Peace Corps Volunteerslast March
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American I.V.S.volunteers carry on amid fighting in Vietnam The following articleappewed re. Vietnamese—whiletheotherstriedto Actually,the Viet Cong seldo@ cenily in Parade magazine;itisre. keep him quiet. molestAmerican civiliansand gener. printed here with permission, More When the VietCong attackedMy allywan them againstgoingintocer- information aboutthe activities of In. The, Kirk Dimmit witnessedthesud- tainareas.As a Vietnameseschool termtional Vo!unta~ Services may be den deathsof severalVietnamesehe principalputit,“The VietCong know obtained by writing to the organization had known. Then quicklyhe began how much the people appreciate al 1555 Connecticut Ave. N. W,, organizingan escapefortheremain- I,V,S,-er~the V.C. wouldn’tdare Wmhington, D, C, 20036. ing villagers.After being flown to touchthem.” In fact,I.V.S,members Saigon to reportthe incident,Kirk have heard themselvesdescribedin insistedon returningto My Tbo to By M~otie Hope Communist broadcastsas young pe~ attendthefuneraloftheslainvillagers,pleworkingforthe good of thevii. TO the45,000 U.S.militaryserving Althoughauthoritieswantedto trans- lagerswho shouldnotbe molested, in embattledVietnam;add 80 young ferhim immediatelyafterwardsfrom It is ve~ difficultto describea ,, American volunteerswho each day thisdangerousarea,Kirk stayedon tYPicalday” in I.V.S.,formembers literallyrisktheirlivesina swuggleas forseveralweekstohelpmaintainthe are constantlyadaptingto new situa. grim as the war itself.These young moraleof thepeople,Beforeleaving tions,John timmers,forinstance,is people—65 men and 15 girl-are My The, he was citedhy theAmeri- a hamleteducationadtiserwho may fightingsomehow to yank a way of can ambassadorforheroism, do anythingfrom seeingthatcement lifeintotherealitiesof the 20thcc”. Despite these experiences,there forschoolfoundationsismixed prop tu~. have been no casualtiesduringthe erly,to dismibutinghealthpamphlets, Servingon two-yearcontractsfor eightyews LV.S.+rshave worked in or helpingraiserabbitsto supplement $80 a month,theseyoung Americans Vietnam. How have they been able thesalariesof IocdVietnameseteach- representingInternationalVOluntaW toavoidaccidents? ers.D~ing a month he oftenmakes Servicesare schoolingSouth Viet- LV.S. teams are based in towns more than 70 visitsby hehcopterto namese peasantsin improvedagricu- heldhy thegovernment,and members 50 differenthamletsin thetwo Htgh. lturaltechniques,working in public. work outfrom thereintomore remote landprovincesin which he works, If healthprogramsor teachingscience, the helicopterbreaksdown, he may areas,How fartheyventuredepends vocationalsubjects,and English.Op- stayovernightina Montagnardtribes- on the individual+n his feelings eratingout of 30 centersscattered man’s hut,diningon rice wine an: shoutthis,and on how wellhe knows throughoutthe countryside,theylive fish,learningtoplaytheMontagnar* ~ withthepeasants,sharetheirdangers the people,Leadersneverask team flute,and sleepingon a woven bamboo and hardships,evenlearntospeakthe members togo intoareastheydo not platform, extremelydifficultlanguage, wish to enter.On the contra~,they When theflodscame lastfall,John I.V.S,,foundedin 1953,withhead- ask the group to the precautions,helpedmobilizeteamsof Vietnamese quartersin Washington,D, C.,isthe %metimes theyhavehad toholdback studentsheadedforthedisasterareas. onlyvoluntarygroupworkinginViet. I,V,S.-ers. (Continued on back page) nam. Ithasgoneintodangerousareas of theworld where the Peace Corps hasnot,WhileI.V.S,-ershaveseldom been underfire,theyarepreparedfor anything,Some of them work in the strife-tornDelta,some inpartsof the count~ more freeof VietCOng co”. trol.Washingtonhas saidLV,S. will remain in Vietnam as long as there are Americansthere. Encounterswith the Vlet Cong— director indirect—arepartof every. day lifefor I.V.S.-ers.Agricultural teams may arrivein a town to pick up supplies4nlytodiscoverthatthe warehousewas burneddown an hour before,CarlieAllenderhas received printedwarningstellinghernot tobe in contactwith the military.Lesfie Smalltellsof a timehe stoppedalong a road in the Deltato take pictures and was invitedintoa farmer’shouse for tea, Another guest there was I,V.S.vol””teerCharlesSweet,of Ithaca,NY.,supewisesa workcampPrOieCt0 rather“unusual”and began to argue the NationalVolunta~Sewicesof Vietnam,a sewiceorganizationforstudent! that tbe Viet Cong r~rexnted the begun by I,V.S,Sweet has a B.A.in Englishfrom Cornell,grantedin 1964,Q 2 The new batch !. More than 6000 potentialPeace ‘orpsVolunteersare going through * ainingthissummer in 110 separate trainingprogramsatcolleges,univer- sities,and other sitesacrossNorth America—and infourinstances,over- seas, Of the 6000-PIusTraineesentering trainineinJune.Julv.and Aueust.475 arecol~egejuniorst~kingpart~nPhase 1 of theAdvanced TrainingProgram, eight-weekcoursesforcollegejuniors who plan to enterthe Peace Corps upon graduation,The remainderofthe summer Traineeswillbe candidates for sonle4400 assignmentsfor new VolunteersinfourPeaceCorpsregions —Africa,LatinAmerica,theFarEast, and “NANSSA—North Africa,the Near East,and SouthAsia, Roughly VolunteersboundforTurkeyawaitdepartureinPan AmericanterminalatKennedy fourof everytennew Volunteerswill AirpotiinNew York.More thanWOO new Volunteerswillgo abroadthissummer. go to LatinAmerica,threeof eve~ tento Africa,and theremainderwill be dividedaboutequallybetweentbe theend ofAugust,1966,PeaceCorps a gOUP of 272 Englishteachersand Far Eastand NAN=A. planscallformore than15,000Volun- ruralcommunity-developmentworkers At theend ofJuly,therewere g241 teersto be workingabroad. forTurkey arefinishingtheirmaining Volunteersalreadyatwork in46 coun- Thissummer asinthepast,most of atRobeflCollegeinJstanbuland the tries.Of thatnumber,about900 are the trainingprograms are 12-week Middle East TechnicalUniversityin scheduledtocompleteservicethisyear. coursesrun by Americancollegesand Ankara. AnothergroupofVolunteers With the new Volunteersbeginning universities,operatingunder Peace trainingoverseasistbeThailandma- ~ervicethissummer and fall,therewill Corps contracts.The PeaceCorps it- Iaria+radicationproject,whichwillget e approxlnlately11,400 Volunteers selfis responsiblefor a number of two months’ technicaltrainingin “*” on the10bby theend of theyear.By programs at its“in-house”training Manila. Rural community-develop- sitesin PuertoRico and the Virgin ment workerstrainingattheUniversity Islands,usedforVolunteersbound for of Missourihave fiveweeks of in- LatinAmerica and Africa. countV trainingin Bolivia. PEACE CORPS Some 400 former Volunteersare workingwithmaining-institutionstaffs Trainingin Canada md Metico thissummer, offeringtheirexperience to tbe Volunteers-to-be,Except for Three predominantlyNegro univer. AUGUST 1965 thoseatthePeaceCorpscamps inthe sitiesarecurrentlyadministeringPeace Volume Ill,Number 10 Caribbean,theex-Volunteersarehired Corps progranls,AtlantaUniversity’s Morehouse and Spelman Collegesare P“b!ished monthly by the Wvlslon directlyby the participatingcolleges of Vol.”teer Suppon, Peace Corps, and universities. bandlingTraineesinAdvanced Train- Wa$hin @on, 0. C, 20525, The largestnumber of Traineesin ingPro@ams forGhana,Nigeria,and Deane Wylie, edlton Job” English, as. a singleprojectisa group of 286 at SierraLeone projects.LincolnUni- ststant editoq Susan Murray, editorial San Jose (Calif.) StateCollegepre- versityin Pennsylvaniaisconducting assistant; PaulReed,atidirector. paringforteachingdutyinthePhilip trainingfor Barbadosand St,Lucia. pines;togetherwithanothergroupof A Gabon school-constructionproject ON THE COVER—TOGO Moniq.e, 161 atSacramentoStateCollege,also was co-ordinatedby SouthernUniver- Laure,and Colettearestudentsat preparingforteachingassignmentsin sityon botb itsBaton Rouge, La., collegeNotreDame de,AP4tre.In the Philippines,they representtbe campus and the new Peace Corps Lomb;NancyMerritt(page111istheir teacher.SENEGAL Mel Zwey8ardt largestnumber of Traineespreparing Center on St. Croix in the Virgin [St,F,a”cis,K..,)teacheswrestling for servicein any one country.The Islands. to S...8.1.s.students.IVORY smallestgroup is on the campus of Severalprojectswillhavefieldtrain- COAST:man.. HafiIpage21)visits SouthernIllinoisUniversityatCarbon- ing in neighboringcountries.In”tbe homeoffoyerstudent.NIGER:Karen finalphaseof an Advanced Training Selser(Newpoti,Ten”.]teaches.Utri. dale—12 Traineeswho are preparing t!..and childcareInmndu home forjohsintheWest Afticannationof Program directedby DartmouthUni- visit.GUINEA:Ron Boring(A%adia, Senegal,wheretheywillbe ruralvma- versity,Traineesassignedto Guinea, Callf,texaminescor”fie!dsoilwith tionalteachers. Senegal,Togo,ind Cameroon areliv- $t.de”t$atNationalSchoolofAgri. Thissummer fourgroupsarecom- ingwithFrench-Canadianfamiliesin cultureinFouta.RePortsfromeach ofthefiveCO”ntrie$begin0“ Dage7. pletingtheirtrainingoverseas.After La Pocati&re,a town about80 miles Featurednextmonth:Brazil, spendinga month ontbePrincetonand northof Quebec City,whiletraining Portland(Ore.)StateCollegecampuses, attheCol12gede Ste,Anne de laPoca- 3 ti2re.Four Latintiericu propams Doctors at Duke The 12-week wainingprogram at willtrainin Mexic*Trainees in a Duke includesinstructionin each of, Colombia projectat San Diego State A new Peace Corps program got theseareas,togetherwithmethods Collegewillwork in villagessouthof underway in mid-Julyas 17 Volun. teaching,Practicalwork in labor @ Tijuana; Chile community-develop-teerdoctorsenteredtrainingatDuke toriesandittnearbycommunitiessup. ment workersat MichiganStateUni. University. plementsthe