\ PEACE CORP!
P SEPTEMBER 1968 I33 PHILLIPS RUOPP
hnrlcs Duncan, a former \'olitnteer C,.IB~ Fcncc COI.I>S Fello\v, now an associate directol. in Iran, is not to THE TICKBIRD AND THE THRUSH, a fable? h1:~rnc for the fable. I found it else- where. However, he is responsible for One lazy Deccmbcr afternoon. from ticks and othcr insects. I'm a pit~~bi~~gdn\vn for nie the most useful tickhird, a cattle egret." The \\*l>itc a West Indian thrush was floating concept for thinking about an ex- in the cool southeast trades after bird's modest tone failed la hide chnnge in the southern \'ermont hills a bold raid on three kitchens. his pride. A down-draft carricd him to\vard "Incredible!" I~et\veenThe Experiment in Interna- a cow pasture. As he had gro\\,n "Why? Don't you \\.ant debugged tional Living and the Pence Corps last "11 undcr the hoois of cattle. the co\\,s!" Fel)n~at.y. After the first session, he thrush paid little attention to the "To hell with the cows. Especially remarked that a Pence Corps \'olun- clumsy beasts. Indccd, lhc fclt somc il they \\son't fork over a little grain. tccr must be credible to the people disdain for them because a mean- Tell me, whitey, \\,hat's in it for among whom he is living and work- tcmpcrcd old girl had almost tram-. yo"?" ing. Exactly. pled him once while Ire was trying "For me? I guess I just like help- The theme of the seminnn-, hunorecl to filch a few grains 01 her lccd. ing cows. Even when it means Suddcnly he scrccchcd, "Ya\\,k," going a long $vay lo do it." more by the questions that were as a thrush has a way of doing "Man, don't your own cows l;~oncheclat us as openers than by our \\,hen it is startled. There, sitting need debugging? Why hug us?" discussions, \\.as the future of volun- on the back of one cow was an "Because you didn't have any- tary service all-o;td. \\'bile that future elegant white bird, calmly prccn- one around to do the job until m:ty be perplexing, nothing will affect ing itself. I came." it more the indi\zidual volunteer's The thrush iluttcred awkwardly "Thank Cod therc's only one 01 credibility to the people he hopes to to a branch that brought him eye you." help. to eye with the newcomer. "Oh, more are coming. It takes "Where'd you come from?" he one of us to an animal to do a This is eqrtnlly true of volun(ary demanded abruptly as soon as he'd good job." service at home. caught his breath. He fixed the The thrush thrashed the branch The examination of our assumptions othcr with a hostile stare. It \\,as \%*ithhis wings. ;~nd programs and actions niust, of the only way he knew how to deal "You African tickbirds are mov- course, be continual. Credibility re- tvith strangers. ing in here without ever consulting (luires regular exercise in self-evalua- "Africa," the white bird replied us local birds? Fantastic!" tinn and change. serenely. The thrush flew off in a rage lo "Where's that?" agitate ior the immediate expulsion \\'hat is a volunteer? Jack \\'nllace, "Toward the morning sun, a long 01 the foreigner. As he pulled a vice president of The Experiment, way east of Barbados." bloated bug from the cow's back, touched off a lively dehnte \$.hen he The thrush flapped angrily up the tickbird wondered why the said that, in his opinion, a volunteer and down on his branch. thrush failed to see that the island cnn be paid n living \\,age and still be "Why'd you come over here?" needed a cattle debugger. What, n volunteer. He \vent on to suggest he exploded. he asked himself, could be more that the idea of a career in internn- "To debug your cattlc." obvious? tionnl senrice does not inevitably con- "To what?" MORAL: For most of the \\aorld, tradict the spirit of voluntarism. "To help you develop a better credibility, like grain, is a scarce breed 01 cattle by protecting them commodity. It seems to me that it is the degree of his credibility, not the degree of his sacrifice, \r.hicli characterizes the in- In Peace Corps, mutuality is the key to The credible Volunteer
dividual who freely assumes personal at our colleges and universities who Mutuality is the key to credibility. ~.esponsihility for performing some would have been Peace Corps en- It has to he defined for each uroeram p~~blicservice. If a man's social role, thusiasts a few years ago. through give and take with hdst Gun- attitudes, behavior mnd life style are As thc sides in the cold war at home try leaders, not only at the ministerial credible to the people of the host have become increasingly polarized, level, but above all at the local level. country with whom lie is working, the credibility of many forms of vol- At the ministerial level our aims must surely he has achieved, in his rela- untary service has been hurt. The be acceptable to those who administer tions with them, those qualities which reaction of Black Power militants in the country's development plans. If we attribute to the Petice Corps T7ol- this country against white civil rights they are not, we won't last long. At unteer at his best. workers will be paralleled abroad by the village or neighborhood level, the It is fortunate for the Peace Corps sharpened resistance to American in- Volunteer's presence and activities thnt it is rlnt the rle"l.ae nf his qar.2.i. tr~winnnnrl infl~aance At the c-minnr -m~~~t-hp-wpl~nm~A..hhhthR. people fice that makes a \.ol;nteer. If it were Brent Ashabranner, deputy director thiAselves. a question of sacrifice, few Peace of the Peace Corps, stressed the ac- No Volunteer can.cover his vulner- Corps Volunteers would be credible. celerated growth of t.acial pride and ability with whole cloth. He is not As someone pointed out at the semi- ardent nationalism throughout the likely to please everyone. Within his nar, it is not unusual for host country Southern hemisphere. It is the kind host country, will service thnt is cred- villagers to think of Peace Corps Vol- of rmtionalism \vhich will take nothing ible to the dominant minority also be unteers as "rich, young people." for gl.;unted. Nor should it. credible to the majority for whom A voluntecr is an enigma to his The Peace Co1.p~'credibility will be radical social change is the only hope? armts and cousins. He must nlake judged with an increasingly \vary and Will voluntary service which is cred- himself credible to his host community hostile eye. The rules of the game ible to other governments always be at this risk of appearing incredible to \\.ill be changed frequently, m~dwe credible to the United States Con- his home to\rzn. Cumt~lative experi- \\,ill be expected to behave credibly gress? Questions of this kind can ence has enabled voluntary scrvice according to the new rules. As Mr. only be answered country by country organizations, including the Peace Ashabmnner pointed out, this will and program by program. Corps, to strengthen thc t.elevnnce of mean finding ne\rz channels and new their personnel and plans and activi- fo1.m~ for providing the outside as- Political factors ties. Thcy are less naive, more real- sistance needed by de\.eloping coun- The Peace Corps is, rightly in my istic about the tenacity of old patterns, tries. Each new approach nlust ad- opinion, active in countries with gov- Icss hooked on American kno\v-ho\v, dress itself to the priorities of the ernments ranging from effective repre- more responsive to the values which countries where Volunteers are as- sentative democracies to authoritarian give meaning to the lives of others, signed. \\'here we have attempted to regimes of the right or left. This posi- less doematic about the \vav the \vorld irnpose our own, we have been left tion does not, however, exempt us is supposed- to be run, more troubled high and dry after the first polite ex- from examining the political implica- by the distortions in American society. lxessions of interest. Agreeing with tions of our activities. Development the foreigner is a.time-honored way is not only social and economic. It is Credible service to defuse him. Paul Sack, director of inescapably political. There ' is never \\'e have lost the confidence we the Peace Corps' office of program a guarantee that a service program, once had that somellow Americans planning, underscored the fact that, no matter how nonpartisan and altru- hclong evel-ywhe3.e in the name of to be useful, the T'olunteer must have istic, will not be exploited for partisan progress. That is why domestic volun- a job to do which fits into the coun- political purposes. tary service appears more credible try's development strategy and is com- A voluntary organization must be than service abroad to many students prehensible to its people. sophisticated enough about host coun- try politics to know when it is being culture to make themselves credible needed for human development. used for purposes that will skin the in the Southern hemisphere without I have said that the key- to credi- wrong cat. It must sometimes be pre- special education and experience. The bility is mutuality. Mutuality means pared to face the fact that it can no success of America's technoloeical- and shared power. That is why there is longer cooperate with a government industrial revolution has, generation serious consideration in senior Peace without actit~gcontrary to the inter- by generation, deprived more and Corps circles of ways in which over- ests of the people it claims to serve. more of us of the ability to understand seas staff positions can be progres- That is what Father Huddleston did the life situation of peasant farmers. sively filled with host country na- when he closed the Christ the King Nothing reflects the psychological tionals. Mutuality will also require School in Johannesburg, rather than price we have paid for our uneasy a renewed effort to increase the ranks turn it over to the South African Gov- middle class material security as fully of exchange volunteers. in the United ernment. The history of voluntary as the general failure of white Arner- States from countries where Peace human service is punctuated with ica to be moved by the desperation Corps Volunteers are working. political collisions. of the ghetto black. Instead, the Politically sensitive self-scrutiny is majority applaud preparations to sup- A withering existence a quality which Volunteers and pro- press rebcllions, even though the ap- Mutuality has been withering both spective Volunteers clearly expect the plause may echo mockingly in the as an ideal and a fact. The United Peace Corps to demonstrate. It is a desolation to come. Nations is a diplomatic foyer, useful mounting expectation, its edge sharp- The new goal of the voluntary serv- as a lobby to serious negotiations, but ened by the events of the past seven ice movement is neither relief nor little more. I can recall when bilateral years. Our policies and practices must amelioration, though it seeks to lessen aid was advocated as more hard- be responsive to it if the Peace Corps immediate suffering as it works to headed and practical than the earlier ideal is to remain believable to the eliminate the causes of inequality. multilateral emphasis. Predictably, kind of young people who are at- Voluntary service is based on the the attempt to gain prestige and in- tracted to voluntary service. It is necessity and possibility of institu- fluence by stamping everything "Made ironic that the Peace Corps' survival tional change. The object of any in America" has boomeranged. Per- should depend on two increasingly voluntary service program should be haps the consequences will be dis- antithetical constituencies: Campus to help people acquire the capacity to astrous. Good ideas and programs may and Congress. act on their own behalf. Experience suffer with the bad, as America re- has taught us that voluntary service is treats from the blows into a neo- North and south in fact concerned with power: per- isolationism, cheered by the right and Finally, there is the widening fis- sonal skill, group cooperation, eco- left alike. Even the Peace Corps, sure between the highly industrialized nomic productivity, and political which costs next to nothing, may go countries and the rest of the world. appeal. If politics is the art of the to the block. If it does, the most It will grow steadily harder for the possible, it is also often the only pos- ingenious governmental embodiment dependents of our machine-dominated sible art that will release the resources of the fragile spirit of mutuality be- tween peoples will he killed. The Peace Corps Volunteer can be consistently credible abroad. I have suggested the terms. If he meets
Thomas Aooel. ECUADOR: Charles~~ Crccsv.~ ~ ~~ these terms. he will be credible on the PEACE CORPS EL SALVADOR: Mark Schneider. ETHI~ American campus. Whether or not PlA: Michael D. Prcwitt. Suran Biarini. lames McCaNery. FIII: David Downer. Congress will support this kind of GUATEMALA: Yvonne Iellific. GUYANA: credibility is a question of incalcula- Michael Koepper. HONDURAS: Mike Mc- V@O~rnI!OOPKinney. INDIA: Richard McWilliamr. ble importance. Without the Peace IRAN: Michael Sarka, IVORY COAST: Wil- Corps, America would lose its insight September 1968 liam P. Carpenter. IAMAICA: lamer lor- into two-thirds of the world. It is I dan. Carolyn Tierney. KENYA: lamer Kurhner. KOREA: Margaret Wheatley. this accumulating insight which gives Volume VI Number 10 MALAYSIA: Dan Boylan, Sharon Clarke. me some hope that as a people we Pvblirhed monthly by the OHice oi MALAWI: John A. Orborn, lr., David Vick, may be able to respond creatively to volunteer Support, Peace Corps. lim Friedlander. MOROCCO: Lambert Bo- Washington. D. C. 20525. kern, Roberta Prccr. LESOTHO: Stephen the forces which are shaping the Lellmann. LIBERIA: Shirlee Cochrane future, from the Potomac to the .,+'Pat Brown, editor; Dean M. Gotlehrer, Edmei. NEPAL: Mickey Humphrey. .. ,>? -.<,ar:ociate'.,-- editor; Mark Eprtein, editorial NIGERIA: George Churi, lohn 5h.w. Mekong. .: -qlii?tant. Design by Paul Reed. PANAMA: Bea Nyburg. PARAGUAY: : Dorothy Graham, loe McGovein, Sandra '>>' Gill. SENEGAL: lamer Monicato. SIERRA Phillips Ruopp is director of the Correrpandcnir: BOLIVIA: Kevin Lynch. LEONE: Lee Linde. SOMALIA: Terry Division of Institutional Relations, BOTSWANA: Ray Bertram. BRAZIL: Tom Deutrch. TANZANIA: Ronald Hcrt. THAI- mce of Planning, Program, Review Grill, Bob Waterman, Gary Duncan. BRIT- LAND: Bob Haicharek, Robert Carney. ISH HONDURAS: Elliott Chamizo, Lon TOGO: William Emmer, Douglas Sloane. and Research. Before joining the Hanke. CAMEROON: Marshall Matu~lli.~.. TUNISIA: lerald Porman, James Henog. Peace Corps a year ago, he was dean CEYLON: Elizabeth Howze. CHAD': Na- TURKEY: Lawrence Simmons. Stephen of th'e College of the Virgin Islands, thaniel Dubin. COLOMBIA: C. Cowan Franklin, Jeff Thompron. UGANDA: T. Geirler, Barbara Baker. COSTA RICA: Doane Perry. UPPER VOLTA: Bob Singley. where he worked with the Virgin Is- Miter Wortman. DOMINIC/\N REPUBLIC: lands Peace Corps Training Center in John T. Turner, Jonathan Lash, Bill White. ON THE COVER: Ecuadorian school chil- EASTERN CARIBBEAN: William Carter, dren. See page 5 for more oi Ecuador. developing methods for cross-cultural communitu involvement trainine. He is editor 4 the book, APPRDAC~ESTO COMMUNITYDEVELOPMENT. 4 People of Caiiar and-,Gfiimbo=-3 zo provinces in the Andes of "Our planting season runs from March to December. We plant potatoes, wheat, barley . . . Littlc by little, field by field."
"Thirty-eight years I have lived on this hacienda. . . All my children were born here. I produce just enough to live on.. . Everyone is alone; everyone endures." When the bocinas (reed horns) sound, the clowns and dancers prepare lo lead a procession to the parish lown as part 01 the iiesta .oi Saint. Peler and Saint Paul. Cecilia spins her wool into thread. The spindle is made from the plant stalk nearby; the whorl is a small potato.
The hacienda rnayordorno (superintendenl) speaks with an agrarian reform agronomist. This land was sold to the lracicnda serfs now harvesting it. Potatoes grow best in the psramo (high grasslands) and hillsides. A man hauls manure to the planting. "If there is no punishment from Cod, if there is no @' frost, if there is no plague, if the hails do not fall, then we may have some harvest - if Cod wills it."
Sheep are taken to pasture daily: In the afternoon, the women will return to their homes with the animal Pablo, half deaf and childless, joins the carnival pounding a rhythm on his drum. The Spanish upright loom allows faster weaving than the indigenous back-strap looms. But the fabric is inferior protection from rain and cold.
An Easter Sunday celebration culminates Holy Week with masquerading, music, mass and parades. "And 11 she does not d~c she wall own many sheep and her husband will be a cabecillo (Indian leader1 Photographs in this section were taken by Peace Corps Volunteers john Brandi and Michael Scott, and Stanford University anthropologist Alan Koloseike. Taken in the Ecuadorian provinces of Cariar and Chimborazo, the photos are part of a larger exhibit used in carnpesino leadership training. The exhibit was designed to provide a brief glimpse into the life of the peasant in the Ecuadorian Andes. A leader of the volunteer movement looks at Service: past and future
By ALEC DICKSON
et us start by looking back, if only in New York some seven years ago hone is not in order? The inter- L to dtscover how far we have come \vherc I watched the training program relationsl~ipof what our export volun- and perhaps to question whether we unfold for the first contingent of the teers are doing in other people's coun- nre in fnct on the right road. Peace Corps bor~ndfor Sierm Leone tries with what we ourselves are pre- My mind goes back 12 years to a to work in up-country schools. Com- paring to do in our own is, I believe, poverty-stricken village in Iraq, w11cl.e ing from my small volunteer program much closer, much more intensc, I was working with a team of inter- in Britain, my wife and I were be- much more interlocked than we could national experts. Suddenly 1 asked dazzled lly the splendor of the pro- evcr imagine. myself, what were we doing there? gl-am. Arca stlldics, language laborn- The third incident I look back to Why were thc stndcnts of Dnghdad tories, peer group evaluation, pmtec- is iun unforgettable visit to a training not there beside us? It was their tion against cultllre shock, ctc. Here camp or educational institi;tion in the . country, their future, their fcllo,v was the cream of American youth be- Lor Angeles district. Among the Ne- countrymen. Even if they were only ing prepared for this assignment. It groes, the whites, and those of Catho- in the first year of study in enb'uneer- \\>as at this moment that lny wife lic, Spanis11-speaking origin, one was ing, medicine or education, they asked the organizer, "Have you at once aware of a sense of purpose, would have had something to give. It thought of sending thcsc peoplc 2,000 unity, ident~tyand comradeslhp huite would be they who would be able to yards down the ru:td, so that tlicy can uncharacteristic of ordinarv life in bring about a spread of what we sense the feelings in o Negro school in America. What was ironic was that were trying to do. Harlem, so that they can be immersed this was a camp for delinquents, with Then a feeling of dcspail. \vonld in the atmosphere of a Puerto Rican every single boy there involuntarily, come as one considered the difficulties ,youth club?" There \\-as an appalled and with a police record. Why among that would stand between that hope silence. Tlicn came the reply, "Cood these young peoplc did morale shine and its realization. I-Iow co~~ldone grief, ma':lm, no. You don't know so brightly-more brightly; perhaps, get through to the dean of the uni- \!'hat you are suggesting. Why, it's than in any training center oioniver- versity that this should be an integral really wild du\vn there!" One felt sity campus that I had visited part of the students' training and edu- that something didn't add up in this throughout a long tour of the States? cation? How coi~ldone get t11t.ough situation. Here was a great nation It did because, you see, they were to the students themselves? And then lx'epnring an elite group of its young not just there for their own rehabilita- there came a feeling that perhaps this manhood to tackle the problems of tion, but to protect thoe wooded hills situation might be helped by the the jungles of Africa and Asia, while against the ever-present danger of arrival of young people from else- skirting, oh so carefully, the wilder- forest fire. They had a radius of 50 w11cre who would not only he willing ness on its o\rrn doorstep. miles, the engines of their trucks were to work in the slums and the villages Of course, that omission was reme- kept permanently warm; and you did but \vould feel that this was the most died in months. And in the later not have to he a very percipient ob- important thing for them in the world establishment of the VISTA program server to feel what this meant to these at that moment. Perhaps that might there was a complete answer to my young people-to sense that California he the initial stimulus. criticism implied. But I think there had need of them, that they were, so That was 12 years ago. I have to are still elements in this situation to speak, on active service to the confess thnt little has changed in my which concern us all. Have we the United States. One pondered the im- mind, for of all the goals and objec- right to be pressing our charity (be- plications that here, in a great coun- tives that volunteers can set for carlse that is still how it is looked try, it was in a camp for young of- themselves in an export program, this 11pon by many) on others if our own fenders that one was seeing, paradox- perhaps might be the greatest ically, the realization of William achievement of all-that they have James' famolls phrase about "the evoked a response among local young 'Have we the right to be moral equivalent of war." people; that this has become an on- Why was itthat it was only through going, on-giving process. pressing our charity a breakdown in their own lives, an Now the scene changes very radi- on others if our own house appearance in court and sentence by cally. It was nt Columbia University is not in order?' a judge that they were to have this 'In some countries, the arrival of further volunteers from Europe and America is not so much a reinforcement feeling that others needed them? A ployed, ex-school youngsters of Africa a few days later, returning to Britain, I -than what is sent to them r~ndcran as a reproach to their own stopped for a day in New York to export vol~~ntcerprogram. young people.' share my deep impression of this ex- So much for the past. What of thc perience with a trained professional present? I have returned from a re- social \\-orker and asked, "Why can't cent tour of Asia with a feeling thnt one re roduce this situation every- there is a disenchantment with the needs? And here again is this para- \\.here$ He replied sourly, "\Veil, results of Westernized schooling. dox: the response of young Americans show me the urban counterpart of a \\'bile our students here in the West to VISTA, the response of young forest fire here in New York and \ve'll are rebelling against authority, I hnve people in my own country-the rendi- get going." the feeling that some governments in ness which they she\\* to come forward \\'hat is significant in this incidcnt Asia, Africa and Latin America are in for less glanlorous tasks at home- for our purpose here? First, not one fact reacting against their o\vn edu- could be as great an encouragement of these youri aters had volontecred, cated youth. They fear that there has to the young people in Africa and but neverthef ess ' each \\,as going emerged an "illegitimate elite" enter- Asia to tackle their own de\>elopment thiough the cathartic experience of ing into enormously privileged experi- problems as the arrival of export vol- feeling that, he cot~ntcd,that lie was cnces of education, unearned through unteers from overseas. wanted. Is it so very important any pcrsnnalcontribution to the needs Therc arc four different roles for whether they have come forward on of others. In effect, these govern- \~oluntcersthat I would identify. The their own initiative? Is it essential mcnts are saying to their students: first I \\zonld call, simply, front line thnt they would have \~olunteered? Or "If society enablcs you to gct an edu- relief. Fob. csamplc, in many mcntnl is it the final rcsult which matters2 cation so mocli more valuable than hospitals thc staffingsituation is tragic, that they sho~~ldfeel needed? \\,hat inost of your fellow citizens can cvcn scandalous. Some would call this Then there is the question which is get, thcn you have to givc something just a stop-gap approach. \\'hat mcdi- so oftcn put: \vhich is more important in ret~~rn." cal snperintcndent, they aror~ld ask, -tl!e social need, the human prob- t\ country \<,here this is happening \eol~ld actually prcfcr to use young lems thnt \,olunteers are going out to effectively iund kirmoniously is Imn. volunteers? \!'hat hc requires is help solvc, or the development and The Shah has.ijho\vn what can be trained, adult, qoalificd, permanent maturity of the young people them- achieved by the,' &onscripti~igof high stalf. Ncvcrtl~eless,when soci:gl serv- selves? EI+..: itence convinces me that school grnduates into Imn's Army ices ottcrly vital to human well-being one is i~nposs~blc~vithout the other. Education Corps. arc at stake or endangered, I see You cannot easily fool young people Another cxarnplc is India. I was ~notliing disrcp~ntnblc, nothing dis- today. The experience of service will prcxnt \vhelr h11.s. I~rdirnGnndhi said honor:lblc, ijotliing ridiculous in hop- only bc of benefit to them if they to a gathcring of Indian students, in~gtlr:lt young people will step for.- themselves are con\~inced that the "Social service in the Wcst may be a \v;II.~into that breach, into the front to which they are hastening, luxury for y()u!ig 1?~oqle;for ,,our linc of defense. the ncct-l to which they have been as- young people Iierc 'in' Asin it .is a In fact, in these situations of ap- signed, is in fact a genuine one. If necessity." Tlie Indian government palling staff slrortagcs, the qnality of they spp thaQY.is something faintly has now decided that no students at servicc could well be improved rather phoney;jomet&i that has been con- the university shall receive their de- than lesscncd by the presence of trived fp$.tkube~iefit,they \r.ill re- grecs until or unless they have given young volunteers, \\,orking in relays. ject it and ,the experience \\,ill be of something to India. It doesn't secm to be important no significance to them. So the Surely the question facing us is: whcthcr tlicy go on to make their answer ,nust be that it is a marriage Ho\v can we help these people? How careers in that particular aspect of of two separate needs, the one in- can wc liclp this aspiration to be ~ncdicineor the social services. Our complete without the other. kind of society is dependent on a My third feeling is this. Paradoxi- effective, to contribute to social needs and to be of real significance in the slxcad of concern. This \\zoold be a cally, what is being done here in the development of their young students? true concept of democmcy, not just Job Corps may perhaps be of more In some countries, under the circum- a particular procedure for registering significiince to countries suffering from stances which I tried- to describe, the one's vote, but a sharing of the bur- the discards of their edncational sys- arrival of sti! further volunteers from dens, a pnrticipntion in the sufferings tems-the tens of thousands of unem- Europe and,,hqiq*is not so much of others, a recognition of the needs of a reinforcement .@;q ,ri&oach to their others, because one has worked at the own young people.' How can we grass roots. 'The exppripnce of service channel our volunteer aid so that it How is this to come about? Very will ,dl of benefit to accelerates the process whereby their few of 11s have ',civen attention to the be o\rzn young people grapple with local urgent need for the re-structuring of young( people if they are convinced that the need to which they have been assigned is a genuine one.' 'To serve overseas is a . . privilege, but to serve his own country is"the the social services. If this massive greatest assets enabling you to make right of every young person.' involvement of young people is to be a breakthrough in human relations made- possible, then the most' search- \i.hich perhaps the professional,. pre- ing analysis of the social services is cisely because he belongs to the estab- . . needed. For example, in a hospital lishment, cannot achieve. It is signifi- if you could help me . . . I'm triing to situation (or egually in a school situa- cant that somc of -thc most intelligent teach Enghsh to immigrant children tion) what actually is required of the and sensitive of the young people \vho but everything I do until 4 o'clock is nursing role or teaching role? I think are coming to us today are saying, in then undone. They. return to their it is the tmininr" of our professionals effect:. "I don't want to -.give. I \\.ant homes and jabber Urdu, Gojerati, in the intelligent, imaginative, use of to share-and, if necessary, to suffer Pulrjabi with their families until nine vounc volunteers that is most ureentlv", alonrside." " Perham this is inarticu- o'clock the next morning. Now if I ;leedid today. We have to persuade late, perhaps it is'vague in its emo- \\.ere to bring two of my boys to you the p?ofessionals-in teaching, in nurs- tional content, but it is significant that this evening, would you let them talk ing, in the social.sciences generally- some of the fi~iestare cxpressing them- to you in English?" Gaining their oh- that wc are not threatening them pro- selves in this way. so-ca~~tions.assent, Tim would hurry fessionally. In my country all pro- The young are resilient; they can back to scliool and say, "Boys, do you fessionals and trnde r~nionists react survive unscathed the initial impact know, there are old .English ladies in strongly :~g:~instthe idea of "dilution." of a closcd block in a mental hospital this to\rrn who haven't beenvisited for But in the future their role will be or an expcriencc in a rcformatory ye;u-s. We're going to help them, that of captain of a team of volun- \\,here they are totally unprotected. It aren't we?" So, when two 13!Lyear- teers, responsible not only for the well- can be hard on them, but this is not old Punjabi youngsters spend halfan being of people in their care hut also the real shock. You can prepare vol- hour with old English ladies,. who's fur the imaginative deployment of unteers agninst every kind of danger hclping whom? Each is totally con- the team. This is ,lot to. diminish -save that of discovering on arrival vinced that they are,needed:by the their status-it is to enhance it. that.thcy arc not necded at all, or only other. How many seminars, courses and in a."dccorative" capacity, Volunteers Erich Fromm, in his book The Art conferences have been held on the are romantics-unlcss they havc this of Loving, is absolutely right; we'1.e no training of \~olunteers? But it is the vision of a world that is diffcrcnt longer divided in this day. and age sl~onsors, the "consumers" of volun- from the world they see about them, between the givers and thc receivers, teers whom we should really be train: they would not be volonteel-s. And if \rre are both simnltaneonsly. We can- ing. Happiness and success are not they are young, is our's are, in their not hc giving without 'receiving. I dependent only on the volunteer; they hearts they see themselves riding off imaginc every Peace .Corps Volunteer depend equally on that government as knights in shining armor. To dis- writes within six or seven weeks of official in country X, on that project cover then that there is no need for arrival overseas, "I thought I'd come dil.cctol. in country Y. Does he un- their service cal? be devastating. . , to teach, but it is I who am learning." derstand how to make imaginative, But to rctorn to the concept of That is the best guarantee that they sympathetic use of \,olunteers? Jn our sharing-it is onc of the most subtle, are doing a good job of teaching: This \\,ark in Britain we havehad the ex- one ofthe most meaningful roles that element of reciprocity is vital. perience that if you invest in one tea the young volunteer can play today The catalytic role of the volunteer party for a group of medical super- because it entails an element of rec- is even more crocial. This experience intendents or hospital matrons or di- iprocity,.a readiness to receive, \vhich must no longer be restricted to an rectors of penal institutions to share absolves volunteers of, the accusation clitc. To some extent we areall cata- their experience, then the cost effec- of being condescending and patroniz- lysts now. To serve overshs is a tiveness-the return for your invest- privilege, but to serve his own country ment-will be worth 20 courses of ing. . . I think of o~le\~olunteer whom we is the right of every yhung person. tr.dlnlng . ' for yoi~ngvolunteers. placed in \vhat might be called a Perhaps you thought I was going to That is just one role for volunteers say duty, obligation. I say it is. the -front line relief in institutions and ghetto school in an area of London re- ceiving hundreds of Asian immigrant right of,cvery young person to give situations where an acute shortage of something to his own country. To staff has also become a chronic short- children. Working himself to a point of exhaustion in school until the late say to any boy or girl, no matter how age. We pass no\\. to what I think is inadequate their previous backgiound a more subtle field, a "bridging" afternoon, retuming to his lodging, gulping a cup of English ten to revive has been, "I can't think of 'any project situation. In snch situations, to be that would need you,': is a damnable young and to be a volunteer are the himself, and then out again in back streets in a rather deoressed white thing to do. area, he would knock on doors which Perhaps my small organization is
old Enrlish ladies would onen un., and unique in this respect. We never re- Tim would- say, "Excuse me, I wonder. ject-never. If a boy or girl arrives in 'It is the sponsors, the consumers of volunteers whom we should really be training.' 17 our office with a wooden leg, a stam- door may burst open any moment and risks. And there are others who have mer and having failed in all their their sacred precinct be invaded by a organized consumer-resistance cam- exams, we will still welcome them. hoard of adolescent "eager heavers." paigns against firms practicing dis- Because the great questions are not But they will accept a long-term vol- crimination. Equally exciting work is Yes or No. The great questions are unteer of integrity and reliability, and being pioneered by the Company of @ Ho\v and Where. Selection is not the it becomes part of his responsibility to Young Canadians in this delicate, no- key to this. It is allocation. By the convert officialdom from within to the man's land between community serv- same token we never-and this may use of local spare-time volunteers. The ice, as we understand it, and political surprise those who value motivational role of the long-term, full-time volun- action. research-we never ask them why they teer as a catalyst, involving others in But I end on a note questioning the volunteer. Who knows his own heart? service, can be very effective. wisdom of too much concentration on We are a mixture of motives. We may Finally, and most difficult of all, poverty and even on the assct.tion of volunteer for one reason and stick it there is the role of the volunteer as a civic rights. Of course, poverty is a out for another. Perhaps they will protagonist of activism, that delicate major problem. My own officeis in a know in three or four years' time why bridge between community service slum area of London. I sit within a they volunteered. Anyhow, certainly and social reform. What do you do few feet of where one famous charac- in' Britain, we don't like to reveal our when a volunteer reports that in a ter, Jack the Ripper, did in his first innermost motives and our hearts to mental hospital, when the chief nurse woman victim in 1880. But to pre- the total stranger who is the interview- goes around to issue the pocket tend that. this area is typical of Britain ing person. And so the question is money; he givcs only half. to thc is quitc unreal. The symbol of the not "why;" the word is "how." severely retarded and only one quar- new Britain would, I fear, be a dan- The spread of concern today is as ter to those who are deaf mutes, keep- gling receiver in a smashed telephone vital as depth of concern. I think of ing the rest for himself? Your in- booth on one of the new housing the stewardesses on those international dignant volunteer expects you, be- estates-broken up, not forthe coins in airlines that serve Nepnl; some have cause you direct an organizatidn that the machine, but out of an excruciat- been so moved. by conditions in an apparently believes in social justice, ing sense of boredom. orphanage at Katmandu that they to raise hell about this. You say, We cannot understand the message have asked their airline headquarters "Wait one moment, not so fast! You that is coming through to us through back in Europe and the States to allow may be the last volunteer this hospital the student revolt if we believe that them to take their annual vacations will ever take if we protest publicly it is poverty, and poverty alone, that locally, so that they can help look about this." And he feels betrayed. is our major problem. We all know after the orphans. Who \\,auld have You are not the sort of organization he the answer lo poverty: it is money. thought a few years ago that these thought you were. It is quite a But the problems we are wrestling svelte, suave, princess-like types who dilemma, isn't it? with - drug addiction, delinquency, minister to your needs in an inter- apathy, loneliness (and by the way, national aircraft would say, in effect, the young today can be as loliely as "we too want to get in on this, we too 'You can no longer pay the old)-these are problems which have something to give to others." I others to do your loving cannot be solved just by somebody think of the working class mothers in ..for you.' else's signature on a check. We say Lambeth, a downtown area south of to our young people: you have en- the Thnmes, who have formed their tered an era when you can no longer own organization of "substitute Martin Luther King said shortly be- pay others to do your loving for you. mums': so that when a mother has to fore his death that it is not sufficient The students at the Sorbonne Univer- go in a hospital and the father is today to be the Good Samaritan bind- sity nailed a notice on the wall that working, rather than the children be- ing up the wounds of the man set ended with the words: "Imagination ing split up and taken into institu- upon by thieves, when in fact the real has seized power." We must see to tional care, they will take the' kids task may be to undertake some form it that imagination and compassion into their own families temporarily. I of social engineering to straighten out seize power in our endeavors. think of the imaginative gesture of the road to Jericho so that no more balancing the establishment of the assaults can occur. Straightening out Alec Dickson has been described as Peace Corps with a "Paunch Corps that road to Jericho is no easy task. the "founding father" of today's ool- so that senior people, on reaching re- VISTA is enabli~igAmericans to do crnteer service. In 1958, Dickson tirement, can make some of their ac- things in this field that u2e have not started the first modern export oolcrn- cumulated expertise avnilable to yet attempted in Britain. They are teer agency, Britain's Voluntary Sem- others. So many have it within their encouraging the poor and the Negroes ice Overseas. In 1962, he esiablished ability to give something to someone to get registered as voters-so that at a domestic agency in Britain, Com- else. least they can vote for those who are munity Service Volunteers, which he We call some of our volunteers going to represent them. They are presently directs. In addition, he did "Trojan Horses," because we place helping to establish fair housing development work in East and West them inside some institution or or- groups,so that minorities can in fact, Africa for 12 years, and was head of ganization with a briefing that one of benefit from anti-discrimination legis- UNESCO's technical assistance mis- their objects is to open the door from lation. There are the volunteers in sion in Iraq for two years. The re- within to local young people living in Los Angeles, in the bail bond project, marks presented here were oakpted that area who can give some of their encouraging judges to release on bail from an address he made at an Inter- own spare time in service. Very few those individuals whom the VISTA national Secretariat for Volunteer authorities really like the idea that the volunteers in that area feel are good Seruice council meeting in Itme. Congressional testimony highlighted by Debate on freedom
Every year the Peace Corps goes the political conventions, reconvenes come around to saying we want the about the complicated business of after Labor Day. Peace Corpsmen to support the same getting funded for the next (fiscal) Congress' increased concern with foreign policy that our troops in Viet- year. This year, like last, the new fiscal foreign aid appropriations and foreign nam, who would he given a general year came before the appropriation policy in general was reflected in ques- court-martial if they took the same for it. As a result, the Peace Corps ..tions prtt to Vaughn during his testi- position, as these .people'in the Peace now is funded on a "continuing reso- mony. But the concern, as expressed Corps. . . . These people are supposed lotion" basisi Congress' way of allow- in hearings, particularly by Senator J. to impart our correct image in foreign ing an agency to continue operating countries. If they spout off to me, they William Fulbright (D-Ark.), chair- ' until its appropriation is passed. This man of the Senate Foreign Relations are going to spout off to others. . . .. resolntion, the second granted by Con- Committee, and Representative Otto Mr. Vaughn. I think the purpose of gress since the fiscal year began July E. Passman (D-La.), chairman of the the Foreign Service Officers and the 1, expires September 30. House Subcommittee on Foreign Op- military is so totally different. Peace The budget process began, as al- erations of the Committee on Appro- Corps Volunteers go out, not to .carry \vays, in early spring when the agency priations, respectively, differed in' em- out U.S. foreign policy, hut to serve a made its Congressional Presentation, phasis. foreign country and its people. requesting $112.8 million for FY '69. Rep. Passman \\,as emphatic in his Mr. Passman. What are [sic] the Director Jack Vaughn then testified belief that Peace Corp Volunteers Peace Corps supposed to do if it is not before the House Foreign Affairs Com- overseas should support U.S. foreign to impart the friendly image, that we mittee and.the Senate Foreign Rela- policy. In part, he said to Vaughn: want foreign countries to have about tions Committee, both of which au- "Why do you not take the initiative Americans? If these youths go overr thorized the Peace Corps request. In as an American and recommend that seas and are hostile to our- foreign essence, the authorization ,gives the we amend the legislation or policy so policy and so express themselves, as Peace Corps the "right to be" for these kids-a lot of them spoiled, dis- has been statedin the press, are they another year. appointed in love or something-will helping America?.. Why shouldn't they After the agency has been so au. go out and take the same position as support the same policy as these boys thorized to :continue opcrations, its the State Department people? What over in Vietnam, some of whom have budget request is reviewed and acted \vould.~youdo, my dear friend, with died since we started these hearings? upon accordingly. Preceding this ap- our military personnel if they got out Why shouldn't your people support propriation of .funds, the director ap- there' and started sponting off like the same policy, Mr. Vaughn. pears before two appropriations com- these Pence. Corpsmen?" Mr. Vaughn. Because they 'go out mittees; the House Subcommittee on This exchange followed: as free individuals from a pluralistic Foreign Operations and the -Senate society. . . . We are talking about two Subcommittee orr Foreign Operations. Mr. vaughn. I wor~ldlike to have some indication that' they have been completely different concepts. Vaughn has yet to go before the Senate subcommittee. Following an spouting off. Mr.'.Passman. They [Volunteers] are not different. They are also Amer- . appropriation, the Bureau . of the Mr. Passman. You have already said Budget gives, the amount a final re- so. You said they spouted off to you. icans out trying to impart a correct view. Mr. Vaughn. Don't you talk to American image. , . The Peace Corps appropriation is Americans in a different way than Mr. Vaughn. It indicates to me hour contained, along with that of other you talk- . . totally you misunderstand the concept foreign assistance programs, in the Mr. Passman. I talked to them as a of the Peace Corps and what it is Foreign Aid Bill: Before the bill can group [during a recent trip to Bang- setting out to do. be voted upon, the separate authoriza- kok]. This was not individual Peace In the Senate hearings, Senator Ful- tions for the other programs must be Corpsmen. . . . If I had a chartered bright also took up the question of passed. Probably the major reason for plane at my disposal and had had Volunteers' freedom of expression, hut delay in this year's Peace Corps' ap- the authority, I would have pulled from a different angle. He said to propriation is the . daculty experi- them all in by the nape of the neck Vaughn: enced by the Agency for International and pnt them aboard that plane and "One of ,[the> criticisms expressed Development in getting its authoriza- flown them back to the United States. . . .is that the Peace Corps is chang- tion. passed. Congress, in recess for I thought this year you would have ing, that it discourages self-expression .l,,d ,Iotlco,lformity a,,d, therefore, It. tracts a Iess-moti,,nted person. “If that is true, is the Peace Corps losing its \,jtalityY LEVVER$VoVHE The clisctlssiol~ contit~ued: Mr. Vaughn. 1 \~,ould say that the Peace Corps \:olurlteer o\erseas has The “special extra” \Vhat he is sayins is that the experi- more freedo,n of actio,>, of decisio,l, ence is somethi,]g to be built UPOI1, azld of expressiori that> ally persol~ \\,ho To TItE 170LUXTEER: to be used to\\,ard a fuller existex>ce has et,er gorle abroad to represent his The article by Rod Fre,lch ill the ir~\,.bate,,er one does. society,’ bfn,>y of the,n [vollItl- Lf;]rch VOLWXTEER is x n>ost percep- The Pence Corps experience is a teers] do protest to ll]e at~d to their ti\,e piece o,> what it car> mean to ha\,e kind of special extra i“ the maturatio,l Col>gress!nel> :xn)dSet~:ltors nr]d to the beet, ;, Peace Corps VOhltlteer. 1 process \vhich ma,ly people miss out press of the U,lited States AIIC1, Oc- clsrGe \\,ith hi,n thnt there is bea”tY 011. To take ad\,a,>taSe of this special casiot, allydu this i,, the local press. to the \t,hole experie,,ce. I atn t>o\v extra is \vhat the author says. 1 agree It is Il>ore ,1 [It,estiotl of bctor>li,lg to\,,ard the e,ld of my third year a,ld ,vith biln. :) ki,>d of ft)ll -time I<>l>byist fOr n 1 cat> say that I ha\,e begut> to identify JOHN WOO.S I>olicy or isslie th:tt distl,rbs Its. If ,,, ith ,,,y e,,,.iro,~me,,t here to a rather Jilnlna> EthiOpia they x\.at>tto ha,.e their say, \,,e allo,,, cxte,>sive degree. Basically, the reasor> tbe,ll to ha\.e their say as Io)>s as it I stayed for a third year is th~t I like does ,Iot offe,lcl tlie host col,,,try or Femininity as fact Iifc here a,ld I ha~,e beer] able to get the,n mixed tqy i,> the locd polit- co,x>,>lt)tlicate this to the people, This To THE VOLUXTEER: ik;ll sce,>e. Ijt>t I,a,.iz>s had their s;ty, 1):,s resulted i,, a,l acceptat>ce of me ,$.c expect tbc,>l to’cor]tilltle \X,iththeir Si,lce joining the Pence Corps, 1 ;1s ,~lore of a resident tba,l as a t\vo- job :,!ld ,Iut IIlnke this a kitld “f flnll Ixlx,e ofte,~ heard ( ancl r=)d ) tb~atfe- year sojot, rr>er. m:de Volunteers h:lve lost their fe,ll. tit>le prufessi<>rl. Whet, I Set back to the States, if i,,i,>ity. With this co,,te”tion 1 :lrdently Sen. Fulbright. The,,, is it ti:,ir to sol>~eorle asks me \vhat 1 did, 1 might s:ty it is ,1 ]Il:ltter of clegree, they :Ire disagree. They have lost l,one of their at,s,t,er that 1 spet~t three years gettitlg fe,nir,irlity, they have merely ~djc,sted free t,> protest oc~,siutltdly, i,l :, tlor- r>,ore a,ld more immersed, i,l a!> Ethio- to a,, equnlitarian independence \vbich tII:I1.t\,ay I>l,t t>ot to m:tke it a fl,ll titlle pi:l,t ,<.ay of life. 1x1all hot]esty, that bt!sit,ess? has bee,, forced on them a“d expected has beerl the most sigr,ificarlt facet of Mr. Vaughn. It is both a ,ilatterof of the,n by the very essence of the ,ny co,,tirltlitlg experier)ce. 1s that Peace Corps experie,lce. Neverth~l&ss, degree, sir, a!lcl of hO\s, they prOtest. ,,,bat ,ny q~cestio,ler \s,a,lts to ‘hear? this argulnetit has beer) so belabored \\re expect them to be ser,siti\,e aI1d \\rell, 1 ;tm a teacher and 1 am it]- that it has receded to the nadit of r>latttre a,xd ,~ot offe,ld. \,oh,ed in some com,ni,nity acti\,ities. banality. I read the article “Big sis F1dbright also co,nt~let)ted or> re- Therefore, 1 can say that 1 :atn mak- or plain Jane” (D$cember) and the Ce)lt cxiticist>l of the U.S. CO\.er]l- i,~g a de fitlite contribtttio” to Ethiopia ,me,lt’s it,col]sisterlcy irl spot]sorills the eloquent retort frotn Ja,~e herself at>d its development. A,,c1 \vbcn I (April ), \\.bich,incideritnlly, has so,ne Peace Corps :ttld the Viet,lam \s,ar at call>e to Ethiopia this is ,vh~t 1 thotaght the salne ti!ne. 1,1 I]art, he said: embarrassingly trtle criticisms of ,nany 1 \v.Is goi,~g to do. Beitlg friends \vitb Innle Volunteers. H:iving see,> both “EVC,l thoa.,gh I disasree \\,ith the people bvas port of the job (1 :Im not sides of this argument, 1 hope I am ,$,xK ill \rictrln,,,, I’ still favor YOIIL-du- tryi,)g to be cy,~ical—being friet, ds \%,>xs cap~ble of putting it torest oII&e atld ilig the best you call it] the Pe.lce r>~oretha,l pa~t of the job). The poi,~t for all, Corps e\,ctl tho,tgh I belie\7e there is 1 n,n’ tryi,lg to make is that I tvzs tlot GEORGE SUx
CHANGE OF ADDRESS POSTAGE AND FEES PAID PEACE CORPS WASHINGTON, D.C. 20525 Name OFFICIAL BUSINESS Street or P.O. Box
City, State, ZIP Code
Effective date Please send with mailing label at right.