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Perspectives
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Nicole Krueger
Corps forces
CULTURES TO MIX
Current Peace Corps volunteers often find
more difficulties than they expect
If you are thinking it’s time to
get in touch with the altruism
within, and intend to fertilize it
by joining the Peace Corps to
make your signature contribution to
the less fortunate in worlds as
signed different ordinal numbers
than this one, forget about it. Others
who were propelled to become vol
unteers with such motivations ei
ther quit, were asked to leave or
were “psycho- / medi-vac-ed”
(evacuated for psychological and/or
medical reasons), usually within
the first six months at their post.
However, none of this applies to
those who volunteered in the early
to mid-1960s.
In their crewcuts, Jackie-’dos, Pe
ter Pan collars, madras Bermuda
shorts, penny loafers and hootenan
ny culture, they passionately em
braced Kennedy’s vision. Their
naivete can be excused, their epic
idealism commended and even en
vied. The world was a vastly differ
ent place then.
They were the
trailblazers, will
OPINION
ing to live ana
work in places
they had never
heard of, where
rneir peers coma
not boast about
having been — Hannah
places they could- p»;|i __
n't read about in UWOn
the “Lonely Plan
et" or look up on the Internet. This
took some courage.
The other day, while sitting in
Espresso Roma between classes, I
heard a recent graduate telling two
friends about her trip to East Africa.
She had always dreamed of going to
that region and had finally made it,
only to be confronted with the great
disparity between her imaginings of
the place and its reality, the former
X
proving better, actually.
She was there for six months, and
when she returned to the States,
she experienced culture shock
tor three, finding herself
spelling out to the barista
how to make (like) chai
step by step as she had
found it necessary to do
while abroad because (like)
they simply didn’t know
now, having never heard or Be
the stuff. Then, startled to real
ize she didn’t need to be direc
tive and catching herself before she
enumerated all of the procedures to
chai-making, she was instead em
barrassed to find herself employing
such accustomed behavior here in a
cafe at home, of all places.
She summarized that it was all
part of having to readjust to her
birth culture. 1 began to question
what students meant when they
said they needed/wanted interna
tional experience, and, after the
travelogue just overheard, I de
spaired for the country of destina
tion, for the certainty that Freya
Stark and her ilk had become ex
tinct, and for our future.
Peace Corps still parades its pithy
promise: "Tbe toughest job you’ll
ever love.” For the volunteers who
make it, it is not about the job, never
was. The “toughest job” is merely
the vehicle. One joins for all sorts of
reasons — escape, change or bore
dom often being the most active sur
face prods. But the most deep-seat
ed and compelling reason is just to
look around and see and then touch
it, be touched by it and with grace,
sometimes live it. It works changes
on you, and the ones noticed initial
ly are not the most important. The
most important will grab you after
your return. And suddenly, years
later, in another place.
Peace Corps — “Learn to love
your beer even with that fly.” Peace
Corps — “Challenge your sense of
humor — learn to look at yourself
as your host nationals do and
v
y guffaw." Peace
Corps — “Culti
vate an appreciation
for the art of life’s fine
little foibles and grand
follies.” Peace Corps —
“Be glad to be of use to
^ the host nationals who
discipline their chil
dren bv threatening them
with you.”
Peace Corps, Niger, West
Africa: The spice man, as I
thought of him though his name
was Issoufou, sat on his speckled
black and white goat-skin prayer
mat with an array of goods piled
around him in Maine-Soroa’s mar
ket. I never did find out what the
bark-like pieces were used for, but I
learned that the light brown balls I
initially mistook for animal drop
pings were called kooli-kooli, made
from groundnuts (peanuts) and
used to make spicy, mouth-water
ing sauces poured over millet
dumplings.
The spice man was Hausa, and
his full-moon face always broke into
a broad smile when he saw me ap
proach. We would exchange greet
ings in Hausa about health, house
hold, work and weather. My
favorite part of the litany was, “Ina
gajiya?" How is your tiredness? And
no matter what, even if on your
death mat, the response had to be,
“Babu gajiya.” There is no tiredness.
I would kneel on the sand and
carefully survey his goods. He knew
what I had come for, as I always did,
but I liked to prolong the process,
having spent my week with 400
high school students. I’d ask him
again what those barkish things
were and a lengthy, detailed expla
nation followed. I would nod with
relieved enlightenment, having fol
lowed very little. Then, while I con
tinued studying his display, he’d
mix in French and ask after my hus
band. 1 would respond that they, my
three husbands, were in health, and
I’d have to reiterate where each one
lived.
Sometimes I forgot what I had
said the week before so that when 1
mentioned that my senior husband
was in Tchad, the spice man’s brow
wrinkled and he asked when
CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald
“mai-gida” (chief of the house) had
moved there from Cameroon. Then
he would giggle, slap my readied
palm and lecture me about how bad
it was having three husbands. After
all, how was the baby to know who
his father was, and worse, how was
the father to know which baby was
his? Despite, why was I still child
less?
I would inquire about the spice
man’s wives, all three of them. They
were happy, and inevitably he’d tell
me that we should get together since
my husbands were away, accompa
nied by a gesture of hands that was
unmistakable. I’d shake my head,
roll my eyes, sputter as if speechless
and wag my forefinger back and
forth. He would explode in delight
and make the gesture again. I’d re
peat the pantomime with more vig
or and demand some garlic while
staring at the ground. He wouldn’t
move until 1 glanced up and instant
ly, the gesture was thrust before me.
I’d heave an exasperated sigh of
impatience and disgust and tell
him, in limited vocabulary, that
none of it was good and all of it im
possible while he chuckled and
rummaged through his mound of
garlic, seeking the perfect cluster for
me. I’d drop centimes in his palm as
if leprous, stand up and wave a
brisk, “Sai wata rana,” (until the sun
and moon) used when you will
probably not see someone for a long
time or wish not to see him again.
I would start off with the finality
of a concluded transaction and after
trudging some distance, he’d call,
“Miss! Miss!” I was Maine-Soroa’s
only English teacher and the
school’s only non-African. I was
The Miss. I would stop, turn slowly
around and ask crisply what he
wanted. He would grab at the air
with his right hand as if trying to en
trap a fly, the gesture of come here.
With slumped shoulders and reluc
tant steps, I would return. The spice
man had selected another large
cluster of garlic and motioned with
his head for me to open my bag.
Then, we would shake hands and
laugh. Every week on market day,
we enacted this ritual.
Peace Corps — “Give yourself
(for) two years, get life-long com
panions and a lifetime of pungent
memories.”
Hannah Dillon is a columnist for the
Emerald. Her work appears on alter
nate Fridays. Her views do not neces
sarily represent those of the newspaper.
CORRECTION
The yearly budget numbers
were reversed in the “Programs
Financing” graphic in the Feb. 26
edition of the Emerald. The num
bers in the 1998-99 column
should have run in the 1997-98
column, and vice versa.
The Emerald regrets the error.
Thumbs
TO KENNETH STARR:
Though we have cer
tainly found cause to
criticize President Clin
ton Inthe past, we
think “independent"
counsel Starr is going
too far. And we aren't
the only ones: in iwent
weeks, even some
GOP leaders have sug
gested Starr's apparent
lack of objecth% de
stroys any credence
his charges might oth
erwise rave.
There are several rea
sons to suspect Starr's
judgment might be
clouded by political in
terests. Many of these
were compiled in a
chart on the major
players in the Clinton
investigation that ap
peared in the Feb. 23
Nation. According to
the collection of writers
and researchers who
created the graphic,
Starr has numerous
ties to right-wing
groups. In addition, he
has received an ap
pointment to chair a
i row iropat urrotii m
Pepperdine University,
a position created by
donations from a pas
sionate foe of Clinton
who has aiso spent
millions funding right
wing media Investiga
tions" Of the president.
Worse, Starr's law
firm, Kirkland & Ellis,
was being sued by the
Resolution Trust Corp.,
one of the groups fetter
subject to investigation
in connection with
Whitewater, when
Starr was assigned to
took into the scandal,
finally, Starr has been
accused of condoning
numerous (and illegal)
leaks of privileged in
formation by his staff.
So, if Starr is such a
bad candidate for the
job, how did he get the
position in foe first
place? The answer, ac
cording to Nation
abashedty conservative
three-judge panel that
selects independent
counsels, including
Starr.Rehnquist,a
Nixon nominee, has
never made a secret of
his political interests or
his desire to see asimi
larly far-right judicial
coalition.
Clinton may be foe one
accused of conspirato
rial actions, but the
biggest political ma
chine appears to be the
one, centered around
Starr, that is out to get
the president.