CHANGE OF VENUE

For those of you who follow this blog by email subscription, I will be posting my Peace Corps experiences in Tarapoto, Peru on my revived blog "Pondering Peace in Peru."

You can subscribe to that blog by visiting the site HERE and entering your email address in the box at top right, under the banner heading.

Thanks for your continued interest and support !!

CHEERS,
Greg/Goyo/RG

The Adventure Continues

Rio Cumbaza flows through Tarapoto on its way to the Amazon.
The rivers (and airplanes) are the only transportation east
from Tarapoto 

Peace Corps has once again invited me to serve as a water and sanitation specialist – this time, in Tarapoto, Peru – in the Amazon Basin. I’ll be the first Volunteer ever sent there, though many others, including some of my WASH 18 group served in Chachapoyas, about 4 hours away and high (7,000 ft) on the eastern side of the Andes. I’ll be at about 900 ft altitude, 1800 miles (straight line) from the mouth of the Amazon River. I begin my new assignment in mid January, 2019.

I’m excited about the assignment and at the prospect of returning to my beloved Peru and all my friends and host families there. I’m flattered that the PC Peru staff reached out and invited me back for another adventure and opportunity to serve the good folks of Peru.

The Beaver is now my mobile home, though with gas mileage
of only 4.3 MPG, I don't travel far.

Meanwhile, I am thoroughly enjoying my time here in beautiful Fort Myers, FL, getting to spend some long-overdue time with my son and 4 grandchildren. Alden found a very comfortable Beaver 31 RV, which I bought. He also got me a spot in the RV park right across the street from the firehouse where he works. I have a scanner that alerts me to his calls, so I can step outside and cheer the lads on, as they head out for emergency calls. I also get to eat dinner with the fire crew on occasion – a great bunch of men. When Alden was called to an emergency at my neighbor’s trailer, I got to see him in action – so proud of him, what he does and how he does it.

The Beaver kitchen includes a microwave/convection oven and a dishwasher

Plenty of space in the Beaver living room

It’s also been a joy to explore this area of Florida, after living exclusively on the Right Coast for so many years. The many rivers, bays, estuaries and islands have captivated me, though the beaches and surf are somewhat lacking. I arrived just at the end of a Red Tide and algae bloom, which cast a great pall on the areas beaches. I’ve visited Sanibel/ Captiva and most of the other areas around here, with Pine Island and Bokeelia being my favorite spots. The mango plantations and “Old Florida” rural feel are a welcome respite from the mega condos and over-development of the “other” coast.

Alden and the kiddles come to visit

I’ve visited the shrimp fleet and sampled their pink delights, learned about the gladiolus bulb industry which dominated the area from the 1940’s to 1980, and about the history of the beautiful Calusa Indians, who populated the area and fended off 2 incursions by the famed Ponce de Leon, though eventually succumbing to their universal gift of European disease.

 

Entertaining some of my new neighbors

Alden's firehouse Engine and Rescue 72 are right across the street

Dinner with Alden and his great crew at the firehouse

Grampa introducing the kids to the microscopic world

My angelic grand-daughters

Lover's Beach, south of Ft Myers beach

The community is proud of their beaches. I've helped with
two beach clean-ups since I arrived

Thoroughly enjoying my time until January, when……

The Adventure Continues.

Close of Service in Panama

One of the "perks" of being the oldest guy in the room, is you get called on to make little speeches. Here is my text from today's COS (close of service) ceremony here in Panama after all had "banged the gong" and officially ended their fine service to the Peace Corps.

Goyo Address

27 months ago, you all made a bold decision to step out of your cozy little comfort zones and walk into the unknown world of the Peace Corps. There may have been a few times that you questioned the wisdom of that decision. But, because of that decision and your service here in Panama, you have each and every one, made the world a better place – a healthier place, a safer place, a world with more friendship and peace than existed before you came. Not just because of your technical work, but in the way you represented Americans here and the way you told your friends and family back home about your life and the people here.

Perhaps just as important as your service to others here, is your service to yourselves. You learned a lot about yourselves in the last 2 years – how many creature comforts you can live without, how much rain you can tolerate before going bat shit crazy, how much you can get done and how strong, resourceful and determined you really are. Those are some of the gifts you’ve given yourselves and they are well deserved. Gifts that will serve you for the rest of your lives. You all have every reason to be proud of what you’ve done here – every reason to stand a little taller than when you arrived.

It now is my great honor to welcome you to the very special brotherhood (and sisterhood) of RETURNED Peace Corps Volunteers. Congratulationsand Thank You to you all.
--
If you have the chance, please thank an RPCV for what they've done and what they've given. They don't wear uniforms or carry guns, but their service to America is every bit as real and meaningful as those who do.

CHECKING OUT

Leaving a Peace Corps service is not as simple as just packing up and catching a flight back home. Like any government agency, there is a lengthy procedure to follow at Close of Service (COS).

First and foremost are the full medical and dental exams, to make sure Volunteers are returning healthy and whole. If there are issues, PC will cover the cost of treatments back home. Some of the other COS tasks:

Write your Description of Service, a document detailing service dates and achievements for the PC official archive.

Close your PC bank account, draw the balance down to zero, surrender your debit card and get the certification from the bank.

Settle up any funds owed to or from the PC.

Get clearance from the Grants Coordinator that any grants are closed and settled.

Decide whether to take a free ticket home or $500 and buy your own.

Return any PC issued equipment, like satellite phone or in my case, a PC life jacket (that I never used).

Complete the Safety and Security report, detailing any security issues.

Have your exit interview with your program manager and the Country Director.

Complete a final site report about your site(s).

Attend the COS ceremony, which is sure to raise a tear or two.

Included in the mix are Good-Byes, Thank Yous and appreciations to all the good folks in your site and at the office, who helped make your service a success. For regular PCVs, it’s time for last Farewells with the other PCVs with whom you’ve shared the last 2+ years. Response volunteers, like me, just watch and remember vicariously.

And then, you pack your things and catch that flight home; the proud new owner of the designation “Returned Peace Corps Volunteer”.

Link to Panama Blogs in book form as Word document:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fwonuiaul178oqu/PC%20PANAMA%20BLOG%20BOOK.docx?dl=0

Peace Corps Staff - An Appreciation

Peace Corps Office Peru

Most folks see the Peace Corps as the Volunteers and the ways we serve our communities. But, there is another group that often goes unseen and unrecognized - The Peace Corps Staff. These are the good people that make it possible for the Volunteers to do what they do. They keep us safe and healthy. They find the communities and housing in which we live. They train us and guide us and make sure we have the tools and support we need to serve our communities.

When I was the ECPA Volunteer Coordinator in Peru, I worked in the Lima office and got to know the staff there on a daily basis. Each and every one of them is dedicated to the Peace Corps mission of making the world a better, healthier, friendlier and more peaceful place. They perform brilliantly and genuinely care about us Volunteers and what we do.

The Volunteers get all the accolades and glory, but PC Staff are the people behind the curtain. Our success is their success, too. They are truly deserving of our thanks and respect, which they earn every day.

Peace Corps Office Panama

8 Years with the Peace Corps

I have just completed the latest chapter of my auto-biography, about my Peace Corps service (to date).

It is far too long (32 pages) to post as a blog, but you can read or download it at:
click here to see chapter

It's just a summary or overview. Far more detail is included in this blog and my Peru blog:  Peru blog link

I may soon have some news about my next Peace Corps assignment.

Give a Man a Fish (My Perspective)

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

The origin of this thought is highly contested. I have seen claims that that the adage is Chinese, Native American, Italian, Indian, or Biblical. Sometimes it is linked to Lao-Tzu, Maimonides, or Mao Zedong. Perhaps because of this universality, it is generally accepted as a truism and good guidance – often used as conservative justification for NOT giving free “hand-outs” to the needy.

The expression generally aligns with the Peace Corps goal of “capacity building” – training people to do a task rather than doing it for them. And, generally, I agree with it. Volunteers are trained to listen and understand what the community needs are and then cooperatively develop an inclusive plan to manifest the community desires or needs. While we will often work along side the community workers, we don’t do all the work ourselves. We train, teach, guide and make friendships as we go. We try to ensure that the project is sustainable in the long term by cooperatively developing a plan of maintenance or schedule of re-training when possible. I’ve been quoted to say “My job as a PCV is to make myself unnecessary.”. If I do things right, my community can carry on without me when I leave. I will have created “capacity” in the community that allows sustainability.

But, in my mind, the title proverb comes with some exceptions and caveats.

Sometimes, it is not enough to teach a man to fish. We must also provide the means for him to fish. What does it serve to teach a man to fish if he has no line or hook? Or if he does not live near any body of water? In my Water and Sanitation service, I have come across several communities which lack the resources to construct a water system. If I bring those resources in from outside via a grant program, I violate the capacity building axiom, but the community gets access to clean water service that was otherwise impossible. I will, of course, build capacity by training the users in proper maintenance, operations, accounting and other topics which will ensure the sustainable use of the system. I have provided the fishing line, hook and lake they needed to catch their fish and taught them how to use them.

Other times, a man might be incapable of learning to fish. An example of this is the design of a community water system. Design involves detailed calculations of pressure, volume and construction knowledge that is generally well above the education level of folks in a rural, third-world community. In such cases, I will make all the design calculations, often with the aid of online calculators to determine design and materials needed. I then make it a custom to show and try to explain them to an (often disinterested) water committee. The community will then do all the work needed to complete the plan carrying thousands of pounds of materials to site, mixing concrete, connecting and burying pipe, etc. But, the design phase is not worth teaching, since once the system is in place, those skills will rarely be used again.

And then sometimes, a man is just starving and needs a fish to eat. Right then. Right there. In those cases, I say throw the truism to the wind. If I have a fish or can arrange to get one, then my moral obligation is the give it to him. It’s just the humanitarian thing to do. An example of this is when I learned that there were 8 disabled folks in my first service site of San Luis de Canete who did not have wheelchairs. All had applied for the government mandated free chair, but none had been delivered after many years. I had the good fortune to connect with fellow Princeton Alumni Bill Farrell (P’77), who was on the board of the Wheelchair Foundation, who found me 8 beautiful wheelchairs in Lima – just for the taking. A generous and kind gift from those who had to those who had not. With the aid of my friend and socio Angel Garcia, we moved those chairs from Lima to San Luis and eight people got their free fish and regained their mobility. The project was not sustainable and I built no capacity. And I did not lose a wink of sleep over it.

So, while we might view the title proverb as ancient wisdom, we need to also acknowledge its flaws. And never lose our humanity or compassion.