Safety Concerns
April 17th, 2006 by fmeuvd.Hi,
I’m currently in the process of applying to the Peace Corps. I have been excited about serving for several years now and am eagerly awaiting a reply hopefully asking for an interview. However, I have recently come across a series of statistics and articles citing increased occurances of rape, murder, physical assault, theft and other crimes committed against Peace Corps volunteers while serving. For those currently serving or already returned, a few questions for you:
Did you feel safe while serving for the corps?
Where did you serve?
Did you have a support network from the program, local community and/or other volunteers in the area?
Any feedback on these questions or just information about the program in general would be greatly appeciated. I look forward to your responses. Take care and I hope the day finds you well. Sincerely
Robyn
rtakamin@willamette.edu
April 25th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Did you feel safe while serving for the corps?
I personally felt safe while serving - just as safe as I would traveling through various parts of the US. You will find good and bad-intentioned people anywhere - not just 3rd world countries. I believe that most PCV sites are developed by Peace Corps staff (often including input from some previous volunteers) and are supposed to meet certain standards. It’s not a perfect system, but not so bad either. While some crimes/dangers are present at site, I’d say the large majority of crime happens while PCVs are traveling (ie, not at their sites). When faced with a potentially dangerous situation (ie, potential robber, dangerous bus ride, snake, etc), you kinda have to use some common sense; seek out and listen to advice of others (including experienced PCVs and trusted host country nationals), and definitely trust your gut instinct. Also, PCV sites vary tremendously - some are in large towns, and some are extremely rural, and some are in-between. While Peace Corps staff may have tried their best to pave the way for a smooth transition for you to your site, they are not the ones who will ultimately have to live at the site. As the PCV living and working there, it’ll be up to you to communicate any worries/concerns to Peace Corps staff (bearing in mind that, in reality, there’s only so much they can do - no site is perfect).
Another thought about my personal experience…you may feel you’re a target as an American, and this may be true sometimes. However, during 2nd year at my site, local crime and thefts began to rise due to poor harvest/hunger that season. I never felt I was targeted any more than the rest of my neighbors or other community members. And when some of them suffered break-ins (I never did), it only increased the protectiveness of my neighbors over everyone, myself included.
Where did you serve?
I served in Tanzania.
Did you have a support network from the program, local community and/or other volunteers in the area?
I had a tremenous support network. My site was in a region that was very isolated from the rest of the country, which means Peace Corps Admin folks rarely ever visited. I could still contact them, though, if I needed some assistance/resources. While that could be frightening, or delightful - depending on your disposition - it does not mean I was completely on my own. The headmistress and other teachers at the school where I worked often noticed my comings and goings, and I definitely feel that my immediate neighbors at my site looked out for me. Again, it was not perfect - those same neighbors would sometimes ask me for money or something else I did not have, but I still felt that they were protective over me to outsiders. (The hard part in the beginning is figuring out who the ‘outsiders’ are). By virtue of being so isolated, the PCVs in our region were like family. Of course, we combined work with leisure and took time to visit each other’s sites and have gatherings about once a month or so (more or less, depending on how easy transport was as the time of year). Plus, it often was entertaining for the host country nationals at each site to see a bunch of PCVs socializing together (I think it helped my neighbors understand me better to occasionally see me with other PCVs).
May 7th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
How did you get in contact with other PCV in surrounding towns. What means did you use to travel to them and how free was your spare time?
May 7th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Communication to PCVs in surrounding towns really varied, depending on urgency of the message and how far away the PCV’s site was.
1. I always had the option of posting a letter by mail - which was my preferred method for PCV sites farther away.
2. For PCV sites that were closer, I also had the option of sending a message with a bus driver (or other trusted traveler) going in direction of the PCV’s site (this is where it is important to schmooze and become friends with people like bus drivers, so you can trust that your letter will arrive). It’s usually not hard for them to get the idea of who the American teacher is in _____ village, at _____ school, or wherever the PCV worked.
3. Some PCVs actually do have telephones (and in bigger towns - cell phones). I did not have a telephone myself, but the school where I worked usually had a phone that worked. In more urgent situaitons, there are also villages that have radio contact. You just have to research methods of communication when you get to your site.
To travel to other sites, again, it depends on the distance. You can bike, hitchhike/get a lift, pay for a bus ride. This usually is not a big issue, though any trip will likely load you with stories to tell.
Spare time depends on your assignment. As a teacher, I had my pick of weekends, and I also had ’summer’ and ‘winter’ breaks free, as well as national holidays. Spare time of other PCVs may be even more flexible. Peace Corps admin usually allots a certain amount of holiday/travel time away from your site per year, and it is quite reasonable. At the same time, they do not count trips from your village in the bush to your nearest town (which may or may not have a PCV) as official travel time, since they realize you occasionally have to check your mailbox, go to the bank, stock up on groceries, etc.