I was a girls education volunteer in West Africa

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > I was a girls education volunteer in West Africa

20 Blunts: Jan 21, 2017

My girlfriend got sent to a West African country by peace corps despite having actual experience teaching in a foreign language in Central Asia beforehand. Dunno how they didn't have better place or her.

Anyway about halfway through the training thing you do before you get stationed, one of her driving age host sisters pulled up on a motorcycle and offered her a ride home. My girlfriend put on her helmet and obliged. Next morning she gets sent to the office and recited at rule 420-69 or whatever about no tolerance riding motorcycles. She was on a flight home in 24 hours, all because this five minute motorcycle ride.

So my girlfriend is no idiot and in some aspects had been to more dangerous places...we joke now about her getting kicked out for being too rock n roll for the peace corps.

# ¿ May 18, 2020 09:04

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 05:24

20 Blunts: Jan 21, 2017

The_Continental posted:

drat that sucks. They are extremely clear about the no moto rides rule though. They drill it in to you from the time you arrive that its a one strike and you're out rule. Basically, they did a statistical analysis of volunteer deaths and motorcycle accidents was the number one cause by a long shot. You can get away with pretty much anything in Peace Corps, the three exceptions are 1. not wearing a bike helmet 2. not taking your malaria meds, and 3. riding a motorcycle. The reason is that you are way more likely to die. I knew people who not only rode motorcycles, but actually purchased them while they were volunteers. They of course waited until well after training. They watch you like a hawk during training.

As far as her placement, I've heard of stuff like that happening. I think a lot of it has to do with the need of the organization at the time. I also suspect they don't really want people going to places where they have heaps of previous experience because it could make them less apt during training, or distract them from service as they try to reconnect with their previous organization, friends, or colleagues.

Just sounded like incredible chickenshit leader stuff to me. Apparently the lady in charge of the country was newly appointed, trying to make an example of misbehaving volunteers. The American tradition of high rising turds. I mean, isn't it mixed messaging, instructions unclear, to put somebody up with a host family, but then say they can't accept rides from said host family? Common sense says this clearly wasn't some brazen motorcycle ride laughing in the face of a zero tolerance policy. In fact, my girlfriend had had some issues really connecting with her family, saw the ride offer as making progress. I've always wondered how experienced the host family was with volunteer hosting, like maybe they were trying to set her up to get sent home?

I'm glad she got the gently caress out of the situation, really. Just seems like a larger issue for the organization, to rather haphazardly insert volunteers into agricultural and education projects with a "you'll figure it out" attitude, while at the same time having bureaucrats handing out pink slips for infractions that actually made sense in context. Like you have all these young volunteers living out in the sticks, dealing with life, struggling, and then this station manager in an air-conditioned compound in the capital city being like "oh no I heard you broke rule!!!."

# ¿ May 18, 2020 19:14

20 Blunts: Jan 21, 2017

The_Continental posted:

It was 100% a zero tolerance policy while I was there. I had heard about some other countries being more lenient, especially for agriculture volunteers who were in really rural placements, but was unaware of a laissez-faire attitude in Benin. That is wild.

See man? Before my girl got kicked out she got to visit one the prospective stations she'd actually be posted at, about 7 hours away from her training cohort. Just her and the actual on-duty volunteers for a weekend, and they rode motorcycles out to swimming holes and kicked up the back country the whole time.

# ¿ May 19, 2020 14:23

20 Blunts: Jan 21, 2017

send peace corps to these s a forums next, imo

help me, a goon, build toilet

# ¿ May 19, 2020 21:47

20 Blunts: Jan 21, 2017

The_Continental posted:

I addressed some of these issues back when I responded to the goon who told me I was a neo-imperialist, but I'll expand a bit.

My biggest issue with voluntourism is that it tends to lag behind in terms of programming goals. The programs are designed around the experience of the participant and not necessarily around the lasting impact of the programming. There is a lot of work in West Africa that needs to be done that really doesn't feel cool or good. For example, female genital mutilation or excision is an incredibly divisive issue that needs addressing. Should it be addressed by foreigners? that's debatable. These folks tend to end up doing jobs that people in the host country could do a better job of themselves. A 19 year old kid from Indianapolis on "gap year" who wants to "help build a school" actually has very little to offer compared to a 27 year old 6'1 220lb African bricklayer with 4% body fat.

Often times the problems being solved aren't problems to begin with, aren't properly researched, and are unsustainable. Solar may seem like a great idea in a place like Africa, so lets install solar panels at this school so people don't have to pump water! Turns out the dust makes the panels ineffective, and pumping water was the only social outlet women in the village had before you put in the pump. You've now installed a costly piece of broken technology and potentially changed important social structures. Complex problems require cultural and technical experts and not 30 kids from a church group.

I think that the work I did with GEE had positive impact, and that at least a few girls lives were enriched. I think its impossible to measure who got more out of the experience. I certainly benefited greatly from my time there.

When the goals are lacking, the idea is to fall back on the cultural exchange, right? Even if you aren't crushing projects left and right daily, it's that old truth that sometimes just "being there" among people can go a long way. Maybe not as a lofty of achievement, but its still something.

Your chicken story sounds like the highest praise for a volunteer.

# ¿ May 20, 2020 16:58

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