I have been writing a series of diaries this week on my Peace Corps experience . I was a volunteer working in the environment sector, Morocco 2004-2006. Today is the Day of Action, designated by the National Peace Corps Association, in support of members of Congress who believe in the mission of the Peace Corps and would like to see it expanded. I know that this is also an important primary day. If you cannot take action today, do it another day. But check out the info at the end.
Also, there are some of my thoughts on the world, and some pictures of some Moroccans that are very special to me. Look closely. They are just people. (Well, people and a partly skinned sheep.)
The views expressed are my own.
Thanks for reading.
The long strange trip that was my Peace Corps experience began in Philadelphia in March 2004. I spent the week leading up to Philly repeatedly packing and unpacking my bags. On your way out, packing consumes your life. Ask any volunteer that has spent a year in-country and they will tell you that what you bring with you matters very little. In Philadelphia I met the group that I would be traveling with, and everyone brought something different.
Sheep skinning at my neighbor's
I decided to join the Peace Corps soon after Sept. 11. I was 24 when I watched those buildings fall, and then watched the country seemingly lose its mind. America became like a wounded animal, striking out in fear and pain. I knew that wasn’t for me. I knew that there's a great big world out there. I knew that I wanted to volunteer to do my part. I wanted to find the difference between want and need. I know that a lot of other people out there feel the same way.
Lahcen taught us to speak Arabic, and is an all around great friend.
There are very good people out there in the world. You just have to go find them. They are living in mud huts, tents, and old Soviet block housing. They are wearing veils, krama, tupenu and turbans. They are speaking Sesotho, Kazakh and Quechua. They are very different from you, but they are still people. If you live among them long enough, and you learn their language, and you learn their religion, and you live by their rules, sooner or later you discover that you are much more the same than different. And you realize that we are all in this together.
Bin Ayad and his family shared their house with me.
In Philadelphia they told us this story:
There once was a land were everyone wore blue-lens glasses. No one knew why they wore them, but everyone was born with those glasses, and never took them off their whole lives. Across the ocean, there was a land were everyone wore yellow-lens glasses. Like the blue-lens land, no one knew why they wore yellow glasses, but they had always worn them. One day a person from the land of blue-lens glasses decided he would go live in the yellow-lens glasses land. He spent 2 year living and working and learning with the people in the foreign land. When he got back, everyone asked him, "What is it like there?" and he replied, "Everything there is green."
My host family during training, village Magramane near Ourzazate.
You can never leave off your culture, and you can never fully integrate into another. All of my views on Morocco are filtered through my own American-ness. When I was living in Morocco, I reminded every hour of every day that I am an American. But if absolute understanding of a foreign culture is impossible, it is still a worthy goal. It takes constant discovery and rearrangement of beliefs. As my Tazekka Peace Corps partner put it, it is defragmenting the mind. Your beliefs were not formed in the presence of all knowledge. Therefore, your beliefs must be able to be reformed as new knowledge is acquired.
Rajji and his family were my host family in Admam.
I believe that the path to peace is through understanding. We fear the unknown. That is why the government is able to occupy a foreign nation. That is why Americans continue to be afraid of Muslims. That is why cynical men and can get so much political mileage out of hate. That is why billions of dollars can go to contractors in Baghdad, while billions of people live without clean water. When we find out for ourselves, when we see with our own eyes and know from our experience what is out there, we can no longer be lied to. We will no longer be afraid. Knowledge is power.
The Peace Corps is not perfect, and it will not bring world peace alone. It will be an important part of gaining real understanding between very different people as we speed through space on this rock. This is not "pennies a day". Do not pity these people, or believe that America can fix their lives. Just know that when real people work together across political, language, cultural, and religious boundaries, great things can happen. Just imagine.
Today is the Peace Corps National Day of Action. It is also an important primary day, I know. I hope that you can take a few minutes to look at this information.
Read Congressman Sam Farr's legislation to double the size of the Peace Corps by 2012.
Take action with your senators.
Sen. Chris Dodd (CT) and Sen. Norm Coleman (MN) are circulating a Dear Colleague letter asking for increased funding for the Peace Corps. They have already been joined by Sen. John Kerry (MA), Robert Menendez (NJ), and Sen. Jeff Binganman (NM). If these are your senators, send a thank you.
The letter is addressed to Sen. Patrick Leahy (VT) and Sen. Judd Gregg (NH) who serve, respectively, as the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State/Foreign Operations. If either of these is your senator, it is very important that they hear from you.
If your senators are not on this very short list, please contact them in support of increased Peace Corps funding.
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Congressmen Chris Shays (CT), Sam Farr (CA), Mike Honda (CA), Jim Walsh (NY) and Tom Petri (WI) have written the Dear Colleague letter in the House. The letter is addressed to Congresswoman Nita Lowey (NY) and Congressman Frank Wolf (VA) who serve, respectively, as the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State/Foreign Operations. If either of these is your representative, please contact them.
The following representatives have already signed on:
California
Sam Farr
Mike Honda
Connecticut
Chris Murphy
Chris Shays
Florida
Alcee Hastings
Hawaii
Mazie Hirono
Illinois
Jan Schakowsky
New Jersey
Rush Holt
New York
Michael McNulty
James Walsh
Ohio
Betty Sutton
Pennsylvania
Phil English
Tennessee
Stephen Cohen
Virginia
Jim Moran
Wisconsin
Tammy Baldwin
Gwen Moore
Tom Petri
If any of these are your Representative, send them a thank you.
If your representative is not listed, take action.
More information.
While President Bush proposed increased funding for Peace Corps in each of his annual budget recommendations, he fell far short of his pledge during the 2002 State of the Union address to double the number of Peace Corps volunteers by 2007.
While most members of Congress express support for the Peace Corps, Congress has sometimes reduced the President's funding request, sometimes dramatically. For example, in Fiscal Year 2006, the President requested a nearly 9% increase in Peace Corps funding. Congress reduced that increase to less than 1%. In Fiscal Year 2007, Peace Corps funding was frozen at $319 million.
Peace Corps estimates full funding of the President's budget will allow 8,100 volunteers to serve through the end of September, 2009. In October, 2007 Peace Corps reported 8,079 volunteers in the field. This indicates the number of volunteers under the President's FY 2009 budget request will only increase by approximately 20 world-wide in the coming year - a 0.2% increase.
While the number of volunteers in the field is near a 40 year high, this remains almost 50% below 1966 levels, when 15,000 volunteers were in the field.
While $343.5 Million would represent the highest spending level in the history of the Peace Corps, the spending value (when adjusted for inflation) is significantly lower than spending levels for Peace Corps in the 1960s.
While volunteers are currently serving in nearly 74 nations, Peace Corps has reported as many as 20 additional countries are requesting volunteers.
While approximately 4,000 Peace Corps volunteers are selected each year, Peace Corps receives inquires about service from more than 100,000 people each year.