A Peace Corps Diet

You might be surprised to learn that for me and many of my fellow Comarca volunteers the most difficult parts of being a Peace Corps Volunteer have been food related. As Peace Corps mandates, PCV's must spend their first three months living with host families, working with them, and eating their food. Everyone gets sick. Bacterial infections, e-coli, giardia, and amoebas are all common (i've had three of them) and essentially unavoidable. They all lead to uncontrollable and uncomfortable bowel symptoms. I know at least five people just from my group in the Comarca who have pooped their pants and nearly everyone has been very close. One pooped herself twice in less than half a hour on her way to pooping thirty-two times in a single day. As my friend Chris says, "I never thought it would happen to me but then I literally could not pull my pants down fast enough."

We volunteers find these stories hilarious to the point of tears. It's all in the details. In the Peace Corps you get comfortable talking about your bowel movements. For me, though, the biggest problem with the first three months was the amount of food I was getting. I come from the Mortensen clan of impressive eaters and two meals per day just wasn't enough. Between sickness and "starvation" I lost fifteen pounds in two months.

That all ended nine months ago. Now my weight is back and I cook for myself, although I am still given a lot of food (I consider this the perfect combination). The culinary highlight of every day is breakfast. I make a big bowl of oatmeal with sugar/honey, bananas/raisins, crunchy peanut butter, dried milk, and cinnamon. Compared to the rest of my diet breakfast is D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S. Lunch and dinner are almost always a variation of rice whether I cook it or not. Rice with beans, lentils, wild meat, squash, sardines, and noodle soup are very popular foods. I usually prepare my rice by throwing some fried or steamed veggies on top.

Recently harvested rice with sardines. Very popular. Not very good

There are also foods that are prepared for special occasions such as birthdays and holidays. These include spaghetti made without meat and my favorite, fried rice with chicken and vegetables (called "arroz con pollo"). This new years we are going to kill and roast a pig my neighbors have been raising to celebrate the return of their daughter from Switzerland.

Lela showing Kate how to make "arroz con pollo"

Kate serving two bowls of the delicious dish

Fruits available here include pineapple, banana, mango, orange, guava, passion fruit, and "mamun chino".

"Mamun Chino". Bitter, sweet and delicious 

Wild meats include paca, armadillo, agouti, iguana, peccary, squirrel, birds, river shrimp, and "conejo pintado". Many of them are endangered.

Three "conejo pintados". Cute, endangered, and good eatin'

Delicious non-rice staples are cassava, ñame, ñampi, otoe, and pixfae.

Pixfae with salt.

Happy 50th Peace Corps!

As 2011 nears its end I feel obligated to publicly wish Peace Corps a happy golden birthday. You see, this is no ordinary birthday -the Peace Corps is big. And its ideals are bigger. My Peace Corps birthday blog:

Quick Facts:

• over 200,000 PCV´s have served in 139 countries the past fifty years
• currently 8,655 PCV´s serve in 77 countries
• across the world PCV´s are taught over 250 languages
• the oldest PCV was Arthur Goodfriend, who was 87 when he finished his service in 1994
• there have been four PCV´s in congress (including Christopher Dodd and Paul Tsongas)
• the average age of PCV´s is 28 years
• 7% of PCV´s are serving with their spouse
• "Volunteers" (1985) with Tom Hanks is the most famous ´Peace Corps´ movie
• Famous PCV´s include Chris Matthews, Lillian Carter (Jimmy´s mom), Bob Vila, Reed Hastings (founder of Netflix), and Richard "Kinky" Friedman

A History:

The first time the Peace Corps was  mentioned publicly came during an impromptu speech to the students at the Universtiy of Michigan on October 14, 1960. The speech was a response to Richard Nixon, who thought such ideas were nonsense and would lead to a haven for draft dodgers. Riled up, at two in the morning JFK challenged to Wolverines to give two years of their lives toward helping people in the developing world improve their lives. What Nixon viewed as a bad campaign move by Kennedy was met with resounding positive feedback not only from the U. of M. students and other universities but from Americans all across the country. They swept the charismatic JFK into office in January of 1961, and when he said "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" many people believed the Peace Corps embodied the perfect answer to that challenge.

The Peace Corps "official" mission (quotations will be explained shortly) of world peace and friendship revolves around three goals: 1) to help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women; 2) to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served; and 3) to help promote a better understanding of other people on the part of Americans. The current Peace Corps director, Aaron S. Williams, holds goal three as the most important to focus on. I agree.

Now why did I put ´official´ in quotations? Because until Jimmy Carter granted the Peace Corps full autonomy in May of 1979, the Peace Corps was run by the State Department! Needless to say, many PCV´s were involved in -and accused of- some secret and sketchy activities those first two decades. Not only were those activities directly antagonistic to the Peace Corps´ stated mission, they also weakened the legitimacy of the entire agency. The Peace Corps is not proud of this but does not deny it either. They focus on the fact that they fixed their mistakes.

When Ngäbes ask me if I am part of the US military (and they do) I usually respond "Are you serious? My agency is called the PEACE Corps! Of coarse not." But then I get honest and say that in the past we were connected to it but that changed a long time ago. Most respond simply "that´s good because peace is better than war." But on one occasion a person responded "but I´m sure the PCV´s back then said the same things you do now -how am I suppossed to trust you?" At that moment I realized two things: 1) maybe he´s not suppossed to trust me after what I just told him; and 2) that actions thirty to fifty years ago still threaten the legitimacy of the entire agency. So I said. "lets go harvest some mangoes," determined to let my actions speak for me instead.

Back to the story. After his inauguration, JFK  asked his brother-in-law, R. Sargent Shriver to lead a task force looking into the Peace Corps idea. Six weeks later "sarge" (as he is affectionately referred) said in a report "Having studied at your request the problems of establishing a Peace Corps, I reccommend its immediate establishment." Sarge was then appointed the agency´s first director and his can-do attitude and commitment to public service are credited as being the right potion to get the nascent agency on its feet and running. For these reasons he is considered the father of the Peace Corps.

R. Sargent Shriver died this year -on January 18- at the ripe old age of 95. His friend and colleague who helped found the Peace Corps, Senator Harris Wofford, said in a recent interview "there is something special about a long journey that is part of one´s education. There should be long journeys in your life, whether in your own country or abroad. In the early Peace Corps years we turned Shriver´s name into a verb: to "shriverize" was to make something bigger and bolder, and do it faster."

Shriver´s son, Tim Shriver -who is CEO of the Special Olympics- spoke to everyone when he said "I hope you, too, will carry a little shriver in you."

Cheers to the Peace Corps and all the volunteers -past and present- who are proud to answer JFK´s call. I am confident in and humbled by your determination to ensure that Shriver´s spirit never dies. Happy Birthday.

Now go shriverize something.

Typical Conversation

Conversations in the Comarca are easy because they don't vary. Other volunteers and I often find ourselves laughing at this reality. On a recent walk home I encountered a Ngabe man, Ediberto, whom I had met once before. As our conversation progressed over the forty-five minutes we walked together I found myself increasingly amused. The conversation, while long, was filled with a small amount of actual talking. Breaks in the flow of conversation were many and long. Typical of Ngabe people and other indigenous groups, breaks in conversation allow time for processing. This is because unwritten languages tend to have fewer conjugations and grammatical rules so one sentiment can be said many different ways. People need time to think about what the speaker was trying to get across. Talking too fast or responding too quickly is seen as rude because it doesn´t allow for time to process. Upon arriving my community I felt uncomfortable with seemingly endless awkward silences. My recent conversation with Ediberto was hilarious to me because now that I am comfortable in site I realize how little we covered over such a long period of time, how different that is from U.S. habits, and how much I like it. People are content just being in each others´ presence.

The Conversation 
(C=Choy/me, E=Ediberto)

C: Opppaaah!
E: Oowayyy. ahhh Choy, where are you going?
C: To Tole to buy food. I ran out. You?
E: You´re going to Tole?
C: Yes. But I am returning to my house later today.
E: You´re returning this afternoon? Ah yes.
C: And you, where are you going?
E: Over there.
C: To your house?
E: No
C: To buy food?
E: No
C: To work?
E: Yes.
C: Ahhh yes. It´s good to work. It leaves you strong.
E: Yes it is. I am always working hard.
C: There is always a lot of work to do, right?
E: Yes. Always.

(minutes later...)
C: So, how are you? Are you strong and healthy?
E: Yes, thanks to god. Everyone is healthy.
C: Oh how great. I am happy. Health is important.
E: Yes, very important. How do you like it here in this place, Choy?
C: I like it very much. I am always hiking. But I am more accustomed to it now and I like it. It makes me strong. Very good people, good work, and good natural food! It is very different from my home but I like it.
E: It´s very good.

(minutes later...)
E: The rain is falling hard today.
C: Yes it is. Lots of mud.
E: Yes there is. Someone might fall.
C: Yes. We need to walk carefully.

(minutes later...)
C: Look at my pants. They are so dirty. And yours are so clean.
E: Yes. That is true.
C: How do you keep yours so clean? Lots of practice walking here, right?
E: Yes, of coarse. I don´t rub my feet against the inside of my legs like you do. That´s why you are so dirty.
C: Ahhh yes. It is hard for me.

(minutes later...)
E: Where are you coming from?
C: My house in Low Ñame Hill. Do you know Samuel Salinas?
E: Yes! He is family.
C: Your cousin?
E: Yes.
C: I live and work with him and his family at his house.
E: Ohhh yeah. Now I remember.
C: Yes. That´s good.

(minutes later...)
C: Where do you live again?
E: Over there.
C: At Money Stream?
E: No.
C: At Bean Stream?
E: No.
C: Oohhh at Carrizo Stream?
E: Yes. There.
C: Yes. That´s good.

(minutes later...)
E: Where are you from in the United States?
C: I am from a state called Alaska. Its very cold and there is a lot of snow.
E: Wowwww. Polar bears?
C: Yes, and moose and seals. Polar bears like to eat seals.
E: Really?
C: They wait on the ice and when the seal comes to a hole to breathe the polar bear grabs it.
E: Wow. How smart.
C: There are various indigenous groups that live there, too.
E: Really?
C: Yes. One of them, who are called Eskimo, live very close to the North Pole where it is VERY cold.
E: How do they survive there?
C: They have lived there for a long time and are very smart. They use the skins of seals and animal fur to keep them warm. They also hunt and eat whale.
E: They are related to the indigenous people here right?
C: Yes! They all came from Asia over an ice bridge to the Americas a LONG time ago. Some stayed in Alaska and some traveled here and some went down into South America...
E: How good. I wouldn´t survive where the Eskimo are though.
C: Yes it is very difficult. Me neither.

(minutes later...)
E: We don´t have a latrine at my house. Neither do my neighbors. Can you give us some?
C: oooooohhhh. I can´t. I don´t have any money for that. Peace Corps Volunteers don´t just give things -we prefer education work. But if you want, we can work together and see about doing a project together, and later we can look for funds if the whole community wants to work together and with Peace Corps. But it takes a long time.
E: Yes. We want to. The government representative is a liar and he brings us no projects.
C: Okay, I will come talk with you and other community members soon about setting up a meeting.
E: Ah yes. That´s good.

(minutes later...)
C: I am going to clean my boots off here in this water and then go to my house.
E: okay. That´s good.
C: Have a good trip! Bye.
E: Uh huh. Bye.

This might seem like a lot of talking but it was an entire conversation over a forty-five minute period. By far, most of it was carried out in silence. The Alaska and Peace Corps parts are second nature at this point -I say them so much. Communication is different among all cultures and it is always interesting to compare and contrast those different styles and appreciate their values. And there is always something to learn.

The Comarca: Where Getting Married is Synonimus with Getting Socked in the Face

Following the nearly six week stint in site (which I wrote about in my last blog) I took my counterpart, Samuel, to a Project Management and Leadership seminar. The highlight of the three-day event was the cultural night on day two where Samuel and I, along with other Ngabes and their volunteers, performed the traditional dance "Hegi," which is basically coordinated stomping. That night he was so excited about the cultural activities that we stayed up late chatting. It became our most interesting conversation to date. Samuel told me many interesting tidbits about Ngabe relationships in general and his personal experiences in particular. The following is a fascinating yet sad glimpse into life here, but it is also incomplete. Ngabe psychology is incredibly complex and different from my own and coming to real conclusions (even after living here a year) is nearly impossible. For that reason I present the following as I got it- openly but without much explanation.    

Ways Relationships Start

1) A group of working men are watched by a woman who just happens to be passing by. She is looking to see who works the hardest and "gritars" (a type of yell-greeting. Mine sounds like "oohwayyyyy") the best. After making a decision solely by herself (she gets no help from her mom, sisters, or friends) she approaches the man and says "I saw you working the other day and you work the hardest so I am going with you." According to Samuel, the guy is so proud to start his family the thought of saying "no" never crosses his mind. They're considered married.

2) Another way a relationship may start is how Samuel came to be with his first wife, Lela (pronounced "Layla"). After finishing sixth grade he worked on a farm a couple of years then returned and asked Lela's uncle, Alberto, if he could marry her (he would normally ask her parents but they had passed away from Tuberculosis when she was younger). Alberto said "yes" because he and Samuel were family; Samuel's sister has married Alberto years before. Despite Alberto's permission, not everyone thought Samuel was good enough for Lela. One day Lela's cousin confronted Samuel in a path and said "I don't want you to marry Lela so you have to fight me for her." Samuel refused and it wasn't until her cousin socked him in the face that he fought. According to Samuel, he won quickly. The following week, another cousin socked Samuel in the face for the same reason and with the same result as the first fight. Samuel had proven his valor and literally won Lela. He was 16; she 13.

3) The father of a young man meets with the father of a young woman. The mothers also meet. They must meet four times, each time drinking a large amount of "chicha fuerte" (fermented corn drink) and discussing the match. By the end of the fourth meeting they decide the two will marry. At that point they inform the two young adults of their fate which neither knew was being discussed. They don't have the option to decline.

4) A secret relationship which angers her parents when it is discovered. Her parents feel disrespected and for this reason the couple must avoid her family for an extended period of time. During this time she lives with his family while waiting for the anger to dissipate. After many months she returns home bearing gifts and food and is forgiven. After still more time passes the husband can go to his in-laws house but must do so very wearily because he is afraid of getting beaten up. After he is accepted and forgiven the in-laws visit, everyone parties, and all is good in the world.

Cheating/Divorce

If a woman cheats the two men must fight. The woman, then, must go with the winner. If the original husband wins he brings her home and beats her "because she has disrespected him". When her dad finds out and confronts the husband the husband explains what happened, the result being that her dad immediately understands and drops the matter. The husband is considered justified. On the other hand, if the original husband loses the fight he also loses the girl and the matter ends there.

If the man cheats it is a different story. This is because he is "male and stronger." There is no beating and rarely a fight (between the women). In this circumstance the woman has the right to leave her husband although this is rare. If she leaves and finds another partner the new husband and the old husband must fight because the old husband doesn't want her to be with anyone else. Regardless of the winner, though, she stays with the new husband.

Polygamy

Samuel asked Elena to be his second wife twenty-four years ago and despite him already having Lela, Elena said "yes." Some random day following that conversation Elena showed up at Lela and Samuel's home. Immediately everyone knew why she was there because she had never visited before. Lela was angry with Samuel and Elena. Since then, however, time has healed wounds and the women now consider themselves family. They share food, gossip and chat but their relationship is still more cordial than friendly. Elena's dad, Feliciano, upon finding out his daughter's plans, attempted to match her with someone else but she refused. Feliciano resorted to having his brother (Elena's uncle) sock Samuel in the face (knowing that if Samuel lost, he couldn't marry Elena). After Samuel won, Feliciano elicited his son (Elena's brother) to sock Samuel's face. After Samuel won that fight Feliciano had no choice but to sock Samuel in the face himself. Again Samuel proved his valor and won the girl. According to Samuel, since the fight with Feliciano he has been free to go anywhere he pleases without trouble and he and Feliciano are now good friends.

Lela has eight children aged five to thirty-four; Elena has six aged nine to twenty-three.

Along with their language and many customs, the Ngabe practice of polygamy is dying. It is unpracticed by the younger generations and will be gone within a few decades.

Last tidbit

Ever since he married Elena, Samuel has spent the large majority of his nights at her house and his days at Lela's. Why? I do not know. On the exceptions ("to keep Lela happy") Lela makes him sleep on the floor of his nine-foot-by-nine-foot store which is closer to my house than her's. When I asked him why he doesn't sleep in the bed with her he explained that she is "brava" (aggressive/fierce/angry) with him. Still, once a week, year after year he sleeps alone on the cold dirt floor of his little shack of a store because he thinks it makes Lela happy.

Regaining Sanity

Peace Corps allocates up to three days per month for volunteers to rejuvenate. We call this "regaining our sanity". These days are normally taken consecutively and are for things like internet, a warm shower, or even dinner at a restaurant. Ideally a trip out of site coincides with other volunteers' trips and allows you to get some work done too. Every 3 weeks to a month throughout my service this is what I've done - I've left site to "regain my sanity". (Not that I lost it, right?...right?) That is, except for the the six weeks of June and the first half of July, when I left site only once. Those six weeks helped me focus on my continuing integration into Ngabe culture and reflect on the challenges I have faced.

If you ask me about the most difficult part of being a PCV, my rapid fire response would be: bugs at night (yes, even with a mosquito net), lack of food (especially veggies), people not paying for photos I print for them and children stealing my peanut butter. But if pressed to think hard about the Peace Corps experience, I would say there is only one great challenge: trying to balance a successful integration into a new culture and language (or two) while simultaneously being an effective co-facilitator, educator and empower-er. Recently, I ran across some literature that Peace Corps had sent me before going to Panama. There was a quote from a volunteer in Guinea-Bissau that I underlined over a year ago.

Most of us agree that although we knew Peace Corps was going to be hard, it is often hard in a different way than we expected. We all worried about adjusting to the bugs and the heat, but that's the easy part. It's more of a challenge to get used to dealing with a perplexing bureaucracy, the lack of motivation in some host country counterparts, the lack of technology and education, and cultural barriers.

 This quote explains how I feel very well and leads to the logical question: how do you get through those barriers and achieve real integration? As Peace Corps has taught us, culture is experienced through the behavior of individual people who have been conditioned by a set of values. With this in mind, cultural integration requires three skills: predicting the behavior of others, accepting the behavior, changing your own behavior. The secret to successful integration lies in the reality that you don't have to approve or adopt a particular behavior; you only have to accept that behavior as in line with the values inherent to that culture.

This is easier to do when practiced on oneself first. For example, once I realized why I want only one wife, (yes I know it's illegal, but ultimately, it's because polygamy is not socially acceptable in the U.S.), I can accept why my counterpart and best friend here has two wives (ultimately it comes down to status). Family and family size are highly valued in Ngabe culture, so having multiple wives makes sense here, but while I can understand that cultural difference, I still don't like it and find unfair. But, at least we can both approach a conversation from a feeling of mutual respect and understanding, rather than a paternalistic and ineffective "you are wrong, do-as-I-say" attitude.

These are skills that PCVs try to use when we are faced with perplexing new behaviors. After all, my friend in site has to deal with my selfishness, punctuality and excessive reading. Thus far the integration process has cruised fairly smoothly over the few (peanut butter related) bumps we've had. Sharing our cultures has been mutually beneficial, to the point that we understand and trust each other. Now, I honestly feel comfortable calling this place home. It seems that our out-of-site mantra "regaining my sanity" no longer applies to leaving my site. I will start referring to those trips as "remembering my American-ness".

Hearty Stew

For anyone accustomed to bathrooms, clean water, electricity, stoves, wood floors, personal or pubic transportation, television, restaurants, mattresses, cooking oil, shoes, a regular paycheck and other items meant to improve lives I have one question: are you happy?

By contrasting such comfortable lives with the rest of the world one would expect Americans to be the happiest people in Earths history. But it is not so. In Gregg Easterbrook's book, The Progress Paradox, he reviews hundreds of recent studies regarding happiness in America as related to wealth and concludes that American's (including the rich) are not any happier than we were a half century ago despite real average income doubling in that time. And compared to much of the rest of the world Americans can actually be considered unhappy.

Where the indigenous Ngabe people of Panama live life is stripped down and hard. Manual labor is a daily lifelong duty- cutting, planting, harvesting and preparing food, building living structures, hauling water from nearby streams, hiking everywhere, etc. They have to do this in either blistering sun or drowning rain -there's no in-between- with high rates of sickness and infant mortality and a low life expectancy. Rates of low education means that you are very lucky to work on a farm for $5/day for one month every year. Families here earn less than $500/year; you made that last week if you get $12.50/hour. If you are a high school dropout pulling minimum wage at McDonalds, in one year you make more than a family here does in thirty!

In the United States and elsewhere -where status is determined by how much one makes and not necessarily by how much good they do or happy they are- maybe we should acknowledge which is more important and judge success on that.

Although no studies have ever been done on Ngabe happiness, it is not hard to see that they are thoroughly happy people who relish each others' company and love to laugh, tell stories, joke, and gossip. And after spending some time here it is easy to see why.

Family clusters share in meaningful work tilling the soil under the sun. This work provides exercise and produces delicious and healthy vegetables, fruits, and grains to feed their huge families (any extra is given to other families). They are always outside experiencing beautiful views, lush greenery, and constant excitement from weather (incredible storms), animals (everywhere), and visitors (constant). They know their land deeply because they generally live on one plot their entire lives. They make beautiful bags and sombreros out of natural dyes and materials as well as other useful crafts -the knowledge of which has been passed down through generations.

These are things that have left many of our families in the last couple generation and I suspect evidence of reduced happiness in the United States is more than a correlation to these lost values and skills; it's a causation. So we see that comfort and cash are but two ingredients in the stew that is our lives. We're missing the meat and potatoes, without which we're left hungry and wanting more.

Outsiders Perspective

A fellow Peace Corps Volunteer and good friend, Jack Fischl, invited me to hang out with his parents for a day while they were visiting last month. We had a wonderful time and I was spoiled by his parents. Jack's dad is an American diplomat living in the Phillipines and below is the guest blog he wrote about the Peace Corps from his visit to Jack's site (less rural than mine...). A humerous and real outsiders perspective.

"Mo, Stella and I just spent ten days with Jack in Panama, touring the country and spending some time at his site, which was a great experience that allowed us to learn a lot about his daily life in the Peace Corps.  Mostly what I learned is that these Peace Corps volunteers are tough hombres and hombrettes (since my trip to Panama I try to use as much Espanol as possible).  We are talking about mas macho volunteeros, who are way grittier than you or me.  Their daily life consists mainly of extreme heat, humidity, varieties of bugs you’ve never heard of, intestinal stuff that we don’t even want to think about, tasteless foods, lots of mud, outhouses, bats, bat poop, big cultural challenges, communicating solely in another language etc. etc.  These are the good parts of the job – I can’t bring myself to write about the hard stuff. 

This trip was especially useful for me, because as I get closer to retirement from the Foreign Service, I have often thought that a perfect next step in my international career would be to join the Peace Corps. You know, live in a grass hut in an isolated location, and make a real difference by helping those who need help most.  An idyllic, sylvan existence full of simple charms.  Somehow in my mind’s eye, when I pictured the grass hut in which I would be living, I just kind of assumed that inside my hut I would find a nice soft queen size bed, fluffy pillows, a hot shower, refrigerator (maybe even a wine cooler with two zones for reds and whites), soft lighting, and of course, a nice clean bathroom well stocked with fragrant soaps and other bathroom products.  Muy incorrecto mi amigos and amigas!  Having now been at a real Peace Corps site, I can report that the grass huts DO NOT have these sorts of amenities.  There are no beds, and there are definitely no bathrooms overflowing with luxurious personal care products (because there aren’t any bathrooms).  There is however, the very soft lighting I hoped for, because without the electricity that we all take for granted, all you have is either a candle or a kerosene lantern to illuminate your reading - at least my fantasy hasn’t been completely shattered.

What is a typical day like in the Peace Corps?  From what I can tell from my short visit it goes something like this.  Wake up with the sun, feeling un poco sweaty and a bit dirty because you can never really get completely clean from your evening bucket shower.  Crawl out from under your  mosquito netting and take a quick inventory of the evening’s insect bites (hopefully they’re only insect bites), make a trip to the outhouse (which I can assure you is NOT one of life’s simple pleasures, although to be honest, I’m only guessing about this because I did my best to avoid outhouses while in Panama), prepare a basic breakfast that most definitely does not include things that require refrigeration, such as milk, butter, yogurt etc. and also does not include anything that requires electricity, like toast, waffles or that nice hot cup of coffee from your Mr. Coffee machine.  Get dressed in your hand washed clothes, or just wear the same clothes you’ve been wearing for the past few days, check shoes for scorpions and tarantulas (really), and then head out to do some good.  This of course is why you are here.  Since there are no cars or any kind of public transportation in your little village, you will of course be walking to your meeting, which is probably about two hours away, straight up hill on a bucolic dirt path (hope that it’s not raining).  Upon reaching your destination, wait around a few hours for everyone to show up, and then conduct your meeting in a foreign language that you’re still learning.  On a good day, people are actually interested in what you’re saying - on a bad day you’re greeted with blank stares.  Wrap up the meeting, walk home, prepare a simple meal before it gets too dark to see what you’re doing, read by candle light and go to bed.  Next day – get up and do it again - for the next two years.

Yup, this is not your typical day job, and I now know that you have to be a special person to be a Peace Corps volunteer (and to be honest, I don’t think I’m that kind of special person).  I of course, am already mucho impressed with my son Jack, but having seen how he’s now living and what he’s doing, I’m even more impressed.  This could be dismissed as fatherly pride, but I also met two of Jack’s colleagues (also Peace Corps volunteers), and I was equally inspired by their dedication and great attitudes.  Laura, who is also affectionately known as Coffee Lady because she graciously made us coffee each morning by boiling the water, and then patiently pouring it through a tiny filter that could handle about a thimbleful of water at a time, is also living at Jack’s site.  She’s a lovely young woman who is teaching English and advising on tourism.  We also met Scott, affectionately known as Toilet Boy (though now that I’ve thought about it, since he’s 6 ft. 4 inches tall, he should probably be known as Toilet Man), who has a two-hour hike just to get to his site.  This is a guy who is really getting his hands dirty, because his day job is building outhouses.  Now that’s dedication!  

These volunteers are living pretty rough, but I believe they are comforted by the sure knowledge that they are helping people that few others care to help.  From my perspective as a career diplomat, it is clear to me that these admirable young Americans exemplify diplomacy at its best.  So, my hat is off to PCVs all over the world.  From what I saw in Panama, the Peace Corps really is, “the toughest job you’ll ever love”. "