Sorry I Cannot Hear You, I'm Kind of Busy

by Steve Lynch, T-13 (Dashoguz City)

Former Peace Corps Volunteers do not call home. They do not buy phone cards. They do not page through scuffed tetrads (notebooks) filled with lists of digits from their village, calling codes cramped into the corners, hunting for their favorite dukançy's number. We return home, shake out the rug we bought from someone in the capital, and make a few drunken speeches to whomever will listen here about how this experience changed us and how we learned more from them than we think they learned from us and that's crazy, man. But we do not call home.


Almost every conversation between RPCVs (former Volunteers) will loop back through the same doorways of the same circular home of conversation: it's insane how it feels like forever ago; yeah, I was thinking about that, too; and then, finally, have you talked to your host family at all, like called them or something? There is the same look of guilt shading all of our eyes--no, I didn't but no one does and the land lines are terrible, right? There is comfort in knowing we are a type, that we have self-similar habits here. Because that guilt always turns to relief when the other person admits to host familial silence. Our communal guilt is a comfort.

I am the ugly duckling, for I have called my host family almost without fail once a month, almost every month, since I returned here in October 2006. I am a rarity. For almost three and a half years, I spend an hour on the phone with a family that suffered, stuffed, angered, adored, and amused me for two years and we, like Volunteers, cycle through the same conversations every single time. It goes like this.

RPCV Advocacy Efforts on Behalf of Peace Corps

The National Peace Corps Association will mark the anniversary of the founding of Peace Corps with a Day of Action tomorrow (March 2nd).  RPCVs will visit Congress to urge continued bipartisan support for the agency. NPCA has an action page if you would like to help advocate in our home state.

In a similar vein, Push of Peace Corps is currently advocating for increased funding of Peace Corps (to $465 million in 2011). If you would like to write your Representative on behalf of the goal, the organization has set a deadline of March 15th.  More information on getting involved with this campaign is available on their website.

3rd Goal Presentation Tips

by Charles Gussow, T-11

After completing their service overseas, Volunteers are considered "Returned Peace Corps Volunteers" rather than "Former Volunteers" to emphasize their continuing duty to educate Americans about their country of service. This responsibility is tied to the 3rd goal of Peace Corps - bringing the experience back home to the United States (the first and second goal are providing technical assistance and sharing American culture with foreign hosts, respectively).

In honor of the upcoming Peace Corps week (March 1st - 7th), Camel Spit is pleased to offer some suggestions for successfully sharing your experience at your local school or community center.

Don't be afraid! Use the classroom match at the Peace Corps site or just call a school/library near you and set up a talk. At least once during your service, you convinced a room full of children/doctors/ministry officials that you knew something about health/business/the English language that they didn't (okay, you probably didn't need to fake English language knowledge). You actually do more about Turkmenistan than most people in the U.S., so will be able to pass on a ton of information to your audience.

Does Peace Corps Help Turkmenistan: No, but...

by Maya Saryeva
This essay is part of a continuing Camel Spit conversation.

I would like to present a subjective account of my experience with Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), and please note that none of what I say is directed at any PCV personally. These are simply my thoughts, memories and experiences that I gathered over the years.  I cannot argue that Peace Corps Volunteers make Turkmenistan a better country. However, I can say that they certainly facilitate a great deal of cultural exchange and touch the lives of different individuals and families in different ways. While there are a few jewels amongst the waves of PCVs that come and go, most are there for the experience of enduring a life outside of United States and coming back to say that they actually made it, and if they are lucky or strong individuals, they were actually able to enjoy it.  I found it especially interesting that very few of the Volunteers (most of the ones I became friends with) had a sense of pragmatism and interest in the lives of Turkmen people, while many others didn't. Undoubtedly some PCVs came with the goal of changing Turkmenistan, while others had a strange air of ideological bias that "we are here to show you things that are not necessarily different, but are essentially "better".  I believe for most of the latter, the attitudes change in time as they realize that there is much in their way, and that the only difference they can truly make is in their neighborhoods, villages or a group of friends.

Does Peace Corps Help Turkmenistan : Yes & No

by Nate Truitt, T-9
This is a response to the question we posed in an earlier posting.

Yes and no, depending on who you ask.

Perhaps the most important thing I learned in Peace Corps was that, by and large, people in other countries are quite content with their way of life. Of course, they have problems and complaints, as do all of us. But they also place a high value on the attitudes, ideas and traditions that under-gird their day-to-day existence.

With very rare exceptions, no nation thinks of itself as desperately in need of foreign assistance. To the contrary, when people think of how foreigners or foreign organizations might help their own country, they usually define the word "help" in very narrow terms.

Peace Corps Memories: The Beekeepers

by Kenyon Weaver, T-12

Pamoimoo (to my mind). To me and my two Peace Corps compatriots, Derek and Ben, the word “beekeepers” triggers a response worthy of Proust.

It was our first night in Dashoguz City, which meant it was our last night of the trip to meet our permanent host families. As small and navigable as Dashoguz is, T-12 Ben and I were new and clueless; we latched onto guide and mentor T-11 Derek. The plan was simple: Meet up with the other T-12s at the American Corner, transfer to the Dashoguz Hotel, stay overnight, then pile into the first plane in the morning back to Ashgabat.

Sending Care Packages to Volunteers

by Sheryl Abrahams, T-11
In honor of Turkmenistan inviting a new group of Peace Corps Trainees to start service in the spring, we are pleased to share the following hints for those looking to brighten the day of a loved one serving in our favorite corner of Central Asia.

Nothing makes a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV)’s day like receiving a package!  But with increased postage costs, it’s always nice to know that you’re sending the right thing.  Here are some suggestions from returned PCVs to make sure you get the most for your money when mailing parcels to Turkmenistan.

WHAT NOT TO SEND
- Krispy Kreme doughnuts: This is not because PCVs won’t eat 3-week old Krispy Kremes that have just come halfway across the world in a cardboard box.  It’s because we WILL.  Every last one, in one sitting, all while telling ourselves that the green spots starting to appear on the top are ‘sprinkles.’  We just don’t need this kind of temptation.
- Tea: By the time your PCV has finished his/her service, s/he will have consumed approximately 7,000 cups of tea, all without any help from you.  Trust us, tea is one thing that your PCV will not do without at any time. Ever.
- Unmarked powders: Though it seems like a no-brainer, this has been done before!    Don’t send your PCV baby powder or cream of tartar in a Ziploc bag, for obvious reasons.  Keep it in the original, marked container, or just let your PCV go to the Turkish supermarket in Ashgabat.

Call for answers: Does Peace Corps help Turkmenistan? Why/Why not?

by Charles Gussow, T-11

As many of you know, Turkmenistan initially invited, then declined to issue visas to the Volunteer group set to arrive in autumn 2009. An agreement has since been reached to invite a smaller group, consisting only of health volunteers, to begin service this spring.

Given the ambivalence shown by the Turkmen government, now is an opportune moment to ask - Is the Peace Corps good for Turkmenistan? Why or why not?