September 23, 2011
I got back today from the swearing in of the most recent group of Peace Corps Honduras volunteers. I went to the swearing-in ceremony under the pretense of meeting our municipality’s new volunteer but really I was looking to be reenergized and reminded about my purpose. I was thinking on the long bus ride back from Tegucigalpa about what it means to be a Peace Corps volunteer.
On my trip back to the states last June I found myself walking through the Atlanta airport feeling out of place and uncomfortable. I didn’t have a cell phone, a computer, or a single dollar. I had plenty of Lempiras (Honduras’s currency) but couldn’t buy anything. There were TVs blaring every few feet with the latest economic news, war news, celebrity news, and political news. The walls were lined with stores selling things I couldn’t even imagine affording, much less needing. Fancy clothes, gadgets, magazines, food, food, and more food. It was so overwhelming I could barely speak.
When I passed through immigration they asked to see another form of ID, seeing as I’ve changed so much physically since I had my passport photo taken a year ago. The customs official looked dumbfounded from my passport to my driver’s license and back to my face, I mumbled that I eat tortillas and hike a lot. I was the only person singled out to have my shoes sanitized after checking the box “has spent time near farm animals”. The customs official looked confused when I explained to him that I milk cows with my grandfather every morning and that there is usually a calf tied up in our backyard. I felt like I didn’t belong in my own country.
When I arrived at my gate I sat down and waited for my plane to arrive. When the time came to board, the gate attendant announced over the loud speaker that the members of the US military would have preferential boarding. As they passed by in their camouflage uniforms people stood and applauded. Our soldiers are rightfully given honor. They serve our country honorably, going where they are called in order to defend our people and our way of life. I applauded too, of course, however a part of me felt hurt. I may not wear a uniform but don’t I also serve my country in the name of democracy and peace? Yet the work of Peace Corps volunteers is not valued like that of soldiers.
I don’t wish to say that Peace Corps volunteers sacrifice to the same degree as our armed forces. There are dangers involved in serving as a PCV in Honduras but nothing in comparison as to the dangers faced by our soldiers fighting our battles around the world.
But that afternoon in the Atlanta airport, I couldn’t help but feel the sting of being overlooked. Arriving back in my own country, feeling like a foreigner, I wanted to be validated. I wanted someone to acknowledge that the last year of my life, serving in a far-off country, leaving behind my family and friends, struggling to learn a new language and culture, living in economic hardship, battling ailments, bug bites, funguses, diarrhea, and sexual harassment was an important contribution to our country and our global community. But instead I sat unnoticed and quietly waited my turn to board with the rest of the general public.
At the swearing-in ceremony yesterday, the US ambassador to Honduras said that Peace Corps volunteers represent the best of the best America has to offer the world. I like to think that it’s true. I like to think that Americans agree that the work we do is important and useful. So the next time that you honor our nation’s soldiers, remember to also say thanks to those who’ve served our country in other capacities.
You are definitely the best of what America has to offer. Your work is valued and appreciated - and most of all you are loved.
ReplyDeleteKarina,
ReplyDeleteEstAs conectando dos paIses en una forma admirable. Nunca olvides de cuAnto tu trabajo vale para nosotros (los estadounidenses) y para los hondureNos. Por ejemplo, sE con confianza que nunca he visto los alumnos mIos tan emocionados que cuando recibieron las cartas de Uds. Nos vales y te queremos mucho!
Sar
I would applaud for you, Kari Bacher. I would even salute you..... And I fully believe that our world and our nation would be much better places, and that our country would be held in much higher esteem by citizens of other countries across the world if, since the creation of the Peace Corps, we had been taking 10% of what we've been spending on our military, and dedicating it to financing a more robust Peace Corps. Yes, I also believe that there is a legitimate role for our military -- it's necessary and all of that. But how many places in our world where we've sent our young men and women to shoot bullets and shed blood would have been far more vastly improved if years ago, we'd sent a small army of Peace Corps volunteers instead? In how many of these places would the shooting of the bullets and the shedding of the blood have been rendered entirely unnecessary because of the building of relationships and alliances and friendships and human connection that would have transcended some of the misunderstandings and cultural barriers and resentment of Americans and their over-abundance and the politics that grows out of those things.
ReplyDeleteIf we'd been building bridges and schools and wells for clean drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities and other monuments to our common humanity in some of these places we ended up sending soldiers....... our nation really would be perceived by other citizens of the world as a shining city on a hill.
.... I hope the rains have subsided, Kari. And never think that because you're not wearing camoflage, the work you have been doing is not valued. Don't you dare think it. You and your Peace Corps colleagues are among our nation's greatest ambassadors. Always have been.