Lessons from Pretoria

Sanibonani, all.

I was hoping to be back in the SWZ by now, but that is not the case. Instead I've been camped out in Pretoria for nearly two weeks. I leave today, however, which is exciting. I'm sitting at the computer in the Peace Corps South Africa office and watching the gate for my ride.

As I think I mentioned, I've been here with a volunteer from Rwanda and one from Ghana. Their stories reminded me how different everyone's Peace Corps experience is. The Rwanda post has been open only four years. The post was closed around the time (before?) the genocide in 1994. The effects of the genocide are obvious. The volunteer told me that most of the Peace Corps staff from the time was killed during the fighting. Horrible.

Another Rwanda volunteer arrived today, by the way. She told me that she and members of her community have stumbled across mass graves while building road projects.

I asked her if she thought Peace Corps should even be in Rwanda. She thought a moment. "I don't know," she said. She told me that people still show up at the clinic hacked to pieces by machetes.

That experience is completely different from mine. Swaziland prides itself on being a peaceful nation. People do get murdered and assaulted, but it isn't commonplace. The civil wars that many African countries have experienced haven't happened in the Kingdom. Swaziland is far from perfect (show me a perfect nation, right?), but its missing generation is a result of AIDS rather than violence. Is AIDS any easier to deal with? I don't know, but antiretroviral medications sure as hell help.

Ghana also is mostly peaceful, it sounds like. The volunteer from there said the biggest challenge is the constant oppressive heat. I can typically wear my clothes a couple of times before washing them. She can't do that because of how much one sweats during the day. She said volunteers end up with a lot of skin rashes and ailments, and it sounds like bacteria are much busier there. Swaziland is more temperate, what with its not being equatorial, so we don't run into as many of those issues. But she adores the people and has had a wonderful time.

Ghana was the first Peace Corps country, and PC has operated continuously there for 52 years now. The country is not without incident, however.

Last summer (I was in Pre-Service Training), a volunteer stabbed and killed a man during a late-night altercation. It's my understanding that it was self-defense and the volunteer wasn't charged.

Just last week, a volunteer died of illness in Ghana. The same week, actually, a volunteer was hit by a vehicle and killed in Uganda. It was a tough week, and I think all PCVs are thinking about those volunteers and their families. There are many risks inherent in being a volunteer. Many of these are risks that permanent residents of these countries face every single day: HIV, malaria, vehicle crashes, etc. (Some risks, of course, are related to being of a different race/nationality and the perception that you as an American are rich.)

Neither Ghana situation is indicative of systemic problems with PC Ghana, of course, but those tragedies are reminders that bad things can happen in any country -- even one that is seemingly stable.

These volunteers and I talked a lot about our families' reaction to our Peace Corps service. I think every would-be volunteer experiences a bit of pushback from worried loved ones. One volunteer said a family member offered her rent-free housing if she would only stay in the U.S.

I love my family and appreciate their support, though it probably wasn't 100 percent. They weren't totally comfortable, which is understandable. But I think part of Peace Corps is reminding yourself and those around you that it's OK to take risks. Other places often aren't as scary as they look on the news. And I can't predict the benefits of PC service, but I know they'll extend beyond my career to many (all?) other facets of my life. So I thank my family for somewhat grudgingly letting me go my own way. And your letters and packages are awesome!

I hope none of what I've written here offends or invades the privacy of those I've talked to. I've avoided giving names for a reason, of course, as these conversations weren't necessarily meant to be public. But I think the themes are important.

So this is what's been on my mind as I idle away time in Pretoria. Keep fighting the good fight, all.

Back to the Kingdom!