Uncommon Journeys
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First Edition: June 2004 Paul D. Coverdell Each selection by a returned Peace Corps Volunteer in this volume appears with the per- worldwise mission of the author. Educators, returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and others are free to schools reproduce portions of this book for educational purposes. However, reproduction of the stories for purposes of republication requires the permission of the individual authors. Contact the Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools program at [email protected] for assistance. This publication contains materials written by returned Peace Corps Volunteers and oth- ers that represent their individual views.These views are not official opinions of the U.S. government or of the Peace Corps. Cover photograph: Kerry Zahn, Peace Corps Volunteer, Mauritania (1998–2000) Uncommon Journeys Peace Corps Adventures Across Cultures TURE IN THE CLASSROOM CE CORPS LITERA Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools USING PEA P EACE C ORPS A DVENTURES A CROSS C ULTURES One of the most remarkable things about Peace Corps living is confronting the fluid nature of knowledge.Volunteers must daily confront what they once accepted as fact, reevaluating both their initial impressions of their new home and their former perceptions of American culture. What is real and what is not? What is true and what is a socially endorsed notion? It is a beau- tiful and sometimes frightening journey. There are no outposts, no lamps in the dark. But if you choose to venture out, the rewards are rich: a fuller understanding of yourself, your country, and your world. —Jordan Earl, Peace Corps Volunteer, Uzbekistan (2002-2004) Uncommon Journeys U SING P EACE C ORPS L ITERATURE IN THE C LASSROOM U NCOMMON J OURNEYS: PEACE C ORPS A D VENTURES A CROSS C ULTURES Prologue: “A Straw Fence the Height of a Man,” by Michael Varga . 2 Introduction . 6 A Matter of Time and Fate “The Meaning of Time,” by Kimberly Ross Camara. 10 “Three Lessons,” by Craig Storti . 19 Standing Out in the Crowd “The Train Ride Home,” by Robin Solomon . 31 “Running,” by Peter Hessler . 44 Generations Apart “Soccer Until Dusk,” by Mark Brazaitis . 80 “Help! My Father Is Coming!” and “The Visit to Vijay’s,” by Jim Toner . 89 Giving and Receiving “Sharing in Africa,” by Mike Tidwell . 128 “The Senegalese Miracle,” by Leita Kaldi . 150 Resilience Above All “Music in the Fields,” by Carrie Young . 158 “Mr. John and the Day of Knowledge,” by John Deever . 168 Bibliography . 184 Standards. 187 Acknowledgments . 190 Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools 1 P EACE C ORPS A DVENTURES A CROSS C ULTURES P ROLOGUE A STRAW F ENCE THE H EIGHT OF A M AN by Michael Varga Peace Corps Volunteer, Chad (1977-1979) Outside, the bitter December winds howl, but inside the library at Saint Albans School for boys in northwest Washington, D.C., we are thinking about heat, sun. About Africa. I ask the sixth graders what comes to mind when they think of that faraway continent. “Elephants.”“Apartheid.”“Jungles and deserts.”“Hungry people.” As part of National Geography Awareness Week,returned Peace Corps Volunteers are visiting local schools to share stories about their expe- riences. Saint Albans is a school for the affluent, for the sons of mem- bers of Congress and other capital power-brokers. The point of the exercise is to impress on the students the importance of learning about other places and peoples. But I want to leave these students with something more than a quick travelogue about sub-Saharan Africa. “In the summer of 1977, a few weeks after graduating from college, I found myself in an ‘animal market’ outside the capital of Chad, N’djamena.” I ask them what they think an “animal market” is. “Are the animals alive or dead?” “Dead.” “No.They’re alive.Why are they sold alive?” One student says, because people are there to buy pets. Another vol- unteers it’s because there are no refrigerators in Chad, so there’s no way to store meat without it spoiling. I tell them animals are sold alive so that they may be killed just before they’re eaten. 2 Uncommon Journeys U SING P EACE C ORPS L ITERATURE IN THE C LASSROOM After describing how the animal market is organized, the village high school. How do you think the vil- with herds of cattle and camels and goats and sheep lagers looked at me?” all huddled together under the blazing sun, beaten “They were happy to have a teacher.” “Like an close together by the herders, I recount how a crazed intruder.”“Like a white man.” bull suddenly breaks away from a herd and charges me. I tell them how I freeze, how the other “They thought of me as this symbol of America, a Volunteers tug at me, trying to drag me away from place they had heard scattered stories about, a place imminent tragedy. I tell them how the bull lowers rich and powerful with plenty of food. And they one horn, seeming to aim for the heart of my heart. all—all the villagers—kept asking me for things. For I tell them how paralyzed I feel. And how at the last food. For money. For books. How do you think I felt possible moment some of the stick-bearing herds- after a while? Always being asked for things?” men run alongside the bull and beat its sides, forcing “Bothered.”“Hassled.”“You wanted to be left alone.” it to veer off. “That’s right. So one day some of my students “How do you think I felt at that moment?” offered to build a fence around my compound.They “Relieved.”“Lucky.”“Safe.”“Scared.” said it would keep the goats from eating the grass in front of my hut. Grass was something to be protect- “What do you think I wanted to do?” ed, and here I was just letting any old goat eat it “Pray.”“Get out of Africa!” “Come back home!” away! So I paid them to build it. A straw fence the height of a man. “Right.” “Now in Africa, many people carry things on their Some of the other Volunteers advised me not to heads. So once my fence was built, when people make more of the incident than it was. Sure, there passed in front of my compound I often saw nothing had been danger, but I hadn’t been killed, not even but whatever they were carrying on their heads. wounded. I had come to Chad to serve, and having Bottles and jars and piles of wood bouncing along come this far, how could I let a random incident just above my fence.And the fence kept people away deter me? from my hut. Now there were very few requests for “A few months later I found myself in my village, the food and money and books. I was quite content, sit- only Peace Corps Volunteer sent to this particularly ting in front of my hut, fenced off from the villagers, remote corner of southern Chad where there were watching the things they carried bounce along. no other foreigners, no running water, no electricity. “Then one day I saw a woman trying to kick down I was to teach English, French, and mathematics in my straw fence. How do you think I felt?” Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools 3 P EACE C ORPS A DVENTURES A CROSS C ULTURES “Angry.”“You wanted to kick her.” some animal skins. She said it carried some ‘magic herbs’ inside. She told me it would keep the evil spir- “I ran to where she was screaming at me through the its away from me.” fence. I told her to leave the fence alone, but she kept right on kicking it and pointing at the ground. She I pull the charm out of my pocket and hand it to the was speaking very fast, in Ngambaye, the local boys to pass around, so they can stroke the animal dialect. I couldn’t understand what she was saying fur. So they can touch something from Chad, from but I could sense that she was warning me about that woman’s hands. something.What do you think she saw?” “I wondered about it keeping away any evil spirits. “A snake?” But why do you think I still carry this charm?” “That’s right. She had seen a snake crawl under my “To remember that woman.” fence. And she wanted to warn me about it.” “But why do I want to remember her?” “Was the snake poisonous?” “Because you regret not marrying her.”“Because she “We never found out. Chadians believe that all saved your life.” snakes are dangerous and should be killed. So we “Do you think I rebuilt that fence?” found the snake and smashed its head, and I invited her to have some tea with me. How do you think I “No.” felt about her now?” “That’s right. I didn’t rebuild that fence. And I carry “You were grateful.”“You were happy.”“You wanted this charm as a reminder to me that it’s very easy— to give her something.” especially when people are making a lot of demands on you—to try to close yourself off, to fence them “Did she know me?” out, to keep what you have just for yourself. But I “No.” had gone to Chad to work, to serve, to help. This charm reminds me that it is in keeping yourself open “And yet, look at this, boys: A woman who didn’t to others, to those who need your help, who ask you know me, who probably had heard stories about ‘that for perhaps more than you think you can give, that white man’ and how he had closed himself off from we really find satisfaction.