Thoughts on Development

I’ve now officially been in Perú for half of a year. Time is flying. After 3 months in site I’m starting to realize that 2 years might be gone in no time. Of course there are those days when it feels like it has been eons since I last drank cold skim milk and then two years seems like a long time.

I just returned to site after Reconnect, a reunion of sorts with all of the other volunteers of my training group. It was held in Huanchaco, a quaint beach town outside of Trujillo. I really can’t complain—hot showers, ocean views, good friends, no mosquitoes, and excellent ceviche all at once. We were there for about four days which is the longest I’ve been out of site since I got here. It was a refreshing break, primarily because it provided such an excellent opportunity to catch up with my friends from training. At the same time, it was a bit sobering because in the end I had to leave them again and head back to site where I’m are supposed to be the perfect motivated volunteer.

Actually, by the time I got back to site I was ready. It was nice to realize that my family was glad to see me and that I could have a conversation with them which went beyond a conversation that would occur between mere acquaintances. Unfortunately, that conversation wasn’t all that cheerful. Within a few minutes my host-mom divulged to me that the school director had stopped by and accused me of stealing eight chairs and a hose from the school room I used this summer. This is the same room which now includes a half-painted yellow wall. What he thinks I want with 8 miniature chairs is beyond me. I mean, my room’s honestly not that large and even if I were crazy enough to invite 8 children into it, I don’t think I’d feel compelled to provide seating.

This morning I found out from the town authority that the director actually filed a report against me. The good news is that the town authority also reassured me that he will help me if there are any problems. I’m pretty sure that no one in my town thinks I’m at fault so I feel better than I did at first, when I wanted to cry. Basically, it just wasn’t what I wanted to deal with within minutes of returning to site.

I was also approached by a woman who immediately jumped into a vivid description of an ailing squirrel that she had been keeping in her house while I was gone. After she had detailed all of its symptoms she paused. By the time the pause got awkward I realized she was waiting for a diagnosis. Apparently she thought I would know what to do. I mentioned something about antibiotics or something and that seemed to please her. Now she still thinks I know how to treat squirrels.

Anyway, I was thinking that since I’ve been at site for 3 months now, it would be a good time to detail some of my thoughts on international development, since that’s what I’m supposedly working in. So far my thoughts haven’t changed too much since being here but I’ve definitely learned a lot. It’s strange but it’s still hard for me to realize that I’m even in the Peace Corps. There are times when it is blatantly obvious, but it still doesn’t sink in. Sometimes I wish it would hit me. I think it would feel more like reality to a visitor who merely observed my existence as a PCV.

This is closely related to my thoughts of what it is that I’m actually doing here, which also remain somewhat fuzzy. I can’t deny that it’s an amazing opportunity to live here for two years in Perú and basically for free. On the whole, I can’t see that PCVs do any negative damage and most likely they have a positive impact on their communities. As far as I can tell there are many positives to the PC development model. Already I have witnessed serious flaws with other NGOs/missionaries I’ve seen working here. More than anything, the positive side of the PC is that volunteers are in site long term and have a decent grasp of what the local population needs and has the time to establish a decently sustainable project. However, that being said, something like $40,000 is spent per volunteer every year when you include the costs of administration (but don´t quote me on that). I can’t help but think that this money would be better off spent developing programs in the U.S. itself. Also, as the benefit of the PC development model is that the volunteers are present long term, it follows that true change is most likely internal, coming from the people themselves who are forever present. As my friend Leslie, a current PCV in The Gambia, put it, she can’t have a full time job, her own last name and a birth control prescription because feminists from Asia came to the US sixty years ago and fought for it.

When it comes down to it, my opinion is that true development—taken to mean a positive change towards a peaceful and sustainable future—means working within ones own community and culture. International relations are crucial but international development probably exists due to notions of the exotic. Perhaps a PCV is successful at establishing improved cooking stoves but that positive impact must pale in comparison to the negative impact of our anti-drug trade policy in Colombia or the impact of the American lifestyle. It seems that the actual problem is a lack of consciousness and interest among both privileged and impoverished populations. Here, while they are indeed living in conditions of poverty, it seems that they could chose to spend their money more wisely and actually participate in community projects and see improvement in their quality of life. Likewise, Americans could change policies to allow for a more even distribution of wealth and could change their overindulgent lifestyle to diminish impacts on the rest of the world. The difference is that the impoverished population must work twice as hard to achieve a positive change—through working for a living and extra time spent aiding the community—while the average Unitedstatsian would have to think a bit harder about what’s actually important in life and follow through by making more unselfish decisions. It’s pretty clear that the U.S. lifestyle is sustained with the resources of so-called third world countries. How else do you explain how a country as rich in resources as Perú is so impoverished?

Anyway, I think that change lies in participation and awareness, something lacking both in Peru and the States. If anything, the PC is a wonderful organization in one regard which is forcing its volunteers to experience, albeit superficially, the culture of another country. We´ll see how my thoughts change over the next 21 months.