teach. In the future, as the two greatest achievements searching for ways thousands more Volunteers apply 1968 are intangible: teers came home the knowl- First, in a world of mounting toextendtheir commitmentto to our own problems service, it became clear justhow edge and insight acquired inhelping conflict between nations andracial our overseas friendswith their de- groups, the PeaceCorps achieved important the Peace Corps experience is to young peoplewho com- velopment problems, we will in- a broad new measureof coopera- creasingly realize the full value of tion with the people of itshost bat inequities in their own country. For example, hundredsof former the kind of "education" the Peace countries in day-to-day operations. Corps experience can provide. This summer for the first time, our Volunteers answered the crisiscall of large cities seekinghigh-quality I sincerely hope that you will find hosts helped us recruit newVolun- the following report an honest por- teers in the UnitedStates. Also f or teachersfor low-quality schools. Two-thirds of these teacherschose trayal of what your Volunteers have the first time, numbers of hostof- accomplished in 1968. For this, our ficials became full-fledgedmembers to teach at home as adirect result of their Peace Corps service.These seventh good year, my thanks go to of our overseas staff.The Peace these Volunteers and to our hosts. Corps shifted a large portionof its former Volunteers arecommitted training out of the UnitedStates to working for abetter country and into host countries,to give through social change, and com- the most mitted to achieving theirgoals by prospectiveVolunteers ac- realisticpreparationpossiblefor constructive,not destructive, overseas service.Pre-service lan- tions. guage training wasfurther intensi- With gratitude and humility we II. YEAR IN REVIEW Several StepsForward

In its seventh year, the PeaceCorps the percentage classified as prime Volunteers: "I asked the Philippines recorded many gains. Some of the was higher than ever before: an en- Bureau of Public Schools to take highlights: couraging 69 per cent compared to over full supervision and write up 53 per cent as recently as two years the request for the Volunteers they COUNTRY SCORE: 1968 brought ago. The Peace Corps interprets this need, which I will forward on to seven new Peace Corpscountries. as a sign that it is reaching more Washington. If they will take on ThefirstgroupsofVolunteers serious and better qualified appli- these responsibilities, it also enables trained and departed fcr Dahomey, cants through refined recruiting tech- us to cut down our staff." Fiji, The Gambia, Lesotho, Tonga, niques. In the Eastern Caribbean, shifting Upper Volta and Western Samoa. the responsibilities has become a New programs were also announced TEAMWORK: During the past year, the host country officials for whom matter of absolute necessity. There, for Nicaragua and Swaziland. It was Country Director Carolyn Payton the biggest year for new countries Volunteers work have assumed greater responsibility than ever be- must daal with eight host countries: since 1963, when the world suddenly Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Gren- realized the Peace Corps had some- fore for supervising and supporting Volunteers and planning jobs. ada,Montserrat,St.Kitts-Nevis- thing special to offer and some 25 Anguilla, St. Lucia and St. Vincent nations received their first Volun- In the early days of the Peace Corps, the prerogative for develop- are all separate states, each with its teers. Although Gabon abruptly in- own government and each with a vited its Volunteer contingent to ing and overseeing Volunteer activities was exercised mostly by its own separate request for Peace Corps leave in December 1967, the country Volunteers. total reached a new high of 59. overseas staff. Now, the goal is integration of Peace Corps staff func- She has asked every government PROFILE: The picture of the aver- tions into whatever structure the to prepare a statement of problems, age Volunteer changeslittle from host country can provide. needs and jobs for Volunteers. The year to year. He is 24 and a recent In philosophical terms, this is be- eight papers are included in the liberal arts college graduate. The cause Volunteers are a no-strings "Eastern Caribbean Program Mem- ratio of males to females among ap- form of foreign assistance, to be orandum," the Peace Corps' bureau- plicants and Volunteers hovered at employed in pursuits that their host cratic designation for the paper that the 65-35 mark. As of June 30, 1968, countriesnot the Peace Corps describes its activities in the host there were 149 Volunteers and train- deem appropriate. country. ees aged 50 or older. From a purely practical stand- Like several other Peace Corps APPLICATIONS: Despite well-pub- point, it is being done because proj- directors overseas, Regional Direc- licized rumors that interest in the ects work better that way. Volun- tor Julian McPhillips, in Calcutta, Peace Corps was on the decline, the teers know they are performing India, has found that one of the best number of "prime applicants" (those needed jobs, and local officials be- ways to dovetail his projects into basically qualified and available for lieve they get more mileage out of the country's programs is by hiring service within the year) rose slightly Volunteers who are "their" Volun- a local resident to serve on hisstaff. over the last year'stotal. Even more teers. The Indian staffer is on leave of encouraging, undergraduates asking There are other advantages, too. absence from his regular job with for a place on the waiting list for Arthur Purcell, country director in a local agricultural agency,which Peace Corps service numbered more the Philippines, described how Fili- employs Peace Corps Volunteers. than 20,000 over the previous year. pino officials began planning ele- "Of course, his main job is to Of the total number of applicants, mentary education programs for the giveVolunteerstechnicalassist-

4 but the S" h"ef) highIdnd pa,tures oi Bolivia. nation \till import, m0,1 ot it, wool.To help increJNO10Cdi uniprodut tion and income oi ,mall farmers, PeaceCorp, 1'oltinteer, hae joined with Ai() andL'tah State Uniker,i0 tea( h modernsheepchearmg method!, and 14,Ip upgrade qUaNY f1ot.10.Barbara Belden, ohe oi two female tackles a sheep in 6 sheepshearer, in the nearly all-male projecl, demonstration IesNon tor farmer, C011fIllt1110 011 the ithiplano, Bolivia's high Andean plateau.

411.1170.

6';$ tors in every training session. Usu- ally, the instructors also live akmg- side the trainees and participate in cross-cultural studysessions.In some training programs, host agency officials have assumed full responsibility for training Volunteers who will be assigned to work with them, and they have helped assess the suitability of trainees for service overseas. HONORS: Colombia'shighest honor, the Francisco De Paula San- tander medal, was presented to the Peace Corps by President Carlos Lleras Restrepo in May 1968 in recognition of the Peace Corps' work to advance education and relations between Colombia and the United States. It was the first time a non- Colombian had received the award. The award is presented annually to the group or individual contributing most to the country's educational and cultural life. It is named for a general and statesman who served Bill Dyal, Peace Corps Director in Colombia, receivesthat Medal, as chief executive ofhis country in nation's highest honor, the Francisco De Paula Santander the early 1800s. from Co!cmbian President Carlos Lleras Restrepo. The Peace Corps' Colombia program has 576Volunteers. About 180 work in education, including ance in the field," saysMcPhillips. cants for Peace Corps programs in teacher-training for a national edu- "But we find he has been a great Africa. Widespread recruiting by cational television system; another cultural resource, too. He interprets African studentsisplanned for 280 work in community develop- the local scene to us, and he inter- 1968-69. ment projects, with the rest in agri- prets us to Indians who askwhat The most extensive participation culture, health and public adminis- the Americans are up to." by host country people in Peace tration projects. This summer in Senegal the first Corps activities has been in training In June, Director Jack Vaughn re- African was appointed to serve on programs. A dozen or more citizens ceived on behalf of the entire Peace the Peace Corps overseas staff. He of the country for which Volunteers Corps the Ton Hat Award of the is Alioune N'Diaye, formerlythe are bound work as language instruc- National Federation of Business and training director of Rural Vitaliza- tion, a community development program that helpsresidents of rural areas improve theirliving conditions. A number of Peace Corps Volunteers work with this agency. In Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Pan- ama and Venezuela,the Peace Corps employs Latin Americans to give technical support to groups of Vol- unteers working within various professional fields. In Colombia, for example, a former secretary-general of the Ministry of Education now has the job of developing and guiding all education programs involv- ing Volunteer teachers. This summer also marked the first recruiting campaign in which host country officials had ever partici- pated. An African diplomat and two students traveled to college campuses to talk to prospectiveappli-

e54 AS

The number of host countrynationals participating in planningand administration of Peace Corps programsreached a new high in 7968. Typical wasAbdalla Maitti, who journeyed to US. to help trainVolunteers for first Peace Corps programin Libya. While Maitti and c...herLibyans taught the trainees Arabic, the traineestaught them English.

Professional Women'sClubs, Inc. Top Hats are givenannually in recognition of outstandingefforts by individuals and organizationsto advance the statusof employed women. DeputyPeaceCorpsDirector Brent Ashabranner washonored in March for distinguishedservice in the federal governmentby the Na- tional Civil ServiceLeague. Asha- branner was one of tenwinners of the League's annualCareer Service Awards. TEACHER TALENT:The growing demand for returningVolunteers was never moreevident than in the last months of 1968. For several years,U.S. school systems havedevised special recruiting campaigns toattract returning Volunteerteachers. Last year, for example, theenterprising Phila- delphia Board ofEducation sent contracts toVolunteers, sight un- seen, tobe signed overseasand returned by mail,and netted 175 "1> new teachers. This year, the Districtof Colum- bia went Philadelphia onebetter. It sent tworanking officials directly to the Volunteersin their overseas posts. The tworecruiters, Edward

M. m.

Cambia Director, New Breedof Rich Wanush. lead a program in aLatin American Leaders country .. . bornin Cuba, livedthere Young until 1950, majoredin Spanish at Louisiana StateUniversity. .. . Volun- former Volun- . These are the six teer in theDominican Republic .. teers whobecame country directors Associate PeaceCorps Director in in their 20s.They handle a "com- Deputy Director inGuate- job, says Peace Chile... plicated, delicate" ..met andmarried his wife, (see mala. Corps Directorjack Vaughn Herta, in Chile ...two sons, Don the text on page 8). "New Leaders" in and Charles. Richard Wanush, 26,Director in The the Kensing- Don Cameron,29, Director of Gambia ...native of New Peace Corps' newestprogram, Nica- conuhued on page 8 ragua ...first former Volunteer to Winner and William H. Bolden, took heard about the letter and asked directors(plus three more under a six-week swing through Tunisia, why it wasn't included) are now 40) are former Peace Corps mem- Ghana. Ethiopia, the Philippines and working to develop programs that bers who performed effectively as Korea, interviewed about 250 teach- will make the most effective use Volunteers, then spent some time ers completing Peace Corps service, of fomer Volunteers in stateside learning their way around the bu- and brought back 116 applications schools. reaucracyinWashingtonorin and 30 signed contracts. field posts and eventually returned The trip not only was highly prof- NEW LEADERS: "The job of a abroad to manage their own coun- itable in terms of numbers of pros- Peace Corps country director is in try programs. pects interviewed, but also gave the most ways as complicated, delicate Now, as country directors, they faculty recruiters a direct line to and responsible as that of an Am- must plan and carry out every detail the type of teacher they are rarely bassador," says Jack Vaughn, him- of overseas Peace Corps operations, able to find: the liberal arts college self a former Ambassador to Pan- from the initial meeting with host graduate. ama. country officials to fit Volunteers "Most people coming out ui teach- Ir. 1968, seven country director into five-year plans for develop- ers colleges are not as well-prepared pos,s were held by men under 30. ment, until the day more than two as those coming out of liberal arts This statistic is evidence of the years later when those Volunteers colleges," explained Winner. "But fact that no other overseas agency, complete service and board a plane in the Peace Corps, a math teacher public or private, gives as much to return to the United States. was most likely a math major, not responsibility to members of the In addition, to help ensure that an education major wl.o had a few under-30 generation as the Peace his program is responsive to local math courses. Corps. needs, the country director must "We are dealing here with people Begimiing with Volunteer service spend nearly full time simply talking who are committed, who see teach- (average age, 24) up through staff to people the poorest farmers as ing as a valuable contribution to level (40 per cent of the overseas well as diplomats. society, who are liberally educated staff members are former Volun- Meeting those people more often with a strong foundation in a sub- teers), no man or woman is denied requires a long, bone-jarring jeep ject, and who have two years of the chance to do a Peace Corps job trip in khakis than coat and tie at experience," said Winner. because of a chronologicaldefi- a state reception. In fact, no other With a view to enlarging the pipe- ciency. post held by Americans abroad line to the new pool of teaching The Peace Corps has learned that requires a greater degree of direct talent represented by former Volun- age is the least reliable predictor physical involvement with a devel- teers, Peace Corps Director Jack of performance in the field. What oping nation and all its citizens than Vaughn wrote school superintend- makes a good country director are the job of a Peace Corps country ents in Los Angeles, Detroit, Cleve- the same qualities necessary for director. land and New York, pointing out successful Volunteer service ini- CONFRONTATION: The Foreign that Volunteers were willing and tiative,flexibility, awareness and PolicyAssociationdoesn'toften able candidates for teaching posts concern. Peace Corps service itself hold convocationsonly onceevery in hard-to-staff inner-city schools. is the best proving ground for po- 50 years. The response was immediate. All tential country directors and other But when it does, as in May 1968, the cities (plus Minneapolis, which key staff. For example, six under-30 it strives to live up to its founding

Dave Sherwood's usual transportation in mountainous Continued from pap 7 Lesotho is his horse. Plane takes ton, Pa....graduated in 1963 from him to visit far-distant Volunteers. University of Pittsburgh, B.A. in history. . . .Volunteer teacher in Liberia ...Peace Corps Operations Officer for West Africa with 16 Volun- teers, heads the Peace Corps' smallest program ... sonMichael born Sept. 1967 in The Gambia.

John Hudey, 30, Director in Fiji... native of Carbondale, ill....B.A. degree from DePauw University, graduate work in pre-med science... John Hurley, standing, far left, with Volunteer in Malaya (now part of the officials of Fiji who are signing Federation of Malaysia).. .Associate agreement to bring Peace Corps to the South Pacific nation. 8 I-4 e rzttYrr,

1.0110.0"1".11.111 4rormlowirmo.aw

oi IT PI"IE t. COW, Yoluntcet, tettui.ti1() h -,t*H.c); Pi7ilado!phia Mt:et-city ,chou!,. Philachqphia fit,t tt) h :()r :(qmor coacher..I hi, \oar (4. Ir cltio, it)rti;:t'd stut.

-=aa.eallulftel..

?fit x Peace Corps Director in Malaysia ... grams for Africa-bound Volunteers ..Sherwood heads the first Peace married a Peace Corps Volunteer f °a.m. nurse in Malaysia, Rita Franzone ... Corps program in Lesotho. son, Mark, and daughter,Laura. Russell Schwartz, Director in Botswana David Sherwood, Director in Lesotho ...at 25 became first country director picked from ranks of former Vol- ...only 26 when appointed to post unteers ...native of Rochester, N.Y. in 1967... native of Tewksbury, . ..B.A. in international relations Mass....1962 graduate of Bowdoin from Harvard...Peace Corps service College...taught school as Peace ...Operations Officer Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone ... in Sierra Leone worked in a special teaching intern for Peace Corps programs in West program in the Districtof Columbia Africa...in 1966, led first Peace Corps program to Botswana, newly ...Deputy Director of Peace Corps and Russ Schwartz with headmaster independent nation in the heart of training camp in Virgin Islands, then students at up-country school near Continued on page 10 Deputy Director of all training pro- the village of Mathubudukawane in Botswana. 9 inforeignaffairs. Former White House fellows, newly appointed Foreign Service Officers, returned Rhodes Scholars and corporation junior executives were invited. So were returned Peace Corps Volunteers about 175 of them and they comprised thelargest single group represented at the convocation. The FPA helped pay for travel and lodging to ensure Peace Corps representation. While the FPA expected a healthy exchange of ideas, it didn't antici- pate the confrontation that took place. Parts of the agenda were scrapped. Talk sessions extended late into the night. Those under 35 wanted answers touncomfortable questions they posed to those over 35. Returned Peace Corps Volunteers asked for explanations of American policies they observed in action overseas. Basically, the future leaders wanted Returned Peace Corps Volunteers ruffledthe ager da of Foreigo to talk about what must bedone Policy Association's semicentennial meetingin New York by asking now to build a betterworld40 years experts hard questions about CIS.foreign policy. Swedish economist from now, ratherthan speculate Gunnar Myrdal loads session with formerVolunteors,who were invited about what the world is going to to attend the convocation asfuture leaders of American society. be like in the year 2018, as the agenda dictated. "The dynamics of the convoca- educational The leaders in foreign affairs were tion were more interesting than its principle:tobe an participant. forum on American foreign policy. about 400 State Department offi- content,"saidone To achieve its educationalobjec- cials, international business execu- "These young people don't want tives, the FPA invited two typesof tives, college professors and others to sit in easy chairs and theorize delegates to its three-day affair at over age 35. about the world of tomorrow. They the New York Hilton. They were The future leaders consisted of want to build their tomorrow them- called the "leaders" and the "future an equal representationof people selves, and I don't blame them a bit." leaders." under age 35 with proven interest

04,11.

Aik NiX ^ 44; adaapite.447`'

Continued from page 9 Ya. southern Africa...currently works 7404011411.01 in Peace Corps' headquarters,Office of Planning, Program Review and Re- search. Sam Stokes, 27, Director in Dahomey . .native of New York City. .. .Yale graduate...lived in Paris and Eng- land.. .Volunteer in the Ivory Coast . staff member of Peace Corps training programs. ..Operations Officer for Peace Corps programs in West Africa directs activities of 25 Volunteers in "Dahomey's first Peace Sam Stokes, center, talks todirector of Dahomey's Boy Scouts, Corps program. who work under guidanceof Peace Corps Volunteers. 10 Pe.:r P(Ah thir Wk. ,!!! Mt, fhLind, it, P",A;th' airir,ltratr ,.«r,:r);; in(he Asidn criuners, t.xporion! II in Nop.O. Richard %1-1 trarnill i olLi ;!. thr. A and tf.ftr Wird! pubhtsork. Cr ftq, 1!":6V:o Cu. at- 13;W%ling projaq !il., I:1%4 di!,hs

* k oo Z. .: " . b. 4 .44 .44 .40,/* 464 #01It-jONIP

oesp3r...:

III. COUNTRYREPORT PeaceCrpsin.-lepal i 4014

.& 4 I.- Tales FromaT

r1,1.40-

Nothing tellsthe Peace Corps story better than an accountof its experience in one country, focused on the workof individuel Volun- teers. Over the past six years,the Peace Corps has flourished in the heady climate of Nepal. The stozy of its progress in this country sug- gests the pattern of PeaceCorps- host country activities and personal relationships throughout the world.

, Nepal? It was Shangri-la, Hillary on Everest, photosof blue sky and white snow in old National ANTFishasew' A Geographics. It was bells on mule trainsinwindswept Himalayan passes, a tiny countryperched on the roof of the world. To most Americans, Nepal was still a remote "mountain kingdom" when the first group of Peace Corps Volunteers,theirmisconceptions somewhat muted by a training session at George Washington Univer- sity, landed at Kathmandu airport in1962. For the occasion, the Nepalis who had kept their country closed to Westerners for a centuryprior to1951 sent officials of the national tourism agency to greet the Because increa,ing agricultural yields is top priority inNepali first Volunteers. Apparently, Nepal development plans, it is also the Peace Corps' principal concernin this viewed the advent of the 70 Ameri- country. Michael Gill was a history majorand now is a Peace Corps cans as little morethan a welcome "generalist" trained to help Nepali farmers produce better crops. boom in the local tourist trade. But after six years, good inten- tions and first impressions have crystalized into practical knowledge of what the Peace Corps can do to help Nepal. More than 540 Volun- teershaven'trevolutionizedthe country. They were never meant to. But the accomplishments of three generations of Volunteers are clear:

na TIBET

t. Everest

Volunteers in Nepal are indicat by the dots on th

From "Nepal" by Pradyumna P. Karan 0 1960, University of Kentucky Press.

. ._ villagers were so impressed bythe nificant to Nepal. 400 acres the Sinee food production isNepal's crop that they planted is also ned-on Land following year. major national concern, it Villages previously connected the Peace Corps'. More than 50 per only by footpaths to the outside are cent of the 179Volunteers serving year-round by roads in this country havejobs as agri- now linked culture extension agents. The rest 1200 students are involved in built with the aid of Volunteers. The number of miles coveredis are assigned toteaching and to rural a radically new program,just two construction projects. years old, in which scienceeduca- small, but each foot of road was by the hands The top priority agriculture pro- tion has become laboratoryand cut out of the hillside problem that Nepal experiment oriented. The goal is of the local people. gram attacks a Scores of water systems,bridges shares with her neighbor, India,and elimination of the rote method of with most other developing nations science teaching. and irrigation systems havebeen A teaching program in mathe- constructed. Liberal arts graduates, today. given an intensive course inPeace Ninety per cent of theNepalis matics, just moving from the exper- depend on farming for theirliving, imental stage to widespread usage, Corps training, act as advisorsand engineers in these projects. but, for most, that living is abare is making math relevant to the lives subsistence. The country now ex- of Nepali youngsters. In some instances, Volunteers have dramatically altered thelives ports some food, but if itis to con- Rice production has been in- tinue to feed its 10.5 millionpeople, creased dramatically where Volun- of individual people such as one Volunteer's introduction of iodine broaden its economic base and keep teers and their Nepali counterparts population, have introduced new varieties of into the drinking water of avillage, pace with a growing which arrested goiters throughout Nepal must find ways to bring more Mexican and Philippine rice. In one food out of reluctant land. extreme case, rice productionfor the settlement. Volunteers in Nepal do agricul- one village rose 1200 percent. In Nepal has fostered a kind of Peace Corps in microcosm,where ture extension work invillages, other villages, yields have increased most of them in an areacalled the steadily as a result of this project. living conditions, relationshipswith Nepali hosts, a competent Peace Terai. Much of the increasedfood Wheat, a potential cash crop for production must take place in this export to hungry India,has been in- Corps staff and hard-workingVolun- produce region, which containstwo-thirds troduced where none was previously teers have all combined to its a success thatif modest by West- of the nation's arable land for grown. In onevillage a Volunteer major products. planted one demonstration acre,and ern standardsistremendously sig-

Nepal require constant trekking andliberal exposure to out-of-doors, most Since most Peace Corps jobs in especially in education. Elizabeth Front Volunteers assigned there are male. But womenstill have an important role, this group of children after class. lives in the town of Sanishare, whereshe teaches at /oca/ school and tutors

AIL

'44,4

r. Alb44.4" One glimpse of the Teraishatters every lastmyth of Nepal as a country dominatedby snow and ice- capped mountains. It is aflat, low plain, about 20 mileswide, stretch- ing across thesouthern end of the country. From September untilmid-June, the land and everything onit bakes, and little can be grown.From April on, the temperaturehits 114 degrees day after day. Thenthe monsoon comes. Throughthe summer months, P-411 the rains make rivers outof road- ways and, atthe same time, provide moisture for the year's crops. Mike Gill, from Wayne,Pennsyl- vania, an agricultureextension Vol- unteer in the Terai,explains life there: "Life is pretty simple; therearen't too many excitingthings going on in my village. I've got amango grove to shower in, nice grovesto walk through. I didn't expect it tobe as hellishly hot as it is, butaside from that, and the tastelessfood, I like it.

The man at the bottom of thewell is Volunteer Richard Rathbun. His regularjob is agriculture extension in the village ofLaxminia, but he can providesolutions to almost any kind of problem, such as pumping mud outof the community well to improvethe taste of the water. At one point the pumpclogged, and Rathbun had to climb down tofind the trouble. One of Peace Corps' mostpromising projects in Nepal is a science teaching programthat will eventually substitute theexperiment and discovery method of instructionfor rote learning in science classes. PeaceCorps Volunteers were instrumental inteaching method to Nepali teachers anddeveloping teaching materials. Douglas Hallsupervises experiment in water displacement atDurbar School in Kathmandu, Nepal'scapital.

"Everybody here is a farmer, so everybody's interested inincreasing his yields. If it is proved to afarmer that a new method will improvehis crops, thenhe'll go ahead and try itifit's within his means.And when he is successful, hisgood for- tune is appreciated byeverybody, not just a few," Gillsaid. Nepal's shortage of roads is perhaps an even greater problemthan a shortageof food. With a land area about thesize of Illinois, the country has only 600miles of all- weather roads. Except for oneroad connecting Kathmandu withIndia to the south andanother connecting the capital with Lhasa inTibet,

- At a schoo/ built by AID nearKathmandu, Volunteer Lloyd Stevens teaches blind students toread Brai//e. Blind himself, Stevens has helped the schoolexpand its capacity have no to help handicappedpupils who otherwise would educational opportunity. Aftercompleting his two years of Volunteer service, Iloydre-enrolled in Peace Corps, is now in his fourth yearof service.

there simply are fewpractical year- round roads outside theKathmandu Valley. For many years to come,the most adequate waybetween most points in Nepal willbe by foot or A rePthematics andphilosophy Kathmandu. Most of his projects by plane. Koplo- are located insmall villages sur- There are mostly grasslanding major at Cornell University, rounding Beni. When the rains do Royal Nepal witz has now become aconstruc- strips, so the DC-3s of tion expert for the PeaceCorps in not force construction toshut down, Airlines Corporation canreach into Koplowitz spends much of his time when weather permits. Nepal. His job is to survey,design, the hills make estimates for and, ifneed be, on the trailvisiting sites. Like other But for most localpeople and Vol- Volunteers, he always travels light: trekking across the help in such projects asbridges, unteers alike, irrigation ditches and watertanks. He takes only what fitsinto his mountains is still theonly form of the back pack. transportation. But fewregard the Koplowitz works in one of most beautiful spots inNepal. On a The construction projects are re- constant trekking aspunishment: quested by village people. Thedis- repayment clear daywhen it's not monsoon the beauty of the land is he opens his shutters to a trict's rural public works agency, for sweat-soakedshirts. season headquartered in Beni, gives funds Volunteers are assigned to a gov- spectacular view of Mt. Annapur- for na's two snow-cappedpeaks, rising for construction and an overseer ernment publicworks program that Slightly to the project, usually Volunteer Kop- eventually will help open upthe 25,801 and 26,504 feet. lowitz. In his first eight months in forms of trans- theirleftisDhaulagiri,forever country for other topped with ice and snow at26,975 Nepal, Herb designed four bridges, portation. One of theseVolunteers, estimatedrepairs on four more Herb Koplowitz ofElmont, New feet. He is posted in thesmall provin- bridges and built five water tanks. York, is a prototypalPeace Corps which is four And he talked with a lot ofpeople. "generalist," or liberal artsgraduate cial capital of Beni, "They're learning, perhaps, not Peace Corps days' trek from Pokhara,which is turned specialist by ride from about America, but about one Amer- training. in turn a half-hour plane

15 ,

ican, and I'm learning about Nepal," group-participation rather than lec- In spite of these problems, STEP he said. ture classes. They were shown how has expanded from five to eleven "If you are like most Peace Corps to fabricate simple lab equipment schools, and there are plans to add Volunteers who say that material from materials available in the local nine more schools soon.In little goods don't really matter, well, in bazaar. more than two years, the project Nepal you're without them, without "Then, armed with a complete set has developed from a tentative ex- electricity, without running water. of lesson guides, they returned to periment to a regular part of the And if there were running water I their schools to launch the new sciencecurriculum.Iteventually couldn't drink it without boiling it. classes....From the very first day will be used in every school in the "And I just don't miss it," said when the children were given card- country. Koplowitz. "This is a much simpler board boxes containingdifferent Another promising Peace Corps life; it's a better life." objects and challenged to guess innovationisa "new" typeof Like all other Volunteers in Nepal, what was inside each box from the mathematics teaching, which was Koplowitz lives on an allowance of way the object rolled around and introduced by Volunteers Mel Gold- $45 per month. He is posted as far sounded the new method of sci- man and John Rice.Basically, it north as any Peace Corps Volun- ence teaching caught on with the involves applying the STEP philos- teer: The Tibetan border is 50 rugged pupils. ophy of science education to math. miles due north. What would be an "By the end of the yea r they were "In Nepal there is often very little hour's drive on a good, straight road growing biological cultures in jelly relation between what a student is takes many days of hard trekking glasses, investigating the properties taught and what he will need in to cover. of light, heat and sound and tracing life," Goldman said. "The young- As the land rises in the Hima- the neural paths in a goat's brain. sters often can't perform basic prob- layas, the population grows sparse. lems in addition and subtraction. Only a few traders carrying salt We gave a test, and the average and other goods to Tibet break the number correct was 6 out of 20 stillnessof the mountain passes only 30 per cent." withtheirclanging mulebells. Forming a committee with Nepali There are no permanent residents education officials and an AID ad- among the towering peaks unless visor, Rice and Goldman set to work one counts Yeti, the fabled abomi- on a new teaching manual. nable snowman. Volunteer teachers in Nepal are Education is the job of 5 0 Volunteers spared much of the constant trek- in the Nepal program. Lois Phillips teaches king that is part of the job of Vol- English and algebra in elementary school unteersinagriculture and rural in Ilam, Nepal. public works. But they share their counterparts' fascination with the land and its people, and their vir- tually unlimited opportunities to put individual ingenuity to work on George Zeiclenstein, Peace Corps problems. Director in Nepal for three years: For example, while helping to "Relationships with the Volunteers ease a critical teacher shortage, the have been rewarding. Relationships Volunteers have also helped Nepalis with the Nepalis have been initiatedramatic changes in the nothing short of beautiful." teaching and learning process. Nepali science specialist Bhairab Prasad Upadhyaya and Volunteer Science was something they partici- Chris Jeffers developed a method of pated in, not just something they science-teaching that was entirely learned about." new in Nepal learning scientific As growing numbers of Nepali theory by experiment and discovery. teachers take the two-month STEP In the past, scientific principles and training course run by Volunteers, processes had always been taught the number of children reached by by rote. STEP increases. In 1965, 440 young- The new method, dubbed Science sters were in STEP science classes. Teaching Enrichment Programme, In 1967, there were 1200. is now becoming known throughout This is astounding progress, given Nepal as STEP. UNICEF News re- the communications problems that cently described it this way: are part of Nepali life. Even the "STEP's first year was a signal most simple equipment must be success. The Nepalese teachers who carried on a man's back to schools were to teach the first STEP classes in the hills. Education officials must took a special two-month training allow two months for new lesson course. ...They learned how to run materials to reach remote schools.

16 '

47r,

4 " . 11111.1f _ k

r4A:v.

A reL

, 4Jer"

Tod Ragsdale has dual sob:town planning and health work. Here he operatespublic health session, gatharing a crowdin the town bazaar for lecture anddemonstration. Behind Toc/ is Mitra 1..11 Upadshyaza,learning the routine so he can take overwhen Tod completes Volunteer service.

Teachers traveled intoKathman- du from hill schools totake a training course in the newmethods. In the meantime, Nepalis,AID staff and Volunteersworked full-time to prepare lessonplans. Gajendra Man Shresthahas been Mel Goldman'sNepali counterpart worker throughoutdevelopment of the mathematics program.An ex- cellent example ofthe partnership maintained betweenVolunteers and their hosts throughoutthe country liesin the workingrelationship between these two men. Shrestha helped planthe math project from thebeginning, and he '.4", Ss joined Goldman in theclassroom as the two young teachersput their theories to the first test. Just as Shrestha isMel Goldman's counterpart, mostother Volunteers in Nepal work closelywith Nepalis David O'Connor teaches both English and agriculture at a school inthe town of Karfolk. helps Nepali teachers with English during class breaks. who share the same work, living Peace Corps staff, and after firm small, intense man who brought ad- conditions, job problems and satis- assurance from Nepali villagersthat ministrative skill to his job as well faction for tasks done well. the Volunteers will be welcome. as a sensitivity thatdeepened dur- In the agriculture program, for Bruce Morgan, the man who suc- ing the experience of working and example, two "junior technical as- ceeded George Zeidenstein as coun- living in Nepal. sistants" work side by side: one is try director in Nepal, agrees that As he was preparing to return to a Peace Corps Volunteer,the other a partnership is the key to a good the United States to direct a multi- Nepali whose agriculture extension Peace Corps program in Nepal. million dollar urban renewal project work is his lifetime career. In the "We see more people, particu- in New YorkCity,Zeidenstein public works program, Volunteers larly the senior officials in the min- talked about the personal meaning and Nepali district overseers take istries, who have a very real appre- of his three years with the Peace equal responsibility for shaping de- ciation of what the Volunteer can Corps: "For ine this has probably signs of wells, bridges and water and can't do, what his unique value been the most important growing systems, on the drawing boards as is and what it isn't," said Morgan. period of my life. well as in the field. "Zeidenstein encouraged this from "Relationships with the Volun- George Zeidenstein, Peace Corps the time he first came here. He teers have been extremely reward- director in Nepal from 1965 until wanted the government of Nepal to ing. Relationships with the Nepalis 1968, played a vital role in develop- play a greater part in what we were have been nothing short of beauti- ing the Volunteer program there. doing. He didn't want us to simply ful. Probably my second best friend He believes the integration of Vol- go over to the ministrywith papers in all the world is a Nepali. He's a unteers into Nepal's development and have the government rubber- guy I'll never forget and, one way plans is the result of a conscious ef- stamp them. or another, I'm going to seehim fort by Peace Corps staff members "And this effort paid off. They're again from time to time." to encourage Nepalis to take a lion's taking an active role in decisions, Zeidensteincontendsthatthe share of the responsibility for plan- wanting to know how this Volunteer bare-bonesexistenceVolunteers ning and overseeing Volunteer ac- is doing and why he isn't doing share with Nepalis in rural villages tivities. better. The Nepalis care a lot. They presents no problems. Accordingly,Volunteerassign- care because they have seenVolun- "Our experiences show that Vol- ments are closely coordinated with teers in education for five years, in unteers just don't give a damn the priorities established by Nepal's rural construction for five years and where they live or what they eat," Five-Year Plan for 1965-70. Volun- in agriculture for two years. They he said. "Sure, if you invite them teers are supervised on the job by know what the Volunteers can do." in and give them a good meal at the Nepalis, and they work alongside Now 39, George Zeidenstein came Ambassador's they will eat every- Nepali counterparts. They are as- to the Peace Corps from theWall thing in sight," he said, referring to signed to villages only after careful Street law firm of Spear and Hill, the hospitality toward Volunteers site checks by Nepali officials and where he was a partner. He is a by American Ambassador Carol

18 number of sort of wheathas been grown. And daily meeting place for a Laise. next year, Iwould make a rash villagers. Morning tea atRathbun's "But they'll go formonths and be is developing into such atradition with guess thatthe yield is going to making months on just dal bhat (rice tripled," he said. that he is worried about lentil sauce), and if theirjobs are room foreverybody who wants to in the Rathbun has also madeother good and their relationships one ofthem almost by come in. community are good,they're per- changes Recently conversationturned to accident. from fectly happy." "As you know, we use acouple the muddy quality of water But being a successfulVolunteer purify the the village well. Rathbunpointed of drops of iodine to pump in takes more than happiness."We're water," he said."Well, I usually out that there was a water wary aboutbuilding too much struc- pradium punch at his the village. Why not pumpthe well job. The eat with the dry, clean it out andspread new ture into the Volunteer's house.I always took myiodine great talent of thePeace Corps Vol- along, and I told themthat it made sand on the bottom? unteer is only visiblewhen he gets that our doctor Rathbun himself climbeddown the water pure and discovered that a little room toswing," Zeidenstein said it could arrest goiters. into the well and said. "You've got to givehim a real the Tharu, the pump couldn't handleall the give him "Now, the tribe here, But job, but you've also got to is very prone to goiter.My prad- mud that had accumulated. freedom to improvise onthat job." in. When I some of themuck was pumped out, han panch took all this the One Volunteer who movesfreely went on a vacation,I happened to sand was pumped in and now in and around hisassigned task is leave my iodine bottle athis house. water is muchcleaner. Rich Rathbun, anagricultural ex- While I was gone he gave some To make certain thatVolunteers tension worker inthe small Terai goiters, and operate from a solidbase, the staff iodine to people with specialists: village of Laxminia. in just a couple ofweeks the goiters in Nepal employs two agraduatearchitect Kansan James Grider, aformer vo- Rathbun, had disappeared. who is from Stanford University,arrived "When I got back people cameto cational agriculture teacher the height of the a one-mantechnical bureau, and at his post during me and sad,'Give us some iodine, who was monsoon rains.His first view of please.' I went into townand got a Eileen Scott, a linguist the village was from atop anele- bottle and sold it for the sameprice born in Great Britain andis now phant belonging to aneighboring to the shopkeeper, and now he a U.S. citizen. really work- "We're supporting theVolunteers village headman. sells it all the time. It's but more To his inexperienced eye,Lax- ing," Rathbun said. not only in a direct way, of hun- in proj- strongly in an indirect way,"Grider minia first looked like any He is constantly involved I keep dreds of other Terai villages.Square ects outside hisjob in agriculture said. "When I am visiting, huts of mud and strawroofs clus- extension. His room serves as a in touch with theVolunteer, but I terclosely together, twovillage sells cig- wells, a small shop that expert arettes, kerosene andflour and a Key member of the PeaceCorps staff in Nepal is agricultural wheat. Be- James Crider. His job is toadvise Volunteers working inagriculture extension, mill to grind rice and relationships with Nepali extension agents. yond the village lie thefields where as well as tobuild smooth working

water buffalo pullsimple wooden NIL plows and splash in theriver when the day's work is done. Rathbun's special goodfortune is to have communityleaders as close friends. They are hisNepali co- worker in agriculture andthe prad- han punch, or villageheadman. "The headman is very progres- sive. I mean, he'llreally stick his neck out," said Rathbun."We will be sitting around andhe'll actually suggest to otherfarmers that they grow the samething he is trying and so, through him, I guessI am influencing eight or ninefarmers." Thanks to Rathbun andhis Ne- palicounterpart,several farmers now use newimproved rice seeds, and others are usingfertilizer and irrigation systems for thefirst time. Two or three haveplanted a third crop throughthe use of irrigation. "We grew 40 tons ofwheat last year, andthis is only the second year inLaxminia's history that any

° also visit the Nepali agricultural of 0 to 5with 5 denoting full self-imposedisolationfromthe officer. I ask, 'How can I help you? fluency Nepali Volunteers regu- world itis remarkable that the How can we improve our training larly score from 3 to 9.5. (There are Nepalis, in their efforts to improve so that the Volunteers cando their no FSI tests for most locallanguages life in rural areas, have sent dozens jobs better?' " spoken by Volunteers in Nepal.) of Volunteers to live in close, day- Before Volunteers come to Nepal, Mark Fritzler,ti Volunteer sta- to-day.contact with the rural people. they are given intensive training in tioned in the hills, explained the Every Nepali invitation to the Peace the national language, Nepali. Some importance of these efforts to com- Corps has represented an extraor- Volunteers will speak only Nepali municate: "The villagers can visual- dinary act of confidence on the part in their assignments overseas. But ize America a little better now be- of people who must have pondered others, posted in villages in the hills cause I'm here. They canunderstand long and hard whether they were or the Terai, will never useNepali us as human beings. Wearen't not, in fact, inviting Westerners to unless they are visiting in a town. tourists; I live here. They ask me meddle in their domestic affairs. These Volunteers must learn an what my family life is like, what There is still another factor at additional language when they ar- kind of work I do, the kind of day work in the Peace Corps' partner- rive in the country. I have in the States. And I describe ship with Nepal. As one Volunteer Eileen Scott says: "The languages my farm life, for example. They can put it, "This is a turned-on country." in rural areas include Maithili, Bhp). What he meant is that spiritual ex- picture it. They have a concept of the ultimate reward Vol- puri and Hindi. And there are dif- an American as ahuman being. altation ferent dialects within these groups. unteers want from the Peace Corps They've discovered that, after all, is, in this happy land, part of the The closer you get to Bengal, for our human needs are not so differ- instance, the more Maithili goes into climate. ent from theirs." One Peace Corps staff member Bengali. But they are all related. Perhaps the most notable example They're often mixtures." made the same point in another The constant training overseas of the Peace Corps' ability to com- way, as he described howgood pays off. Volunteers who usethe municate is the trust it has won people, good programming and good Nepali language consistently score from Nepal's government. In a coun- luck have all dovetailed neatly in well on the Foreign Service Institute try whose history has been shaped Nepal. "There is,"said Regional (FSI) tests given before and after by suspicion of the outside world Representative Jerry Sternin, "a lot their tours of duty. On a rating scale and, until less than 20 years ago, of love in this operation."

As ok (wet. On road (onstructk)n project, PeterI3reitenbach of San Diego 1m5 to keep books: ch(ming % here the money goes. With a BA. in pcychology,Breitenbach ianother cram* of "generalist" made construction ".spocialist" by PeaceCorps training.

20 411W-m

NI Nor, um, ,

4tr....szttz

Peace Corps' newest training camp atEscondido, California: dust, sagebrush and a cram course inreality.

Sketches by W. L. Prescott

IV. TRADITION TrainingGetsCool

No part of the Peace Corps has a haunting presence inPeace Corps the methods of teaching it. It knows undergone more radical change in training, but it is mitigated today what life for a Volunteer really is the past seven years than its train- by one fact: The Peace Corps, as like, and no longer caters to myth ing program. The following is an ex- teacher, knows what the water's and conjecture. planation of how and why. like. In Marshall McLuhan's terms, In early Peace Corps days, train- Peace Corps training has laft the ing basically was a cram course in Tile young man stood in the bright "hot" medium of formal classroom stored-up knowledge on history Hawaiian sun, squinting against learning for the "cool" medium of and politics, sociology and anthro- the mid-morning light. "Training is living experience. pology, language, American history like teaching a non-swimmer," he It has taken trainees out of the and values, and a little psychology. said, pondering his brief exposure classroom and put them inthe "We put the trainee in a classroom to Peace Corps training. "You can streetsand into the schools and of precisely the kind most had just tell him all,about how to swim, but homes and farms and fields of the escaped from," says a veteran train- until he gets in the water he won't very people they will serve asVol- ing officer. know whether he can do it." unteers. It knows now the valueof The Peace Corps used colleges Such uncertainty always has been language, and has vastly improved and universities as training sites

21 . z

The Escondido camp's cantina features beer and bull sessions in the shade. because it figured that was where to Venezuela, whose Indian popula- Volunteer as "trainees trying to the expertise should be. Unfortu- tion not only is vastly different, but swim in the pool with their hands nately, nobody knew what a Volun- almost negligible. or feet tied, small groups dragging teer's life would be like, so they That many Volunteers were in during the late afternoon after had little idea how to prepare him poorly prepared quickly became ap- hiking through the mountains with for it. Besides, the experts often had parent overseas.Notes one host out-of-date maps to guide them, accumulated their information years country official: "The Peace Corps soaked and shaking from the cold before, so much of it was out of Volunteers learned about a country, afterfour hoursofunrelenting date or irrelevant to the Volunteer's but not how to live in a country." tropical rain...." assignment. Part of the problem was uncer- "Now," says an agency official, Trainees being prepared for Ve- tainty as to just what education is "we know that the trainee cares nezuela were advised to bring a all about. "The philosophy of the greatly about surviving with people two-year supply of Dial soap and Peace Corps then was to separate as well as in places." stainless steel razor blades, com- the men from the boys," says an This approach reflects growing modities they discovered later were educator closely associated with the Peace Corps maturity as well as available almost everywhere in their agency."It was a testing experi- recognition in the American class- hostcountry.An anthropologist ence, not a learning experience." room of the primacy of direct initia- who had spent a year in Peru lec- "Outward Bound" was the epi- tion into the ways of a mercurial tured some trainees on the Andean tome of the emphasis on rugged world. Training takes its cues from Indians. But the trainees were going training, vividly recalled by one the lives of Volunteers; education is beginning to emphasize experi- ential learning. In Peace Corps training, tradi- tional classroom work has been sharply limited. Seminars are pre- ferred instead. Citizens of the country to which the trainees are assigned participate actively in the training program, usually as language teachers.Returned Volun- teers are used, too. The change in philosophy also dictated a change of scene, and the Peace Corps began to move off- campus. It was not a total divorce, however. Instead of scattering training programs among many schools, the Peace Corps initiated long-range relationships with a few, which have proved beneficial to both parties. Montana State University at Boze- 'TO Dress is casual like weekends on a far-out campus. Pavilions for language classes are blue mushrooms sprouting under the oaks.

man, for example,has trained Vol- unteers for Ecuador since the Peace Corps began. This stimulated Mon- tana State, says a Peace Corpsoffi- cial,to gain "expertise in Ecua- dorian affairs and strengthen its graduate programs with returning Volunteers." The Peace Corps move away from campuses was also anoutgrowth of an increasing desirewithin Ameri- can society, especiallyits youth, for social action as an integral part of the educative process. At the same time, the Peace Corpsrealized that Volunteers are better prepared for cross-cultural confrontation overseas when they arefirst given a taste of it athome, in such un- familiar locales as city slums, mi- grant labor camps, rural poverty areas or Indian reservations. The Peace Corps also established its own training centers. Two camps were set up in Puerto Rico inthe early years, rustic sites isolated in a rain forest halfway up a stun- ningly beautiful mountainside. Now there are four more centers: two in the Virgin Islands, one at Escondido, Calif., and one in Micronesia. The goal of the centers is two- Instructor and trainee 'wing' it head to head in an outdoor session. 23 A- Idross 111 A group of teachers assigned to quip Ghana hithe summer of 1987 trainede_ltirelyinthat country, mixing language and cross-cultural studies with practice teaching for five weeks, living with local fami- lies and spending free time in various activities designed to develop a greaterknowledgeofGhanaian society. This program illustrates the potential benefits of in-country training. The trainee is placed in a situ- ation where he must face people "71/ ,..4011121112%. and customs he will live with. He learns how to get along with people who will be his associates and su- periors. He eats local food, attends meetings, plays with the children and spends his evening in a routine --1011P""" that will become a way of life. "They are taking a harder look at themselves than they have ever 741- done intheirlives,"noted one Assignment: Go to Mexicali for four days, find a place tolive, learn Peace Corps official. "They have to come to grips and face reality. They about your neighborhood. One trainee started a mini-school. are stripped of any artificial props

fold: to give the Peace Corps greater control over training and to provide trainees with direct confrontation with strange new worlds. In Puerto Rico, for example, groups in training frequently are sent around the island on field trips,at first for weekends and then on longer ex- cursions. From the Virgin Islands camps, they fan out across the Caribbean alwaystoliveand work with people in their own communities. This is a far cry from early at- tempts at "field trips." A Venezuela YMCA group training at a Massa- chusetts college went to the local Y's pool one day to learn how to regulate the quantity of chlorine. "In Venezuela," one Volunteer said later, "I felt fortunate to have a basketball. A pool was beyond my wildest dream." The Micronesia training site illustrates the logical extension of the quest for realism: training overseas. By 1968, 35 per cent of all trainees were receiving part or all of their training in their host countries. The advantages of on-the-spot training are myriad. For example, in many Latin American countries trainees for rural community de- Turned loose at Tijuana and told to get to velopment projects have surveyed, Mexicali and back by yourself. Some did analyzed and selected the sites they it economy class across Baja California. would work in.

WriroWS0.4^43W.44M.1.01,W, g.Vjr,arli.',7,7,7;.:020011-1x=v;,7,-r:=17. -AL

J111e.

coug Ell

11111111111110

Cardboard shacks of squatters areintroduction to povertyfor most trainees. or scheduling.They have to stand alone. They have tomake decisions. They have to have someconfidence. It is an experiencegeared to the role of the Volunteerwhat he is in reality." The effect ofin-country training on theindividual was describedby one of theGhanaian trainees in a discussion of language:"You are able to put it into contextand learn the pattern of thelanguages; you learn languageand customs together; you learnhow the language influences other behavior." From an almost cursoryapproach to language inthe beginning, the Peace Corps nowprovides about 300 hours ofinstruction during training, occasionally asmuch as

Across the co/onias,self-conscious gringos questioned,listened, learned some factsof barrio life. 400 hours.It teaches more than 150 languages. Teachers usually are citizens of the host country. Some colleges and universities have adapted the Peace Corps approach to their own language teaching.At Dartmouth, for example, the school is introducing intensive French and Spanish courses with 14 hours of class work a week, enabling students to complete their language requirements in no more than two trimesters.This is an adaptationofthehigh-intensity method the Peace Corps has found most effective, in which trainees are given a month of solid language learning, eight hours a day for six days a week. The success of this approach is demonstrated by a study made for Harvard University by the Educa- tional Testing Service of Princeton, N.J. The study compared the level of oral proficiency reached by trainees in several high-intensity programs with that of a group of col- legelanguagemajors.Of 2,784 seniors tested, 2,604 had an average listening and speaking ability in French and Spanish comparable to the language skills the trainees had After each field trip, furious scribbling in log books. acquired in just four weeks. Another early training problem involved the talents trainees brought with them: Few had any skills the tive,conscientiousandflexible, basic carpentry, sheet-metal con- Peace Corps could use. Most train- qualities less easily taught than the struction, roofing and cement and ees, it developed, were nottechni- ABCs of poultry farming. concrete work. These and dozens cians but recent college graduates With the right teachers and the of other skill-training components who had majored in liberal arts. right circumstances the Peace Corps are neatly programmed into training Like the maligned philosophy ma- believes, there are few skills that sessions. jor, what else could they do besides can not be taught to these "general- Finally, all parts of training have sell shoes? ists."It has gotten skill training one ultimate objective: to startthe Quite a bit, the Peace Corps soon for the liberal arts graduate down process of learning. For the Peace found out. They did not know how to a science. For example, enough Corps, even language and skill in- to shear sheep or test for tubercu- surveying and drafting to enable the struction are not so much courses losis when they began training, but layman to work effectively overseas of study with defined ends as they they quickly learned. Besides, they can be learned in 150-200hours. It are guides to how much stillneeds were generally intelligent, imagina- takes from 100 to 150 hours to learn to be learned.

Footlockers with far addresses, each for a trainee ready to ship out.

, V. PEACE CORPS STATISTICALSUMMARY

In its seventh year, the PeaceCorps m continued to expand itssphere of operations. By June 30, 1968,there were TOTAL 13,823 11,115 Volunteers at work in 57nations and another 2,708 in training.This was an increaseof seven countries over 1967. The charts and maps on thisand the following pages statisticallyportray the agency the people, jobs and operat- ing costs. NANESA 2,457 100% 1

8.4 1,044 1962 14.3

1.9

WHERE THEY ARE is shown in 8.2 4,379 7.6 25.6 54.6 pie chart above, which includes 1963 both Volunteers overseas and trainees forallfour regional 4.0 areas. Latin Americaand Africa have always had thelargest concentrations of Peace Corps 6,063 Volunteers. 19646.6

4.6

8,624 1965 7,9

4.2

10,530 1966 8.2

2.7

. 11,912 1967 10.2 JOBS PERFORMED by Volun- teers in the field are charted at 3.9 right. The division of assignments remained fairly constant 11,115 over the past two years,with 1968 10.3 mostVolunteersengagedin education. 4.3

OTHER AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY EDUCATION HEALTH DEVELOPMENT

27 he average Peace Corps Volunteer in 1968was male (65.1 percent), T24.2-years-old (with 113 over 50) andhada collegeeducation (96.8 per cent attendedcollege; 84.4 per cent had adegree). The percentage of married Volunteers continued to increase:22per cent, or 3,048,of all Volunteers were married.

N. H. 192 VT. WASH 998 136 N. DAK. MONT. MASS. 122 166 4001 1,394 MINN. OREG. 4iyaw R. I. 1,010 WISC. 30° 601 S. DAK. 121 104170 912 MICH. 123 CONN. 179 WYO, 1,301 VA. 62 IOWA ,s0 N. j. 78° 1,169 NEBR. 590 IND.otno NEV. ILL. 1,406 w. DEL. 239 623 so 1,765 VA. A 81 UTAH COLO. 106 143 MD. 621 KANS. MO CALIF. 206 530 386 489 4,979 OKLA. 1213"7".Air"S. C ARK. ARIZ. N. MEL 231 99 276 131 146 MISS. ALA. GA. 240 62 160 TEX. LA. 850 135 KA. 564

ALASKA 39 CANAL ZONE 1 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 208 GUAM 1 140 HAWAII remained concentrated in the West 62 POINT OF ORIGIN for Volunteers PUERTO RICO of the country's population have con- VIRGIN ISLANDS 3 where 13 states with only 15% tributed 25% of all trainees, Volunteersand returned Volunteers since 1961. California leads the listwith 4,979. Washington is first in per capita ranking, followed by Vermont,Colorado and Oregon. Half of the top ten university contributors arein the West: University of Cali- fornia at Berkeley, Universityof Washington, UCLA, Stanford and Colorado. (San Francisco Stateand San Jose State are 11 and 12.) Other top ten Peace Corps schools arethe universities of Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois andHarvard.

28 ANDS 30 25,059

THE RETURNED VOLUNTEER (Cumulative) IN THE SUMMER OF 1968, the 20 25,000th Volunteer returned to this country, a figure more than double the number ovetleas at the time. One-third of those who return go back to school, mainly for an ad- vanced degree. Of those who go to work, about a third teach, primarily in the hard-to-staff ghetto schools. Many others go into some form of public service work, including agen- cies with the Federal, state and 10 local governments. 7,104

3,612

824 0 1967 1968 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966

THOUSANDS PERCENT 100 40 90 SUPPLY AND DEMAND REENLISTMENTS 80 BY PROGRAM YEAR 30 70

50 20

30 10

0 01 TOTAL AFRICA EAPt LATIN NANESA* 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 AMERICA APPLICATIONS VOLUNTEERS AND UNDERCLASSMEN TRAINEES applied to the Peace EXTENSION OF SERVICE is becoming a commonindicator MORE THAN 250,000 Americans have their work. Since 1961, Corps since 1961. How many havebecome Volunteersis of the dedication of Volunteers to for training; a total of 3,004Volunteers have extended their tours or charted at left. Fewer than one in five is selected about one of every The Peace re-enrolled for a full two years. This is three-fourths of those who enter training go overseas. 1968. Nearly 30% Corps now distinguishes between applicationsfrom college sen- six who had served through June 30, likely to be accepted of those who have served in EastAsia/Pacific have stayed iors and graduate students (those most school year or finish a project, during the current year) and underclassmen, whowould be on, usually to complete a available only in the future. Of 31,111 applicants in 1968,21,437 the highest total of any region. were college seniors.Another 59,192 underclassmen expressed interest in joining, a record number. In 1967, 21,332applicants were immediately available,and only 36,000 underclassmen expressed interest. 29 *North Africa, Near East and South Asia fEast Asia, Pacific 00-0, ow,ree. AO

UNITED STATES

CUBA 12t1c5zAITI DOMINICAN REPUBLIC BRITISH PUERTO HONDURAS JAMAICA RICO HONDURAS 0-ST. LUCIA ATEMALA WINDWARD/LEEWARD IS. L SALVADOR NICARAGUA GUYANA VENEZUELA,. COSTA RICA SURINAM y number of Volunteers, this is PANAMA FR. GUIANA Bthe largest of the Peace Corps COLOMBIAt regions. More than 10,000 Volun- teers have served or are serving in ECUADORIN Central and South Americain seven years. The programs func- /-1 tion in 20 nations and the major emphasis is on community devel- BRAZIL Opment: to create a sense of iden- PERUi ""%... tity and purpose among the people the Peace Corps serves and to pro- BOLIVIA 'I.\ mote self help as a desirable and -.0 practical method for the improve- I ment of men and communities. CHILE ; %N.PARAGUAY e/ (I 1 URUGUAY

1 / ARGENTINA

SEVEN YEAR SUMMARY: Volunteers in country at end of fiscal year

1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 WHAT THE VOLUNTEERS 548 639 601 580 WERE DOING: 1968 Brazil 43 168 210 Chile 63 99 106 294 397 392 254 Colombia 103 229 561 544 506 522 576 El Salvador 25 21 49 55 51 105 119 Public Jamaica 38 32 62 77 70 101 117 Health Eastern Caribbean Islands15 14 17 5 45 89 124 Venezuela 23 83 117 265 292 352 262 5.4% Bolivia 35 112 126 220 266 303 219 Others British Honduras 33 18 49 33 42 45 4.8% Costa Rica 26 65 61 107 154 98 Dominican Republic 144 171 85 101 140 161 Ecuador 156 236 309 211 255 247 Agricutture Guatemala 27 105 83 69 140 151 11.6% Honduras 27 46 103 107 174 167 Panama 28 76 133 196 171 174 Peru 285 293 379 301 349 283 Uruguay 18 4 48 65 31 Guyana 44 51 Paraguay 35 56 Nicaragua Totals 345 1,484 2,276 3,214 3,439 4,034 3,715

30 1 .0 ...oft... ------..... '"' %. I I I I ... / . MAURITANIA / i 'N....A , MALI I eft" NIGER I I am. S ... -r -- . ....0 e i FRENCH ....,1 % t SENEGAL 0, LI / CHAD/ SUDAN 1 SOMALILAND -, % / UPPER .0",....%.,-- b. GAMBIA % t J VOLTA)- 1 or % GUINEA.)"- ...r. I i PORT. GUINEA NIGERIA ... . 1 II// 0 , s . J-0 t 11 si_ -CENTRAL iN e ETHIOPIA '''.., % 1 ,r... AFRICAN SIERRA LEONE 1 I I ./ l f REPUBLIC / `....1 ./)".,,,...... /'''' LIBERIA CAMEROONil°". IVORYGHANA DAHOMEY SOMALIA Ve/ 1 UGANDA COAST TOGO RWANDA EQUATORIAL GUINEA KENYA GABON/. REPUBLIC E"'10 I f'" .... OF THE ... 1 CONGO IIBURUNDI CONGO /".1 TANZANIA9

1 r

ANGOLA ON! MALAWI ZAMBIA - %..... II which the %.0 One-third of the nations in -'1,...... )0":0,""... Corps serves arein sub-Saharan r \RHODESIA I MALAGASY / REPUBLIC Africa. The newest Africannation, Swazi- SOUTH 1 / WEST 14 s..... i land, welcomes its firstVolunteers early 1BOTSWANA 7.-1MOZAMBIQUE AFRICA in 1969. Throughoutthe continent, Vol- I t 1 ...,re unteers are partiCipatingin the crucial 1\e' ' I L. SWAZILAND processes ofnation-buildingin newly ...../ independent countries. REPUBLIC OF Le LESOTHO SOUTH AFRICA

of fiscal year SEVEN YEAR SUMMARY:Volunteers in country at end

1968 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 110 111 208 242 Ghana 51 129 136 719 719 248 Nigeria 109 258 508 634 159 150 233 236 273 Sierra Leone 37 120 WHAT THE VOLUNTEERS 290 143 Tanzania I 35 26 125 326 366 WERE DOING: 1968 Tanganyika5 39 88 103 118 77 61 Cameroon 566 432 389 Ethiopia 278 402 565 41 70 35 49 71 Gabon 71 80 Ivory Coast 49 51 56 83 Public 399 317 299 Liberia 132 272 335 Health 48 129 156 Niger 16 12 43 123 9.8% Malawi 1 42 97 230 231 153 Other Nyasaland5 51 55 ,75 119 Senegal 34 62 3.6% 80 96 73 Somali Rep. 35 58 49 109 102 Togo 44 59 56 81 Agriculture / Guinea 52 95 129 197 229 253 Kenya 4.6% 35 56 118 123 Uganda 56 50 Botswana Co 30 38 n - Chad 11 Deve Mauritania 16 16' . 0 Gambia 44 Upper Volta 66 Lesotho 26 Dahomey Swaziland 3,421 3,427 2,924 Totals 232 1,243 2,093 3,010

31 lialliSZAM UO sIMMiums visas& 0 - ately needed in the United States One obvious reason for the in- nity action projects, Head Start, today. creased demand for former Peace VISTA and other anti-poverty pro- Whatever the reasons, returned Corps Volunteers is the shortage of grams. Volunteers are in great demand. For qualified teachers, particularly those The Office of Economic Oppor- example, between 100 and 200 em- willing to teach in ghetto schools. tunity has hired hundreds of former ployers contact the Peace Corps' Another is the recognition by school Volunteers, and its San Francisco Career Information Service each officials that the Peace Corps expe- office alone has more than 25 for- month hoping to fill more than 500 rience provides Volunteer teachers mer Volunteers on its staff. job openings in both the public and with "an approach, a way of going John Arango, 30, former Volun- private sectors. about things" that 'Is a vital first teer in Colombia, is special assistant About half of the former Volun- step to teaching. to the director of the 0E0's San teers,according to Peace Corps "We regard them as the single Frvncisco office. "Many Volunteers statistics, change their career plans best source of top-flight educators seek out administrative positions," after two years overseas, a partial available to us anywhere," Robert Arango says, "because they feel explanation for the large percentage Blackburn, director of Philadelphia's they have valid, relevant ideas about (about 38%) who return to continue Office of Integration and Intergroup the world today and they want the their education. Education, told a House of Repre- power to implement them." Of those employed, over one- sentatives committee. For returned Volunteers intent on third are teachers, an impressive Another third of returned Volun- careers in international concerns, figure considering that less than teers currently employed work for the State Department has special appeal. Eighteen former Volunteers were About 200 former Peace Corps Volunteers now work with the Agency for International appointed Foreign Service Officers Development, often in jobs that parallel their Peace Corps experwnces. Harold Lie* in 1968, bringing to 100 the num- (standing in background) is AlO coordinator for mobile methcat teams in Thailand, ber in career positions in the State a project designed to bring services of doctorsand nurses to rural villages for the first Department and the United States time. Here he watches Or. Suchart Chanbanchob check elderly k Wager complaining Information Agency. About 200 re- of lung congestion. Lierly was a Volunteer in Thailand, and -speaks fluent Thai% turned Volunteers work with the Agency for International Develop- ment. The Peace Corps alone employs more than 450 former Volunteers. Ten have served as country directors, and returned Volunteers now comprise more than one-third of the totalPeace Corps administrative personnel at home and overseas. A Most other Volunteers who are currently employed enter business Alani.11. a- or the professions. More than 12 per cent work with international or non-profitorganizationssuchas CARE and the United Nations. The financial world, particularly those firms with international ties, also has attracted returned Volun- teers. About 15 former Volunteers are employed by the First National City Bank of New York, and 10 work for Bankers Trust Company, A handful has decided the best lutlets for their ideas are organiza- tions of their own. Roger Landrum, a former Volunteer in Nigeria, helped to found Teachers Incorpo- rated, a New York-based non-profit organization designed to"realist- ically prepare" teachers for assignment in ghetto schools. 0 0 Landrum, who directed several Peace Corps training projects after his two years as a Volunteer, says he "came back to the United States shape their destiny are being rec- one-sixth intended to teach prior to federal, state and local governments ognized as human qualities desper- joining the Peace Corps. heavily concentrated in commu- ately needed in the United States One obvious reason for the in- nity action projects, Head Start, today. creased demand for former Peace VISTA and other anti-poverty pro- Whatever the reasons, returned Corps Volunteers is the shortage of grams. Volunteers are in great demand. For qualified teachers, particularly those The Office of Economic Oppor- example, between 100 and 200 em- willing to teach in ghetto schools. tunity has hired hundreds of former ployers contact the Peace Corps' Another is the recognition by school Volunteers, and its San Francisco Career Information Service each officials that the Peace Corps expe- office alone has more than 25 for- month hoping to fill more than 500 rience provides Volunteer teachers mer Volunteers on its staff. job openings in both the public and with "an approach, a way of going John Arango, 30, former Volun- private sectors. about things" that is a vital first teer in Colombia, is special assistant About half of the former Volun- step to teaching. to the director of the 0E0's San teers, according to PeaceCorps "We regard them as the single Frvncisco office. "Many Volunteers statistics, change their career plans best source of top-flight educators seek out administrative positions," after two years overseas, a partial available to us anywhere," Robert Arango says, "because they feel explanation for the large percentage Blackburn, director of Philadelphia's they have valid, relevant ideas about (about 38%) who return to continue Office of Integration and Intergroup the world today and they want the their education. Education, told a House of Repre- power to implement them." Of those employed, over one- sentatives committee. For returned Volunteers intent on third are teachers, an impressive Another third of returned Volun- careers in international concerns, figure considering that less than teers currently employed work for the State Department has special appeal. Eighteen former Volunteers were About 200 former Peace Corps Volunteers now work with the Agency for International appointed Foreign Service Officers Development, often in jobs that parallel their Peace Corps experiences. Harold Lie* in 1968, bringing to 100 the num- (standing in background) is AlO coordinator for mobile medical- teams inThailand, ber in career positions in the State a project designed to bring services of doctors and nurses torural villages for the first Department and the United States time. Here he watches Or. Suchart Chanbanchob check elderly k Wager complaining Information Agency. About 200 re- of lung congestion. tierly MIS a Volunteer in Thailandind -speaks fluent Thai% turned Volunteers work with the Agency for International Develop- ment. The Peace Corps alone employs more than 450 former Volunteers. Ten have served as country directors, and returned Volunteers now comprise more than one-third of the totalPeace Corps administrative personnel at home and overseas. At, A Most other Volunteers who are currently employed enter business or the professions. More than 12 per cent work with international or non-profitorganizationssuchas CARE and the United Nations. The financial world, particularly those firms with international ties, also has attracted returned Volun- teers. About 15 former Volunteers are employed by the First National City Bank of New York, and 10 work for Bankers Trust Company, A handful has decided the best lutlets for their ideas are organiza- tions of their own. Roger Landrum, a former Volunteer in Nigeria, helped to found Teachers Incorpo- rated, a New York-based non-profit organization designed to "realist- ically prepare" teachers for assignment in ghetto schools. Landrum, who directed several Peace Corps training projects after his two years as a Volunteer, says he "came back to the United States _dor 11111111L_ f

5 1

vT5T.'

Chicago Head Start teacher Lee Gallery is oneof about 5,000 former Volunteers whohave based careers around education. A language major in college,she changed career plans after Volunteerservice in Ethiopia. "I found out in the Peace Corps that I enjoyteaching and I plan to stick with it," she says.

with no knowledgeor explicit inter- TransCentury Corp., a Washington- estin American public education. based technical assistance organiza- Instead,I was attempting in a very tion founded by Warren Wiggins, dogmatic way to make Peace Corps former Peace Corps deputy director. training more relevant. The firm, which has emptoyed "We arrived at the idea of train- about 200 former Volunteers, has "You are special citizens. You are ing Volunteers in ghettos because contracted with government agen- the persons who, in a free, demo- this was an environment more un- cies and private foundations to sup- CratiC society, decided to serve that ply middle-level manpower for anti- societywho, by a conscious act of familiar to them, suid we felt this was where wecould challenge their poverty as well as researchand your free will, have left theranks of workinlow-income the bystanders end spectators to be- ideas most effectively," Landrum evaluation come participants. explains. areas. "And when you come back from "We found out not only that this "These are the kind of Americans abroad, if you don't think yourself is an effective way to train Peace who would rather solve a problem special you will simply disappear Corps Volunteers, but also that our than 'research' it; do a job rather into the bog of affluent livingyou approach was applicabletothe than talk it," Wiggins says. "These won't make a differenceand your problems of teaching in the ghetto." experienced young people are a 'contributions, as well as your op- Probably the largest and best largely untapped source of dedica- portunities, will be lost." known "spin-off" organizationis tion, vigor and needed skills." Bill Moyers, former Peace Corps Deputy Director, now 45 Publisher ofNewsday, hi a speech to former Volunteers

-44.44444444444444444414.44..m.,", Aimi.../111111

_rosint INONOIL_

with no knowledge or explicit inter- TransCentury Corp., a Washington- est in American publiceducation. based technical assistance organiza- Instead,I was attempting in a very tion founded by Warren Wiggins, dogmatic way to make Peace Corps former Peace Corps deputy director. training more relevant. The firm, which has emptcyed "We arrived at the idea of train- about 200 former Volunteers, has "You are special citizens. You are ing Volunteers in ghettos because contracted with government agen- the persons who, in a free, demo- this was an environment more un- cies and private foundations to sup- craft society, deckled to serve that ply middle-level manpower for anti- societywho, by a conscious act of familiar to them, smd we felt this was where we couldchallenge their poverty as well as researchand your free will, have left theranks of workinlow-income the bystanders end spectators to be- ideas most effectively," Landrum evaluation come participants. explains. areas. "And when you come back from "We found out not only that this "These are the kind of Americans abroad, if you don't think yourself is an effective way to train Peace who would rather solve a problem special you will simply disappear Corps Volunteers, but also that our than 'research' it; do a job rather into the bog of affluent livingyou approach was applicabletothe than talk it," Wiggins says. "These won't make a differenceand your problems of teaching in the ghetto." experienced young people are a 'contributions, as well as your op- Probably the largest and best largely untapped source of dedica- portunities, will be lost." known "spin-off"organizationis tion, vigor and needed skills." Bill Moyers, former Peace Corps Deputy Director, now 45 Publisher of Newsday, in a speech to former Volunteers

-..nye.to.fx.rompremervitv001`.4wwder., ratner tnan oe aetermtnea, asIt generally is, by either political or Arcnitects economic issues," Gammill says. Corrough, who has a master's degree in architecture and urban de- for Tomorrow sign, says advocacy planning is a "multi-discipline approach to some of the mundane but very interesting problems of the inner city." Tohn Corrough and Ron Gammill, but with different emphasis. Both returned Volunteers contend Volunteer roommates in Tunisia, "The work we did there was in that many architects today seem joined the Peace Corps with a lot a certain political context. In school, overly concerned with conspicuous going for them. Both were recent architectsdon't work with any design that will bring personal no- college graduates, but, in contrast givenpoliticalproblems;what's toriety. Some architects, they say, to most Volunteers with liberal arts worse,they hardlyrealizesuch have downgraded functional con- backgrounds, they brought into the problems exist. siderations of the buildings they Peace Corps highly technical archi- "They work on problems that are design and seem unconcerned that tectural skills. highly theoretical, with imaginary peopleareforcedtoadjustto "Those of us who joined the clients, almost limitless budgets, a strange, sometimes incompatible Peace Corps after long professional very ill-defined problematical con- surroundings. educationsleftfor Tunisia with text in terms of the specific require- "This is particularly true for hous- some rather inflated notions of just ments of housing or whatever the ing designed for the poor," says exactly what we could do," recalls problem is. Gammill, whose firm was organized Corrough, 28, now a senior planner "Trying to function in a different in 1964 by two University of Cali- for Los Angeles-based Victor Gruen culture is hard enough in itself," fornia professors to deal specifically and Associates. Gammill says, "but when you mix with low-income housing. "I suppose we felt we were going that with trying to upset a whole Gammill, therefore, spends much to be the experts. We were going range of ideas about your chosen time interviewing ghetto inhabitants to help the benighted people be- profession, the end result can be and evaluating existing housing to cause of our great skills. Well, we disenchantment. determine shortcomings in terms of got there and found that our great "Most people went to Tunisia the user. skills didn't stand us in great stead not being strong realists and came Corrough's main role is that of at all, but it was our problem-solv- out either having met the problems project coordinator. One of his typ- ing ability, if we had it or if we and found ways to work effectively, ical projects involves developing a could develop it, that really enabled or they came back being very dis- revitalization plan for a small Mid- us to be useful," Corrough says. couraged," he said. west city with a decaying central Gammill, 28, now an associate in Gammill and Corrough returned business district and decaying fringe the Berkeley,Calif.,architectural from Tunisia convinced by their housing areas. firm of Hirshen & Van der Ryn, experiences in the validity of "ad- "It's mostly a job of coordinating agrees with his former roommate vocacy planning.""This concept a number of people in my office," Corrough says. "By blending together the perspectives of the archi- Architect Ron Cammill returned from Volunteer service in Tunisia tect, planner, social scientist, engi- to work for the Berkeley, California, firm of Hirshen and neer and other experts we are able Van dor Ryn, which was organized by two University of California to create a plan tailor-made to the professors to deal specifically with low-income housing. needs of the community and the people who inhabit that area." Neither former Volunteer fits the siereotypeofthearchitect who spends hour upon hour dreaming up V.P new building designs. Says Gam- 4(404kALfLAL0L4diMh1..- mill: "There are now architects who have enough social commitment to t believe the user is important and ought to be considered. "This sense of social commitment is derived from a lot of sources," he says. "The Peace Corps is one. I found out in Tunisia that being an architect in the context of sitting at a desk and drawing pretty pictures has little to do with the problems we face today."

46 xi# ".""s"-It" John Corrough. right. With a colleague at the firm of Victor Gruen and Associates in Los Angeles. Now senior planner for Gruen. Corrough served in Tunisia w;th Gan 7mill. Sot!) designed a wide ariety of buildings for the Tunisian government. and found their everience iolevant to urban planning problems in the U.S. Conservative vice &Oros, inc., iormully a Chicago street gangthat has now organized to improve economic outlook for slum neighborhood on Chicago's West Side.

club, an organization or a corporation. We want to be recognized as something different from the old street fighters the guys who went stomping or mugging through the streets up through the early sixties." Dawley's first contact with the Vice Lords was in the summerof 1967 when he went to Chicagofor TransCentury Corp. The former Vol- unteer's assignment was to inter- view ghetto residents involved in government-sponsored programs. "I had to make contacts in order to do my job. I soon found outthat the Vice Lords run the streets and therefore I hired two of them as interviewers," he says. Dawley's work moved smoothly and he got to know the Vice Lords "basically an organization made up of the tough guysof society, the ones that societylabels hard-core, the unreached, the dropouts, the delinquents, the criminals, the ad- dicts." He learned that the leadership Calculated was moving theorganization in new directions; it had decided the old ways weren't gettinganybody any- place, according to Dawley. Risk Pays Off "The leaders are all over thirty," he says. "Two of them had younger brothers who were killed in gang Dave Dawley, aformer Peace the former Volunteer haslearned fights. Another of the leaders was Corps Volunteer in Honduras, the idiom of the ghetto, andthe driving down the street and a car short exchange is one way to say pulled up alongside. There was a walks down the Chicago streetdaily shotgun blast, and the guy sitting as if he hasn't a worryin the world. "good morning." inNehrujacketand Despite hit mannerisms, his dress, next to him was killed." Dressed his use of idiom, Dawley, 26, a Dawley says the Vice Lord lead- striped pants, Dawley nearsthree love for their tough-looking blacks leaning against product of a white, middle-class ers "have a great community who graduated from fellows out here on the street. They a plate-glass storefront. don't want them to go through this They eye him suspiciously,then Dartmouth, looks blatantly incon- gruous in Lawndale,the black ghetto kind of thing. turn their attentionelsewhere. Daw- "They turned the organization. ley keeps walking; he'sheading for which the Conservative Vice Lords call their "city." This is the beautiful part. There 16th and Lawndale, the "strong- wasn't a chance in the world of a hold"oftheConservative Vice But Dawley isa Conservative Vice Lord, one of the very fewwho white person coming in here and Lords, an 8,000-memberpredomi- organizing these guys.I wouldn't nantly black organizationwith a finished high school and definitely the only one with a collegeeduca- have given it a thought, just from an reputation as the toughest street intellectual point of view. gang on Chicago's WestSide. tion. He joined the street gangearly Dawley passes the store front. in 1968 shortly after "it went re- "When I was doing research, I spectable" and incorporated itself saw there was a usefulrole for me One of the blacks calls out:"Hey, to play. And I saw that I couldhelp Davie, what's happening, man?" under Illinois law. "Gang is a word we're not using them with the things they wanted "Nothing much," Dawley replies, to do. So I came back,"Dawley and walks on. anymore," Dawley says, "andthe Actually, plenty is happening, but group prefers tobe called either a recalls.

48 rowed money and lived- in Lawn- ties and aspirations in Lawndale. construction,manpowertraining, dale for several months without an "The Vice Lords want to stay human awareness programs with income, working to pry loose foun- here. They don't want to be moved. white suburbanites." dation "seed grants" for economic They don't want jobs over the other And he offers this challenge: "Let development projects of the Vice side of town; they'll create their foundations and other sources con- Lords. own jobs here. They want to re- tinue giving us the seed funds until The calculated risk paid off. The build their own community. we stop producing people." Conservative Vice Lords,Inc.,is "This is black economic power. But the former Peace Corps Vol- now Lawndale'sfastest growing Everything we run will be black- unteer isn't blind to the high risks economic development corporation. owned and black-managed. We will involved. He serves as liaison between the create employment for black people "I recently read a report that says Vice Lords and foundations. He and that employment will be here in the line between destructive and says his work is an extension ofthe the ghetto," Dawley explains. constructiveactivismisthinner work he did as a community devel- The results have been encourag- than the line between activism and opment Peace Corps Volunteer in ing, Dawley says. "We have opened passivity. Honduras. a restaurant called Teen Town.It's "In the same person, you have "There wasn't much going on making money, which goes back much of the violence that could dis- when I was in college," Dawley into the corporation. rupt into a riot, the same guy who's says, "even though I had the same "We have a heritage shop, which involved in building a business to- basic values thatIhave today. manufactures and sells Afro-Ameri- day could be involved in a riot There just wasn't a way for me to can clothing, jewelry and art. We tomorrow, depending on the spark, get personally involved in anything. run a pool hall; we just received a the incident that ignites it." But the experience in Honduras $50,000 grant for a beautification Nevertheless, Dawley seems obliv- made me more sensitive to the dis- project that will provide jobs for ious to fear in the ghetto. After all, crepancies between aspirations and 110 people." the former Volunteer is a Vice Lord realities of life for people I didn't DawleysaystheViceLords one of the recognized leaders even know existed." haven't even begun to tap their working to build, not destroy, Chi- Dawley's now hard at work to potential. "We're talking about get- cago's West Side.

Dawley served as a Volunteer in Honduras, now is liaison manbetween the Vice Lords and various foundations that offer grants for community and economicdevelopment projects. He says his job in U.S. is an extension of community developmentwork he did in Honduras.

-'11;111,

/111011.11.1111WP-'

1. 'Small Nir 1 ' in App I ..i

Bill Bridges talks withresident of the mining community around Hardburly, Ky., whereBridges lives and works. As small coal industries in the regiongradually shut down, men such as this will find themselvesunprepared for other work (or that other work isnonexistent), and may be forced to mme out of the area.

About 85 miles from Lexington, Kentucky, just south of the Mountain Parkway, a small creek converges withthe north fork of the Kentucky River. A man and a horse tried toford the shallow body of water, so the story goes, and neither was seen nor heard of again. About 100 people now live within sight of the scene of the strange disappearance. They call their un.: incorporated town "Quicksand". Be it fact or fancy which gave the town its name, from aneconomic standpoint, thousands of people are caught in Quicksand and the sur-

50 The coal tipple (scaffolding behind Bridges) is a common sigi it in the mining communities of EasternKentucky. Basically, Bridges' job is to help these communities gain a sense of their own potential through self-help projects rounding coal-mining camps of east- Bridges spends most of his time spired by Bridges, received a Ken- ern Kentucky. getting to know the people in min- tucky Award of Meritforthe The story of Appalachian poverty ing camps and other small commu- cleanup campaign and other im- is well known. But awareness alone nities of eastern Kentucky. provements for which he and the doesn't solve problems. He speaks with a distinct Ken- members of his association were Bill Bridges, the only son of a Ken- tucky drawl and he talks the coal responsible. tucky farmer, is both aware of and miner's language, pointing out ways Riley can't read or write, accord- involved in solving the problems of they can better their conditions and ing to Bridges, "and I point this out his nativestate. The 55-year-old gently guiding them to initiate and in tribute to Estil because it didn't former Volunteer (one of more than develop self-help projects. keep him from becoming a leader 500 persons over the age of 50 who The "small miracles" achieved in and doing a fine job. have served in the Peace Corps) is Hardburly, not far from Quicksand, "Hardburly is just one community. a community development specialist are a source of pride for Bridges Any community can do the same in the University of Kentucky's Co- because he spurred the community thing," according to Bridges. "So operative ExtensionService. For development program there. frequently we get to feel that people him, "Quicksand is the center of Estil Riley, president of the Hard- in depressed areas just have their the world." burly Improvement Association in- hands out all the time. But if they're

51 rs,

444

44, '1

tt"

, & , SEVEN YEAR SUMMARY: Volunteers in count, y, at end of fiscal year ATLANTIC BRITISH ISLES OCEAN 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968

India 26 115 153 401 754 1,133 750 PORTUGAL Pakktan East 1 29 West f 28 172 191 141 35 Morocco 56 102 133 117 83 94 Tunisia 94 48 135 192 252 230 136 181 207 171 SPMN FRANCE L Afghanistan 35 62 SPANISH NETH. Ceylon 36 42 13 SAHARA MOROCCO Cyprus e4NI 4 Iran 41 36 149 272 267 167 / ot I Nepal 65 96 120 150 121 179 411..4 415 V Turkey 39 114 338 481 225 158 I Libya 18 13 p. oft% Totals 83 676 802 1,553 2,182 2,406 1,804 HUNGot...

TUNISIA I i I.L1 I ../ I t I e I, UNION .. TURKEY ':40I OF $ / SOVIET SOCIALIST %"-- CYPRUS 1 %., LIBYA / lbw t CSi....p.\ 0 LEBANON 1 0 ISRAELAtSYRIA &.11".5 1 t t o 1111119'...... ? % % o 10. % I EGYPT I. 04 \ .1)af 4\ IRAQ I 1 (U.A.R.) % . WHAT THE VOLUNTEERS * A JORDAN \ I t 141 i/ WERE DOING: MS * ". i* \N% 4 1 Community % IRAN % 41 i wr .%__--, Development `. CAFGHANISTAI4 I S.' %, Ito d ....I'" s.s..,%. f t--...... # I. s WEST 2, PAKISTAN eI ;r%:.NE.P.:c...:t V, BHUTANa t., Agriculture SAUDI ARABIA s

25.9% 4 11110111.. g r P. 11.4..I INDIA 1 I JO B Other EAST PAKISTAN 7.3% Public Health INDIAN 13.0% OCEAN

41)CEYLON

crom the Atlantic to the Bay of Bengal, Volunteers serving in the nine nations of the NANESA region are engaged in a diverse series of programs ranging from tuberculosis control to tubewell construction. Many are teachers. The largest con- centration of Volunteers is in India, where they are engaged in food production and nutrition education programs.

32 VII. RETURNEDVOLUNTEERS InTheir Words

fuller, more aware individuals. For Volunteers return home (22,539 on system and I pledgedthen and there that I was coming home to tryfor some, close contactwith other Volun- June30,1968; an estimated teers is the most significantPeace 200,000 by 1980) undeniablyinflu- myself." Whatever form the Peace Corps ex- Corps experience, as some of the fol- enced by exposure to and interaction lowing comments illustrate. with persons of differentcultural perience takes, Volunteers comehome values and perspectives. But while the Peace Corps experience means intenseinvolvement in another culture, it also means time for reflection. . . reflection upon that Thailand "Two society which provided the opportu- Sharon Lim, 25, former Volunteer in proved to me that being American nity to go overseas. years in Southeast Asia India and being Oriental are compatible. I'mfourth geaeration At a conference of former third generation Volunteers, held in Annapolis, Mary- Chinese-American on my father's side and Ifelt insulated. land, early in 1968, the participants Chinese-American on my mother's side. While I have always been very much awareof my Oriental summed up the significance of their I went to overseas experience. heritage,I didn't feel an affinity with it until Thailand as a Peace Corps teacher. I foundcommonalities "The Peace Corps," said one former with both intel- Volunteer, "allowed me to put America there that I can associate with and identify critically. lectually and emotionally. I no longer feel aneed to assume at arm's length and review it with one group of people and an Ameri- I realized in India that Ihave a stake an Oriental ethic determined to help can ethic withanother group of people.I came home in America and I'm living, sus- shape this country into what Ithink confident of what I amthe product of two taining heritages."Miss Lim is now an internin the Antioch- it should be." Washington, D.C., Another participant added:"What Putney Graduate School, teaching in a I urged the Indians to do, namelywork inner-city elementary school. for constructive change withintheir system, I had never tried in my own

Rudy Salinas, 29, former Volunteerin Co- lombia "To most Mexican-Americansthe Army represents status, a prestigious wayout of East Los Angeles, and theChicano (a Spanish word for Mexican-American)who goes this route comes back with asoldier's view of the world. This often means beinghung up with bitter feelings and prejudicesabout people who are different from you. Butwhen a Chi- cano comes back after two yearsin the Peace Corps, and he deals with peoplehere in East Los AngelesMexicans,Negroes,Japanese, Anglos then he feels, like Ido, that we're all in the same bag." Salinas is now acounselor to teenagers, most ofthem dropouts from East

Los Angeles high schools. --"""11117111111. ao. e 1 . mme5 4.E " ; s I LI ; I I

Willie Hall, 28, former VolunteerinEthiopia "For the black person in the South thePeace Corps is a way out; it's a way for him to leave the South, to goabroad, to come in contact with whites_on anequal level, probably for the first time, and to get a better viewof what's going on in other places. When I wentthrough Peace Corps training that's when I had my cultureshock, not in Ethiopia. . . culture shock because here for thefirst time I was dealing with whites on a truly equalbasis. It was my first contact ,1 with whites on these terms, and Ireally didn't know how to act.Ispent many anxious momentsthat first night in training because my roommate waswhite and I had never slept in a room with a whitebefore and I didn't know whether to go to sleep or sit upall night out of fear." Hall, a native ofCharlotte, North Carolina, is onthe VISTA staff in San Francisco.

Jim Seidel, 25, formerVolunteer in Malawi-- "The whole basis of what I want todo (fight tropical disease) is modeledafter the work I did in the Peace Corps.Ijoined the Peace Corps after graduatingfrom college with a bachelors degree in zoology,but I didn't know where I was headed becauseI didn't have a very deep concernthen about scientific research." Seidel, now a medicalstudent at UCLA, plans to return to thetropics when he completes his doctoral requirementsin medical microbiology and immunology next year.

Annmary Dalton, 24,former Volunteer in Liberia"After two years of looking atthe United States from afar,hearing and reading about increased racialtensions, it is difficult for a Volunteer to ignoreinvolving herself in solving the problems whenshe returns home. The experience of beingin the Peace Corps won't allow it. To go back to yourold ways ne- gates everythingyou've done for two yearsof your life." MissDalton teaches at a public schoo/ in Harlem.

i43107:47,1,1:4-Z,Y,W4KT CLOSE-UPS assumes that housing has to fit the needs of the people who useit rather than be determined, asit generally is, by either political or Architects economic issues," Gammill says. Corrough, who has a master's degree in architecture and urban de- for Tomorrow sign, says advocacy planning is a "multi-discipline approach to some of the mundane but very interesting problems of the inner city." ohn Corrough and Ron Gammill, but with different emphasis. Both returned Volunteers contend JVolunteer roommates in Tunisia, "The work we did there was in that many architects today seem joined the Peace Corps with a lot a certain political context. In school, overly concerned with conspicuous going for them. Both were recent architectsdon't work with any design that will bring personal no- college graduates, but, in contrast givenpoliticalproblems;what's toriety. Some architects, they say, to most Volunteers with liberal arts worse, they hardlyrealizesuch have downgraded functional con- backgrounds, they brought into the problems exist. siderations of the buildings they Peace Corps highly technical archi- "They work on problems that are design and seem unconcerned that tectural skills. highly theoretical, with imaginary peopleareforcedtoadjustto "Those of us who joined the clients, almost limitless budgets, a strange, sometimes incompatible Peace Corps after long professional very ill-defined problematical con- surroundings. educationsleftfor Tunisia with text in terms of the specific require- "This is particularly true for hous- some rather inflated notions of just ments of housing or whatever the ing designed for the poor," says exactly what we could do," recalls problem is. Gammill, whose firm was organized Corrough, 28, now a senior planner "Trying to function in a different in 1964 by two University of Cali- for Los Angeles-based Victor Gruen culture is hard enough in itself," fornia professors to deal specifically and Associates. Gammill says, "but when you mix with low-income housing. "I suppose we felt we were going that with trying to upset a whole Gammill, therefore, spends much to be the experts. We were going range of ideas about your chosen time interviewing ghetto inhabitants to help the benighted people be- profession, the end result can be and evaluating existing housing to cause of our great skills. Well, we disenchantment. determine shortcomings in terms of got there and found that our great "Most people went to Tunisia the user. skills didn't stand us in great stead not being strong realists and came Corrough's main role is that of at all, but it was our problem-solv- out either having met the problems project coordinator. One of his typ- ing ability, if we had it or if we and found ways to work effectively, ical projects involves developing a could develop it, that really enabled or they came back being very dis- revitalization plan for a small Mid- us to be useful," Corrough says. couraged," he said. west city with a decaying central Gammill, 28, now an associate in Gammill and Corrough returned business district and decaying fringe the Berkeley,Calif.,architectural from Tunisia convinced by their housing areas. firm of Hirshen & Van der Ryn, experiences in the validity of "ad- "It's mostly a job of coordinating agrees with his former roommate vocacy planning.""This concept a number of people in my office," Corrough says. "By blending together the perspectives of the archi- Architect Ron Cammill r-turned from Volunteer ser ice in Tunisia tect, planner, social scientist, engi- to work for the Berkeley, California, firm of Hirshen and neer and other experts we are able Van der Ryn, which 41, as organized by two University of California to create a plan tailor-made to the professors to deal specifically with low-income housing. needs of the community and the people who inhabit that area." Neither former Volunteer fits the stereotypeof thearchitect who spends hour upon hour dreaming up

H new building designs. Says Gam- ogrerLvAL ALA; d mill: "There are now architects who have enough social commitment to believe the user is important and ought to be considered. "This sense of social commitment is derived from a lot of sources," he says. "The Peace Corps is one. I found out in Tunisia that being an architect in the context of sitting at a desk and drawing pretty pictures has little to do with the problems we face today."

to. sioarii*ik 46 .01

John Corrough, right. with a colleague at the firm of Victor Gruen and Associates in Los Angeles. Now a senior planner for Gruen. Corrough served in Tunisia y-ith Gomm; llRot') designed a wide variety of buildings for the Tunisian government. and found their experiencc ;,:ilevant [0 urban planning problems in the U.S. Dave Dawley, left, is a key advisor tothe Conservative Vice Lords, Inc., formerly a Chicago street gangthat has now fie organized to improve economic outlook SO for slum neighborhood on Chicago's West Side,

club, an organization or a corporation. We want to be recognized as something different from the old 24fir street fighters the guys who went IOW stomping or mugging through the streets up through the early sixties." 4I Dawley's first contact with the Vice Lords was in the summer of 1967 when he went to Chicagofor 4 TransCentury Corp. The former Vol- 4111%-1 unteer's assignment was to inter- view ghetto residents involved in government-sponsored programs. "I had to make contacts in order to do my job. I soon found outthat the Vice Lords run the streets and therefore I hired two of them as interviewers," he says. Dawley's work moved smoothly and he got to know the Vice Lords "basically an organization made up of the tough guysof society, the ones that societylabels hard-core, the unreached, the dropouts, the delinquents, the criminals, the ad- dicts." He learned that the leadership Calculated was moving the organizationin new directions; it had decided the old ways weren't gettinganybody any- place, according to Dawley. Risk Pays Off "The leaders are all over thirty," he says. "Two of them had younger brothers who were killed in gang fights. Another of the leaders was Dave Dawley, aformer Peace the former Volunteer haslearned Corps Volunteer in Honduras, the idiom of the ghetto, andthe driving down the street and a car short exchange is one way to say pulled up alongside. There was a walks down the Chicago streetdaily shotgun blast, and the guy sitting as if he hasn't a worryin the world. "good morning." in Nehru jacket and Despite his mannerisms, his dress, next to him was killed." Dressed his use of idiom, Dawley, 26, a Dawley says the Vice Lord lead- striped pants, Dawley nearsthree for their tough-looking blacks leaning against product of a white, middle-class ers "have a great love community who graduatedfrom fellows out here on the street. They a plate-glass storefront. don't want them to go through this They eye him suspiciously,then Dartmouth, looks blatantly incon- gruous in Lawndale,the black ghetto kind of thing. turn their attentionelsewhere. Daw- "They turned the organization. ley keeps walking;he's heading for which the Conservative Vice Lords call their "city." This is the beautiful part. There 16th and Lawndale, the "strong- wasn't a chance in the world of a hold"oftheConservative Vice But Dawley isa Conservative Vice Lord, one of the very fewwho white person coming in here and Lords, an 8,000-memberpredomi- I wouldn't nantly black organization with a finished high school and definitely organizing these guys. the only one with a college educa- have given it a thought, just from an reputation as the toughest street intellectual point of view. gang on Chicago'sWest Side. tion. He joined the street gangearly Dawley passes the store front. in 1968 shortly after "it went re- "When I was doing research, I spectable" and incorporated itself saw there was a usefulrole for me One of the blacks calls out:"Hey, to play. And I saw that I couldhelp Davie, what's happening, man?" under Illinois law. "Gang is a word we're not using them with the things they wanted "Nothing much," Dawley replies, to do. So I came back,"Dawley and walks on. anymore," Dawley says, "andthe Actually, plenty is happening, hut group prefers tobe called either a recalls.

48 He returned to Chicago on bor- reorder the balance between reali- ting into some very big business rowed money and lived in Lawn- ties and aspirations in Lawndale. construction,manpowertraining, dale for several months without an "The Vice Lords want to stay human awareness programs with income, working to pry loose foun- here. They don't want to be moved. white suburbanites." dation "seed grants" for economic They 3on't want jobs over the other And he offers this challenge: "Let development projects of the Vice side of town; they'll create their foundations and other sources con- Lords. own jobs here. They want to re- tinue giving us the seed funds until The calculated risk paid off. The build their own community. we stop producing people." Conservative Vice Lords,Inc.,is "This is black economic power. But the former Peace Corps Vol- now Lawndale'sfastestgrowing Everything we run will be black- unteer isn't blind to the high risks economic development corporation. owned and black-managed. We will involved. He serves as liaison between the create employment for black people "I recently read a report that says Vice Lords and foundations. He and that employment will be here in the line between destructive and says his work is an extension of the the ghetto," Dawley explains. constructiveactivismisthinner work he did as a community devel- The results have been encourag- than the line between activism and opment Peace Corps Volunteer in ing, Dawley says. "We have opened passivity. Honduras. a restaurant called Teen Town. It's "In the same person, you have "There wasn't much going on making money, which goes back much of the violence that could dis- when I was in college," Dawley into the corporation. rupt into a riot, the same guy who's says, "even though I had the same "We have a heritage shop, which involved in building a business to- basic values thatIhave today. manufactures and sells Afro-Ameri- day could be involved in ariot There just wasn't a way for me to can clothing, jewelry and art. We tomorrow, depending on the spark, get personally involved in anything. run a pool hall; we just received a the incident that ignites it." But the experience in Honduras $50,000 g 'ant for a beautification Nevertheless, Dawley seems obliv- made me more sensitive to the dis- project that will provide jobs for ious to fear in the ghetto. After all, crepancies between aspirations and 110 people." the former Volunteer is a Vice Lord realities of life for people I didn't DawleysaystheViceLords one of the recognized leaders even know existed." haven't even begun to tap their working to build, not destroy, Chi- Dawley's now hard at work to potential. "We're talking about get- cago's West Side.

Dawley served as a Volunteer in Honduras, now is liaison manbetween the Vice Lords and various foundations that offer grants for community and economic development projects. He says his job in U.S. is an extension of community development work he did inHonduras.

.,1111111111

1. 'SmallMiracles'

inAppalachia 1,4,4

Bill Bridges talks with a residentof the mining Community around Hardbudy, Ky., whereBridges lives and work. Ac small coal industries in the regiongradually shut down, mon such as thiS will find themselvesunprepared (or other work tor that other work is nonexistent),and may be forced to move out of the area

About 85 miles from Lexington, Kentucky, just south of the Mountain Parkway, a small creek converges with thenorth fork of the Kentucky River. A man and a horse tried toford the shallow body of water, so the story goes, and neither was seen nor heard of again. About 100 people now live within sight of the scene of the strange disappearance. They call their un- incorporated town "Quicksand". Be it fact or fancy which gave the town its name, from an economic standpoint, thousands of people are caught in Quicksand and the sur-

Nfr The coal tipple (scaffolding behind Bridges) is a commot, .10t in the mining communities of EasternKentucky. Basically, Bridges' job is to help these communities gain d sense of their own potential throughself-help projects. rounding coal-mining camps of east- Bridges spends most of his time spired by Bridges, received a Ken- ern Kentucky. getting to know the people in min- tucky Award of Meritforthe The story of Appalachian poverty ing camps and other small commu- cleanup campaign and other im- is well known. But awareness alone nities of eastern Kentucky. provements for which he and the doesn't solve problems. He speaks with a distinct Ken- members of his association were Bill Bridges, the only son of a Ken- tucky drawl and he talks the coal responsible. tucky farmer, is both aware of and miner's language, pointing out ways Riley can't read or write, accord- involved in solving the problems of they can better their conditions and ing to Bridges, "and I point this out his native state. The 55-year-old gently guiding them to initiate and in tribute to Estil because it didn't former Volunteer (one of more than develop self-help projects. keep him from becoming a leader 500 persons over the age of 50 who The "small miracles" achieved in and doing a fine job. have served in the Peace Corps) is Hardburly, not far from Quicksand, "Hardburly is just one community. a community development specialist are a source of pride for Bridges Any community can do the same in the University of Kentucky's Co- because he spurred the community thing," according to Bridges. "So operative ExtensionService.For development program there. frequently we get to feel that people him, "Quicksand is the center of Estil Riley, president of the Hard- in depressed areas just have their the world." burly Improvement Association in- hands out all the time. But if they're

51 1_

it MIUMIL

al AM.

"Community development, asfar as I'm concerned, is chiefly adoor-knocking process," says Bridges. In oneold lumber camp, Bridgeshelped the people band together to dig a quarter-mile-long trench to bring piped water totheir homes. Here Bridges talkswith Calloway Feltner, who led the communitywater drive.

stimulated in the right waythey can do a lot of thingsfor themselves. They just don't realizethe potential ttiat they have asindividuals, or as groups." Former VolunteerBridges feels E t home in Appalachia, a morefamiliar setting to him thanthe Pakistani town where heserved for two years.Nevertheless, he credits his experience in the PeaceCorps with developing within him"considerable confidence inworking with low-income groups. "Living in Pakistan was areal asset to me, notonly in securing my presentposition, but in being able to do a fairly goodjob here," Bridges continued. "As a whole I think you come back a much broader person,with .greater sensitivity tothe needs of others and certainly greater appre- ciation for this great countryof ours."

52 1.~

st,

This tiny schoolhouse in Glomaur Hollow, once a bustling mining camp, is now headquarters of a/oca/ youth dub. Bridge.c, laughing at a joke, is at right. To the left is the club's adult leader, and the man standing is a specialist in horticulture who is encouraging the children to p,rticipate in community beautification projects. There were formerly 400 school-age children in Clomaur Hollow; now there are only 40.

....111/X _JENE MN. Richey's general storeand post office is a community gathering place inHardburly. l3ridges never goes through the townwithout stopping to talk to thepostmistress, who is also a leadingmember of the Hardburly Improvement Association.

Bridges also feels thatVolunteers gain "a little morehumility" because of theirexperiences. He sees this in contrast to "the way so many Americans subconsciously,if not consciously, consider that we are so far above the people inother countries." Abroad, in developing rountries, Bridgescontinued,"they pmlize, especially in the field oftechnical and industrial knowhow,that we can teachthem a lot. They know it. They want to learn. "But, believe me, they canteach us a lot, but not m nyot us /mow it. Maybe we justilleittieeerbringh desire to learn."

J UN 2 1969 on Adult Euuca "...I am trying to ac- complish, from myposi- tion asPresident of the Republic, over thewhole country, a verysimilar job to the oneperformed by the Peace CorpsVol- unteers--toawaken the civic spirit, toorient the community inthe realiza- tion of its owneffort, to SEVENTH PEACE overcomethe problemsANNUAL CORPSof ignorance,sicknessREPORT and backwardness, toin- troduce newaspirations and new ideals tothe popular masses, allwith the desire to startforming a moreequalsociety, moreidentified with the same purposesof excel- ling..."

President of Colombia. Carlos Lleras Restrepo,in speech at a conferencewith Volunteers.