Comments on: The Peace Corps spreads colonial influence abroad http://whitmanpioneer.com/opinion/2009/03/12/the-peace-corps-spreads-colonial-influence-abroad/ The Pioneer | Whitman news, delivered. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:33:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Ross Szabo http://whitmanpioneer.com/opinion/2009/03/12/the-peace-corps-spreads-colonial-influence-abroad/comment-page-1/#comment-4020 Ross Szabo Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:31:57 +0000 http://whitmanpioneer.com/?p=4013#comment-4020 If the Peace Corps was going into countries and telling them what to do as well as what was wrong with them, then I would agree with this article. However, some simple research would have helped Mr. Janyk understand that isn't the process. The process to get placed in a country defeats this argument. People who are accepted to the Peace Corps have to wait for a country to pick them. Each month countries assess what programs THEY want to develop and who THEY would like to help them. As the person above me pointed out, when you get to THEIR country THEY tell you what they would like you to do. To top that off when a volunteer leaves the NGO or business that brought you in continues to do the work that you were a part of. This isn't the US saying Oh poor little country let us send some Americans to fix your issues as much as it is countries who need or want help asking for volunteers to do that work. Also the US isn't the only country that does this, and isn't the only country that colonized others. To assume some countries don't determine the issues they want to work on is really insulting to those countries. If the Peace Corps was going into countries and telling them what to do as well as what was wrong with them, then I would agree with this article. However, some simple research would have helped Mr. Janyk understand that isn’t the process.

The process to get placed in a country defeats this argument. People who are accepted to the Peace Corps have to wait for a country to pick them. Each month countries assess what programs THEY want to develop and who THEY would like to help them. As the person above me pointed out, when you get to THEIR country THEY tell you what they would like you to do. To top that off when a volunteer leaves the NGO or business that brought you in continues to do the work that you were a part of.

This isn’t the US saying Oh poor little country let us send some Americans to fix your issues as much as it is countries who need or want help asking for volunteers to do that work. Also the US isn’t the only country that does this, and isn’t the only country that colonized others. To assume some countries don’t determine the issues they want to work on is really insulting to those countries.

]]> By: Xhun http://whitmanpioneer.com/opinion/2009/03/12/the-peace-corps-spreads-colonial-influence-abroad/comment-page-1/#comment-3988 Xhun Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:41:43 +0000 http://whitmanpioneer.com/?p=4013#comment-3988 Oh, my dear mr. or mrs. Janyk, I don't get to use the internet too often, so i have to make this quick, as i have other important things to do. While I was applying to be a Peace Corps volunteer i had much of the same apprehension you seem to have, and with the United State's track record of international involvement it is an important question to ask- 1) What kind of involvement and voice do the people in the 'host countries' have to decide needed projects? 2) Are we exporting the 'idea' of poverty by introducing wealth? These are just a couple of the questions i feel deserve an answer, and i will answer them since i have more experience than a college office or classroom. 1) I currently teach organic agriculture in one of a many Peace Corps participating countries (i know organic is a ridiculously overused buzz word, but stick with me). The Peace Corps has relatively little involvement with my day to day operations. I was given 3 months of technical and language training, and was 'given' to a 'host country' NGO that had requested a volunteer with agricultural knowledge. The program i work under is a sustainable method of farming, that with time will slowly eliminate participation in international market systems (in limited areas: such as vegetables and some simply manufactured goods, like yogurt, milk, or spaghetti sauce (which i assure you the peace corps did not originally introduce)). The methods and projects are governed by a local NGO which, besides for your truly, is only 'host country nationals'. The biggest problem i face is with international organizations, like USAID, who give away/ sell highly reduced market items that usually would be grown in the area and sold in the local open air market (it screws up prices for the local farmers). 2) The idea of wealth. This is a tough one to pin on the Peace Corps because this has been happening since the western world came into contact with 'the other'. Do i think that people today 'feel' poorer because of my actions/ presence here? I would say: maybe a little. But its really their already formed stereotype of North Americans that make them think i have any money at all, which today i would blame on the exportation of our culture in movies and t.v. shows. Just like the United State's international involvement, Brad Pitt's movie selection, and any guy's list of x-girlfriends, the Peace Corps is not perfect, but we're trying to do good, and we're trying to do what the people HERE (host country) need. Examples: there are stove projects here designed to use less wood and produce less smoke because the people here KNOW deforestation and lung disease are problems. Others work in government transparency.... and while their government may have been introduced by the West, that's the system they have and THEY want to fix the problems, and if they could think and implement another type of government that involves a democratic base, then I'm pretty sure we would help them do that too. there are others who teach children about washing their hands and brushing their teeth.... are these imperialistic tendencies? i guess making them think they Need toothpaste might be.... but come on guy, this is the reality they live in now, introduced by the west or not, and now its our job to try to help them fix some of the same problems we have, and help them avoid problems they haven't yet arrived at or we just plain don't have in the united states. Oh, my dear mr. or mrs. Janyk,
I don’t get to use the internet too often, so i have to make this quick, as i have other important things to do.
While I was applying to be a Peace Corps volunteer i had much of the same apprehension you seem to have, and with the United State’s track record of international involvement it is an important question to ask- 1) What kind of involvement and voice do the people in the ‘host countries’ have to decide needed projects? 2) Are we exporting the ‘idea’ of poverty by introducing wealth? These are just a couple of the questions i feel deserve an answer, and i will answer them since i have more experience than a college office or classroom.
1) I currently teach organic agriculture in one of a many Peace Corps participating countries (i know organic is a ridiculously overused buzz word, but stick with me). The Peace Corps has relatively little involvement with my day to day operations. I was given 3 months of technical and language training, and was ‘given’ to a ‘host country’ NGO that had requested a volunteer with agricultural knowledge. The program i work under is a sustainable method of farming, that with time will slowly eliminate participation in international market systems (in limited areas: such as vegetables and some simply manufactured goods, like yogurt, milk, or spaghetti sauce (which i assure you the peace corps did not originally introduce)). The methods and projects are governed by a local NGO which, besides for your truly, is only ‘host country nationals’. The biggest problem i face is with international organizations, like USAID, who give away/ sell highly reduced market items that usually would be grown in the area and sold in the local open air market (it screws up prices for the local farmers).
2) The idea of wealth. This is a tough one to pin on the Peace Corps because this has been happening since the western world came into contact with ‘the other’. Do i think that people today ‘feel’ poorer because of my actions/ presence here? I would say: maybe a little. But its really their already formed stereotype of North Americans that make them think i have any money at all, which today i would blame on the exportation of our culture in movies and t.v. shows.
Just like the United State’s international involvement, Brad Pitt’s movie selection, and any guy’s list of x-girlfriends, the Peace Corps is not perfect, but we’re trying to do good, and we’re trying to do what the people HERE (host country) need. Examples: there are stove projects here designed to use less wood and produce less smoke because the people here KNOW deforestation and lung disease are problems. Others work in government transparency…. and while their government may have been introduced by the West, that’s the system they have and THEY want to fix the problems, and if they could think and implement another type of government that involves a democratic base, then I’m pretty sure we would help them do that too. there are others who teach children about washing their hands and brushing their teeth…. are these imperialistic tendencies? i guess making them think they Need toothpaste might be…. but come on guy, this is the reality they live in now, introduced by the west or not, and now its our job to try to help them fix some of the same problems we have, and help them avoid problems they haven’t yet arrived at or we just plain don’t have in the united states.

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