Are You Peace Corps?

I’m currently in Diego for our regional volunteer action committee meeting, getting together with everyone from the area to discuss projects and have a little fun. It’s really cool all being together, especially now because March 2011 is the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps.

Being the 50th anniversary, it’s been fun to hear stories from past volunteers about their Peace Corps experiences, how they’ve helped out, the different cultures they were thrown into, and the fun they had living abroad (tons are being posted on the web and even some on the national news). It also has made me think that if the Peace Corps has survived for 50 years, it must be doing something right.

The best thing that the Peace Corps does, hands down, is give a good name for Americans. Sure, I might convince a few hundred people to eat a more balanced diet or practice family planning, but the larger effect comes from me just being here, speaking Malagasy, living like a local and not a tourist, and the act of trying to help a country other than my own. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve gone to the market or hailed a taxi-brousse and had the conversation start with them speaking to me in French with a sort of displeasure, but when I respond in Malagasy, they shortly follow up with asking “Are you Peace Corps/American?” I then answer, “Yes, how did you know?” They then say something along the lines of, “Only Americans take the time to learn our language; we like Americans. We don’t like the French though; they don’t speak Malagasy and left our country in a mess.” Good work and happy 50th, Peace Corps. I’ll do my best to keep up the tradition, have some fun, and hopefully convince my town to stop using their yards as a public toilet.

March Highlights:
• Teaching the kids in my town how to play football
• First radio broadcast
• Looking official with our PSI uniforms in Ambanja
• Emerald Sea boat trip
• Starting digging for first latrine
• Women’s Day, March 8th

More to come!