December 8, 2008
International Volunteer
Day
December
5th was International Volunteer Day. (How come no
one sent me a card? ;->) Last
Spring someone asked me why I was joining the Peace Corps when there were so
many Americans who needed help? My initial response was I wanted to
experience another part of the world while helping others. A valid
reason, I thought, but was it enough? Was there more to my
decision? Or did I look at this opportunity as a two year working
vacation? Any thoughts that the PC was somehow going to be part
holiday were dispelled soon after my arrival in Kyrgyzstan. Anyway,
it took me a few weeks of internal debate before I came to the following
conclusion.
Millions
of people need help, in America and around the world. And millions
of Americans volunteer every year. For those of us in a position to
travel abroad, that is where we should be, because not everyone's circumstances
allow them to do so. They, then, are the people who will volunteer
at the local level. Just because I am in Kyrgyzstan doesn't mean I'm
doing anything more valuable or nobler than, say, my father, who drives cancer
patients to their chemotherapy appointments. We are both helping
those who need it, just in different parts of the world. Granted, I
reap the benefits of experiencing a new culture and fight the battle of
learning a new language, but I also live without heat and electricity for 12
hours a day.
So,
to volunteers everywhere, be proud of what we do and may we continue helping
others as long as we are able. For those who would like to
volunteer, but haven't yet, it's never too late to start.
A
Different Kind of Internal Debate
After
the meeting with my fellow teachers last week, I started to think that many
Kyrgyz people, especially those who have traveled or lived in the States or
Europe, must struggle mightily with the concept of one day living in a
Kyrgyzstan that is “just like America.” Their economy is free
market. They profess to have an open society. This desire
has many benefits and attendant costs associated with it. One of the
benefits is freedom of speech. My experience tells me the Kyrgyz
definition of this is “say what you want as long as it's what we want to
hear.” They seem to live by the “only we can criticize our own”
philosophy. Here is what I see as their internal debate: New World
aspirations vs. an Old World mentality. Until the latter can learn
to co-exist fully with the former, Kyrgyzstan will never be “just like America.”
When I encountered a
Kyrgyz (and later, a Chinese) person who had traveled or lived abroad, I jumped
at the chance to ask them what they thought of the west. I had a few such
discussions with two Kyrgyz students who took part in the Erasmus Mundus
program. One of them studied in Belgium, the other in Spain. After their
year-long experience abroad, they both expressed a desire to live in a western
country but neither thought they would have the opportunity. I joked that they
should find a foreigner and get married.
My stock question was
always, give me your impression of the country you visited/lived in in a few
words. Some people would say the availability of goods and services, others
would mention the beauty of the countries, but they all talked about freedom.
These two students talked about availability and freedom.
They were stunned by
how much of everything they could buy, whether it was clothing, foods,
technology, you name it. This might not have been such a big deal to a Chinese
student, but for a Kyrgyz girl, it was eye-opening. Even in Bishkek, there
wasn’t the variety of stuff that they saw in Europe. One girl saw a restaurant
that served food from Senegal or Ethiopia, I can’t remember clearly. She had
never heard of the country. The availability of everything they wanted and so
many things they never knew existed overwhelmed them until they were settled in.
Because of this abundance, the girls thought everyone in the west was wealthy.
I told them it just seemed like that because poverty is often hidden in
developed countries and their new friends wouldn’t be inclined to show the
negative side of their countries.
No matter what people
from developing countries think about the US, it’s been my experience that they
all envy the freedom we’re allowed. Initially, these students were wary when
told they could speak their minds freely. It took them a while to open up about
Kyrgyzstan to their newfound friends. I used to do an exercise with my Chinese
students where they would write the first three words that came to mind when I
said United States. Freedom often topped the list and made the top three in
every class. Other popular words were rich, NYC and Hollywood. Then I asked to
do the same thing for China. Modest, hardworking and intelligent described
their country most accurately according to them. Freedom was rarely written on
any students’ list.
My most interesting
discussion took place in an airport waiting for a flight. A Chinese woman who
had grown up in a small village near Nanchang, where I taught, was returning to
visit her family. She had married an Irish fellow, lived in Dubai and South
Africa and presently resided in Singapore. It soon became very evident this
native Chinese woman had an adverse opinion about her native land. She felt in
general that the people were rude, boorish and inconsiderate, all traits that I
had encountered as well, but I didn’t have the cultural connection so they were
easier for me accept. She was basically telling me she felt ashamed. When I
asked how long she would be in Nanchang, she replied, “For one very long week.”
